LOBSTER SEASON OFF TO STRONG START

Mini Season Catch is Not Making Me Rich

"Spiny lobsters are abundant in supply and demand is strong, according to several of the state's largest lobster producers who provided data to the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services," said an agency report Thursday.

Dockside prices paid to fishermen this season have been running $5.50 to $5.25 per pound, according to reports. A legal size lobster generally weighs about a pound.

At the start of the 2009 season, the poor economy and frozen lobster left from the previous year pushed wholesale prices down to just about $3 per pound -- a rate not seen since the 1980s. KeysNet


I am as glad as anyone that the lobster population is plentiful this year, we can skip that part of this news article. The real reason for this post was to bitch that the twelve tails I brought home are only worth $60 and the year before that they were only worth $36! I know you can't put a price on fun but c'mon, at least give me triple digits here.

As much as I love the Keys, after reading this, there is no way I envy fishermen down there anymore. I mean how many bugs do you have to catch just to break even? Probably like 50,000. I mean its a pain in the ass just to catch twelve, no thank you, I'll keep doing my fishing at Publix.

P.S. Those "trap molesters" (as the article so eloquently puts it) are damn ballsy. I don't even want to know what some crazy, old, salty fisherman making $3 per lobster would do if he caught you stealing from his trap.