From FWC:

Dive boats and shops, hotels and restaurants are getting ready for the residents and tourists who will take to the reefs during Florida’s lobster mini-season on Wednesday, July 27 and Thursday, July 28 in hopes of capturing the delectable creatures.

In the 1980s, fisheries biologists noted that the Florida spiny lobster had a significant impact on the culture, sociology and economy of south Florida. Today, the commercial fishery of spiny lobster is the third largest in the world.

Florida spiny lobsters, also called Caribbean spiny lobsters, are a nocturnal, sometimes backwards-walking, crustacean. They use multiple marine habitats during their lifetimes, breeding and spawning offshore. Their larva rides in the ocean currents, settling in the sand to hide from predators on its way inshore, and rising up at night to feed. Post-larval lobster and juveniles spend several years in estuaries living amongst tufts of marine algae and seagrass to evade predators. As adults they will move out, sometimes marching en masse in a line, to the reefs.

Areas off of Florida’s coast where spiny lobsters can be caught, as well as the required size limits, are regulated by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission to protect lobster populations and the future of recreational lobster dives. Spiny lobsters must have a minimum carapace length of greater than three inches and the measurement must take place while in the water. The taking of egg-bearing female lobsters and the use of spear guns or other hook-type instruments are prohibited and all lobsters must remain in whole condition until the vessel or diver returns to the mainland. Care should always be taken to protect the seagrasses and coral reef habitats when diving for lobsters.

Capturing lobsters is prohibited in the Biscayne Bay-Card Sound Lobster Sanctuary which includes all of Biscayne National Park, inshore and significant portions of the Biscayne Bay Aquatic Preserve, as well as the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, Everglades and Dry Tortugas National Parks.

Learn more about ordering a saltwater fishing license and/or obtaining a mini-season lobster permit.