Getting Ready for the 2025 Lobster Mini Season in the Florida Keys

KEYS VIDEO ADVISORY    July 29, 2025

Contacts:  Mary B. Haban, Mary@fla-keys.com (813) 210-8585

Chad Newman, Chad@fla-keys.com (310) 283-8441

Story: Getting Ready for the 2025 Lobster Mini Season in the Florida Keys

Video source: Florida Keys News Bureau 

Locator: Key Largo, Florida Keys 

TRT: 3:24

Producers Note: SOTs of Officer Liam Rodriguez from Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission outline vital info in preparation for Florida Keys Lobster Mini Season. B-roll footage contains divers in the Florida Keys diving for lobster, measuring, etc., and outreach efforts by Rodriguez and spiny lobster researchers Kayla Merrill and Carly Hannah from Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute at Key Largo’s Diver’s Direct.

Video Link / English SOT: Click Here

Video Link / Spanish SOT: Click Here

Photo Link: Click Here

Photo Captions: Below  

SOT Transcript: Below

Audio Link for Radio (English): Click Here

Audio Link for Radio (Spanish): Click Here

KEY LARGO, FLORIDA KEYS – Headed out to hunt for tasty crustaceans during this year’s Florida Keys Mini Lobster Season? The annual two-day event begins at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday and continues to midnight Thursday, providing visitors and locals alike with a recreational jumpstart to the lobster harvesting season that begins August 6. 

Monroe County officials want boaters and divers to have fun, stay safe, and support sustainable behaviors while on and in the water. They coordinated with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) and their collaborating Research Institute (FWRI) to capture what you should know before you go. 

1. Register for a Florida Saltwater Fishing & Lobster Permit License. Every recreational harvester must have one. Visit  gooutdoorsflorida.com, the FWC Fish/Hunt app, or a Monroe County tax office to get one.
2. Fly a diver-down flag at your vessel’s highest point while harvesting and keep divers nearby – within 100 feet in navigational channels and 300 feet in open water. When underway, store the flag and stay alert for dive flags on other vessels and travel at idle speed, looking out for diver activity like bubbles or ripples on the water’s surface.
3. Know the local harvest limits and restrictions. In Monroe County, “take” limits are six lobsters daily per harvester. Before you call it a keeper, measure as you catch to ensure the hard-shelled carapace is over three inches long before you take it out of the water. Multi-trips, taking egg-laden females, harvesting at night, diving, and wringing tails / tossing carcasses are strictly prohibited.
4. Coral, seagrass, sponges, and historic underwater artifacts are both fragile and protected habitats for lobster and many other marine species. Please do your part to support them and future lobster populations by avoiding contact and disturbances. 

KeysLobsterSeason.com is a dedicated website that includes interactive videos with need-to-know dive and boating safety tips, correct harvesting techniques, and updated rules and regulations. It also stresses prohibited no-take zones protected within Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary boundaries.

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SOTS_English: With Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Officer Liam Rodriguez 

Soundbite 1_ English: Dive Flag Safety

The most important piece of equipment you’re going to have on the boat during lobster season is your dive flag. If you have divers in the water, that dive flag must be displayed at the highest point of the vessel. Divers have to stay within 300 ft of that dive flag while in open waters and 100 ft while in a navigational channel.

Soundbite 2_English: Licensing and Bag Limits

Here in the Florida Keys, in order to harvest lobster, you must have a saltwater fishing license and a lobster permit. Uh, remind you that is six lobsters per day per licensed harvester,

Soundbite 3_English: Lobster Regulations (Size and Condition)

The size limit for lobster here in the Florida Keys is 3 in of the carapace, of the hard shell or greater. The lobster must be kept in whole condition while on the boat. And most importantly, if that lobster is egg bearing, it must be kept in the water. It is prohibited to harvest any egg bearing lobsters.

Soundbite 4_English: Environmental Protection

Make sure your gear, yourself, your hands, your fins are not touching the coral formations or rock formations or the sponges. It’s important to know that those are potential habitats for many, many other species. So, it’s important to protect them.

SOTS_Spanish: With Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Officer Liam Rodriguez 

Soundbite 1: Dive Flag Safety

Es importante poner la bandera de buceo a lo más alto del barco cuando hay buzos en el agua para la seguridad de los buzos. Lo que quiere decir que cada buzo que esté en el agua tiene que permanecer dentro de 300 pies de esa bandera, siempre y cuando esté en aguas abiertas del mar. Si está en ríos o en canales de navegación, los buzos deben mantenerse a 100 pies de esa bandera. De la misma manera, todos aquellos barcos que quieran pasar cerca de esa bandera tienen que pasar a más de 300 pies de la bandera en aguas abiertas, o a 100 pies de la bandera en canales de navegación.

Soundbite 2: Licensing and Bag Limits

Aquí en los Cayos de la Florida se necesita tener una licencia de pesca con el permiso de langosta para poder sacar langostas del agua. Son seis langostas por persona por día aquí en los Cayos de la Florida.

Soundbite 3: Lobster Regulations (Size and Condition)

Para que la langosta sea legal, el carapacho tiene que medir más de 3 pulgadas. La langosta no se puede separar, la cabeza de la cola, mientras uno está en el barco o en las aguas. Y también, lo más importante, es reconocer que si esa langosta tiene huevos, se tiene que mantener en el agua y no se puede sacar del agua. Es prohibido sacar una langosta del agua con huevos.

Soundbite 4: Environmental Protection

Es importante recordar, mientras uno está en el agua, no toquen los corales, no toquen las esponjas. Asegúrense de que sus patas de rana, su equipo de buceo, sus manos, que nada toque ninguna formación de coral o de piedra para proteger donde vive toda nuestra, nuestras especies marítimas.