For me, lobster mini-season is a love-hate experience. I love going out to my favorite spot at sunrise, slipping into the warm clear water and seeing lobster antennae waving around just about everywhere I look.

I hate dealing with the hoards of crazy boaters who think it is acceptable to speed through a shallow water area that is saturated with lobster divers. I love playing tag with the really big lobsters. These monsters have survived a few seasons by learning how to avoid being caught, so I just have to laugh when I come up empty after trying unsuccessfully to carefully slip my net over one of these big fat tails.

I hate, and I mean really hate it, when I find coral formations that have been severely damaged due to overzealous lobster divers using their tickle stick as a crowbar or, even worse, a sword. Even more distressing is when you encounter an entire coral head that has been completely turned over by reckless immature divers who lack the ability or patience required to skillfully pursue these sometimes elusive crustaceans.

Not worth dying over

It seems like every year The Citizen ends up carrying a story about a lobster diver who has succumbed to one of the many tragedies now associated with the chaos called mini-season.

Many of these tragic incidents can be directly attributed to the annual influx of novice boaters and inexperienced lobster divers rushing out to score some lobsters. Unfortunately, many of these horrific injuries/fatalities occur as a result of divers being run over by a boat that is under the control of an inattentive or distracted boat driver. To help this situation, the captain should always assign an additional look-out in the front of the boat to assist in spotting divers and dive flags, and, of course, when in doubt -- slow down!

I have seen first hand the horrible death and destruction that can be inflicted on a diver when they end up in the path of a rapidly spinning boat propeller. This nightmare scenario was reinforced last year when I found a large dead turtle floating on the surface with multiple deep prop cuts through it's thick shell. The turtle's lifeless body was bobbing sadly among the non-stop waves created by hoards of boats speeding toward a near-by lobster dive spot. Even though this large turtle had an extremely hard protective shell, it proved no match for the lethal sharp edges of a stainless steel propeller. If a prop can easily slice open a turtle's tough shell, you can only imagine what it will do to a diver.

Sometimes these tragic events are not the fault of careless boat divers. They actually occur because the diver is lobstering without a dive flag (which is illegal), or they have wandered (sometimes due to the current) so far away from their boat's dive flag that boaters traversing the area do not suspect or anticipate a diver will pop up directly in their path.

You should always have a dive flag displayed on your boat when divers are in the water. I also carry a dive flag on a float attached to my game bag with enough rope so I can comfortably get down to the bottom. This system lets me dive down, catch a lobster, and quickly put it in my game bag. It also ensures that everywhere I go there is a dive flag floating right above or next to me when I am on the surface. This "extra flag" has proved particularly helpful since divers may not even hear an approaching boat due to the fact that the new four-stroke outboards are so quiet (both under and above water).

Don't take the tail,

if you can't do the jail

Simply put, some people lack integrity. A poacher is any person who knowingly violates the state game regulations. For a strange reason, some law biding citizens decide to become poachers during mini-season. They suddenly think nothing about taking a few short lobsters. Some poachers will even pull off the heads off lobsters under water and then try to hide the illegal tails in their dive gear in a greedy attempt to take more than their limit. Then there are those unscrupulous and somewhat smug divers who never have more than their limit of legal sized lobsters on the boat, but make multiple trips back and forth to the dock everyday.

Although the F.W.C. and Coast Guard are greatly out-manned during mini-lobster season, I, for one, wish them "good hunting" as they valiantly attempt to keep this Keys tradition from turning into a chaotic free-for-all as they enforce the Florida State game regulations.

For those divers with a broken moral compass, perhaps the following will make you stop and think before breaking the rules: 1) there will be undercover officers throughout the Keys observing divers up close, looking for violators, 2) in the past if you got caught with illegal lobsters there was a fine based on the number of tails/violations. The rules have changed. No longer will you be paying a big "fine to dine" -- $270 and up per lobster tail. Now, you will be required to appear before a judge to explain why you violated the rules and were cited by a F.W.C. officer on misdemeanor/felony marine fisheries charges, which means you, might end up in jail.

Example: Five undersized lobsters, taken out of season, that were speared can result in three separate misdemeanor charges. Each violation could be worth up to six months in jail AND a fine up to $1,000. Plus, your boat, dive gear, etc. can be immediately seized and forfeited (if you are found guilty).

You can contact Florida Wildlife Commission at 888-404-FWCC toll free, or 305-289-2320.

Before you jump in the water with all your dive gear on, I hope you will take a moment and remember my mini-season motto: "The propeller is always a lot sharper than the guy driving the boat." Let's be careful out there, and have a great lobster season.

Capt. Pete Peterson welcomes comments and suggestions sent to petersonventures@aol.com.