How to Avoid a Fish & Game §§ 2001 or 2002 Lobster Case
Lobsters are a food loved by most people, whether eaten steamed, in a soup or dipped in a tangy sauce as an appetizer. It is considered a delicacy and they fetch a high price at fancy restaurants.
The California spiny lobster is common in the Pacific Ocean from Point Conception to Magdalena Bay on the west coast of Baja California. It often lives in rocky areas where it can hide from predators and has been found in water as deep as four hundred feet and as far offshore as 350 miles.
The California spiny lobster is one of the largest types of lobsters. Males can reach up to three feet long and weigh up to twenty-six pounds. They are believed to live up to 50 years old. It is a nocturnal scavenger that emerges at nigh to feed on fish, sea urchins, clams, mussels, worms, algae and even weak or injured lobsters. During the day it shelters in caves and crevices.
The reproductive season generally runs from January through April and females move to shallow, warmer water in late March to April to lay eggs in May and June. A large female lobster can lay up to 800,000 eggs, but only a few survive to adulthood. After the eggs are laid, lobsters molt after six to nine months into miniature versions of adult lobsters, growing little by little.
Spiny lobster (“bugs”) reach legal size for taking after growing for seven to eleven years. It is at this point that they are about one pound in weight. They must reach a minimum of 3.25 inches long, measured from the rear edge of the lobster’s eye sockets to the tip of the shell tail.
It is for this reason that illegally taking a lobster is a closely regulated activity by the California Fish & Games and violation of California Fish and Game Code §§ 2001 (dealing with out of season fishing and bag limits) and 2002 (unlawful taking of lobster in general).
Without such regulations and enforcement, the lobster population could be easily decimated.
Indeed, it is not too hard to take lobster that are too small, take too many, use an illegal method of gathering lobster, fish without a proper license or fish in the wrong area. This article is meant to advise the reader how to avoid these pitfalls.
To avoid taking lobster that are too small, it is recommended that one buy a proper lobster gauge. The gauge is a plastic or metal measuring device that has a fixed gap of 3.25 inched for determining the legal size of the lobster. Such gauges can be purchased at most dive and tackle stores.
It is permissible for a diver to bring a lobster to the surface of the water to measure it. Those who catch lobster with a hoop net (a maximum of five may be used by an individual, except on piers, jetties and other shore-based structures where each angler is limited to two hoop nets) may bring the lobster aboard a boat but the diver is required to measure the lobster immediately and any undersized lobster must be released immediately.
A person may have no more than seven lobsters he or she takes from the ocean. This includes any lobster stored at home or elsewhere; at no time may more than seven lobster be in anyone’s possession.
A California sport fishing license with an ocean enhancement stamp is required to take lobster south of Point Arguello, which is a point of land in Santa Barbara County on Vandenberg Air Force Base (near Lompoc). Divers must keep their fishing license either aboard the vessel or, if beach diving, within their gear within five hundred yards of shore.
A Spiny Lobster Report Card is required for every person fishing for or taking lobster. This includes persons who are not required to even have a sport fishing license, such as children under the age of sixteen, persons fishing from a public pier, and persons fishing on free fishing days. Report cards must be carried by hoop netters and divers must keep it with their fishing license.
The Spiny Lobster Report Card must be returned to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) no later than April 30 following the end of lobster season. Spiny lobster season runs from 6:00 a.m. on the Saturday preceding the first Wednesday in October through the first Wednesday after March 15.
Nothing other than gloves (or bare hands) and hoop nets may be used to take lobster.
Most important and lastly, know where one can take lobster and what areas are off limits. There are several Marine Preserve Areas (MPA’s), the location of which one can familiarize oneself with on the California Department of Fish & Wildlife website. This includes areas along Palos Verdes, specifically off Point Vicente and Abalone Cove, as near Point Dume and multiple areas off Catalina and the other Channel Islands.
For more information about illegal lobsters, judicial diversion and a civil compromise, please click on the following articles:
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