Spiny Lobster Mini Season Safety Tips

PALMETTO BAY, FL — With Florida's mini spiny lobster season set to begin at midnight Tuesday, first responders released eight safety tips to make sure that only the tasty crustaceans get pulled to shore. As many as 65,000 wannabe lobstermen and lobsterwomen participated in the annual event in recent years.

In the Miami area, boat crews from the Florida Wildlife and Conservation Commission and local law enforcement agencies will be patrolling Miami-Dade County waterways.

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Diving experts from Miami-Dade Fire Resue offfered the following eight safety tips ahead o the mini season:

1. Refresh your diving skills: If you have been absent from diving for at least a year, ask your local retailer about taking a diving refresher program, and include training in first aid and CPR. Refresher programs are short and simple, but more importantly they reacquaint you with skills such as how to set up your equipment, properly use dive tables and/or dive computer, and increase your confidence in the water.
2. Dive safely: Make sure you have a dive flag that is easily visible to boaters; stay close to the flag, and be alert for boaters who may not see your "diver down" flag.
3. Always dive with a buddy: This primary rule of diving makes for a safer experience as well as easier lobster hunting.
4. Maintain your gear: Make sure your diving equipment has received recent service (such as visual inspections for tanks and regulator servicing) and is streamlined to make your dives easier, safer and with minimal impact to the surrounding marine environment.
5. Know where to go in case of an emergency: Know where the nearest medical and chamber facilities are and how to get there.
6. Are you covered? Consider obtaining dive insurance before the dive season begins to assist in the event of a dive-related emergency.
7. Have a plan: Plan your dives to be well within safe time and depth limits and stick to the plan.
8. File a boating "Float Plan" with family and friends: Like a "flight plan," let someone who is not accompanying you on the dive know where you are going and when to expect your return.

Image courtesy Florida Fish and Wildlife Conerservation Commission