New report card for Spiny Lobster

[Stanley44]

It's about the money! The state is planning on cutting funds straight across the board!

99% of us are honest and hard working citizens, who buy licenses and follow the law. Why do I need to pay more? Use the money you have along with the increases to my license fees. If the DFG is not getting the funds, then let me know who I need to contact to fix this! No cards and fees should be imposed.
Increase the fines for cheaters!

[the_looper]

Originally Posted by Red Drum

Marcus,

The California commercial lobster fleet takes close to 400 METRIC TONS of Spiny Lobster from the California coast each year. That is a friggin' lot of Lobsters...and most are exported to other countries. They are allowed to leave their baited traps in the water, during lobster season, 24 hours a day and 7 days a week, in non-prohibited areas....of course.

The average recreational hooper only hoops for a couple hours, then has to remove their gear from the water. If they know where to go and get lucky, they may get a couple Lobsters or maybe even limits.

The recreational hooping for Lobster along the California coast has obviously increased....thanks to the Internet, but the recreational take of Lobster in California is just a small percentage of what it killed by the commercial fleet.

The DFG obviously monitors this website and many others, and has come the the conclusion that it is time to finally try and collect, somewhat accurate data, on how many Lobsters are being taken by recreational anglers, since they have already been requiring the commercial Lobster fleet to provide them this data for many decades.

If the Spiny Lobster population in California was in any danger, the DFG would've already shortened the season or implimented a quota on how many TONS of Lobsters the commercial fleet could take.

It is always easier for the DFG to shut down/reduce the take limit on recreational anglers than the commercial fleet.

Plain and simple, there would be no DFG Lobster report card if there would've never been any Lobster reports on the Internet. I can't blame anyone but myself.

Its all Your Fault Vince!!!!!! hahaha

[Ospreyman]

It's illegal to impose a change in the middle of a season so don't worry about it until next year.

[LearnRemember]

I think Jim Day and Smudge both have it right. I am a commercial lobster fisherman and the only thing I know for sure is that every year is different. Everything is cyclical. The DFG is trying to get an idea of the sport lobster take as we are heavily regulated commercially. We have seen a large increase in hoopnetters the last few years and we are curious about the recreational take as well. The new card and it's fee is minimal, and hopefully the funds will be used wisely. Just my opinion.