Florida Scuba Connection Diving News Page

Scuba News from the Florida Scuba Connection

The 2008 Spiny Lobster Sport Season is Wednesday and Thursday July 30-31

2008 Lobster News!

The regular spiny lobster season is August 6 through March 31.

The 2008 Spiny Lobster Sport Season is Wednesday and Thursday July 30-31

Typically the 2-day Sport Season is the last consecutive Wednesday and Thursday of each July.

Regular spiny lobster season is August 6 through March 31. The bag limit is 6 per person per day. Harvest of lobster is prohibited in John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park during the sport season. Harvest is also prohibited during both the 2-day sport season and regular season in Everglades National Park, Dry Tortugas National Park, and no take areas in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. Call (305) 743-2437 or visit www.fknms.nos.noaa.gov for information about no take areas in the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary.

See images of some past Florida Lobster catches

Lobster Bag Limits
	Monroe County	Biscayne National Park	Elsewhere
2-Day Sport Season (July 30-31)	6 per person per day	6 per person per day	12 per person per day
Regular Season (August 6 � March 31)	6 per person per day	6 per person per day	6 per person per day

Based on the From the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission Spiny Lobster page

The 888-foot USS Oriskany becomes the world�s largest
artificial reef 22 miles Southeast of Pensacola in the Gulf of Mexico

On Wednesday, May 17, 2006, the USS Oriskany sank in about 37 minutes after U.S. Navy explosives experts set off their charges. The ship is in 212 feet of water, however, given the ship's immense size, the highest point on the ship will be only 67 feet underwater.

The retired aircraft carrier Oriskany�s scuttling site is 22 miles southeast of Pensacola and 70 miles west of Panama City. Take a bearing of 133� from Pensacola, 270� from Panama City.

The dive site could be open to recreational scuba diving as early as May 19, 2006 after Navy divers inspect the site and deem it safe for diving.

A new Navy program made the Oriskany the first warship to be sunk as an artificial reef. Earlier ships that have been sunk as artificial reefs (e.g., USS Spiegel Grove) were done so as a civilian projects.

The USS Oriskany was commissioned in 1950 and decommissioned in 1976.

Florida Manatee

The West Indian Manatee found in Florida and Southeastern US may lose its endangered species status. A review is being held to determine if the manatees should be listed by the Federal Govt. as "threatened". For more information, please visit, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service North Florida Field Office site at:
http://www.fws.gov/northflorida/Manatee/manatees.htm

For additional information on the Florida Manatee go to Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's Fish and Wildlife Research Institute site at http://www.floridamarine.org/news/view_article.asp?id=26381.

Key Largo Fundraiser for Kids In Special Situations (KISS) � April 16, 2006

From the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission

Captain Slate of Atlantis Dive Center in Key Largo will host the annual Underwater Easter Egg Hunt off Key Largo on Sunday, April 16 for the benefit of KISS. KISS, a not for profit trust, operates in the Upper & Middle Florida Keys, helping needy children, mostly at Christmas and throughout the year.

Captain Slate, wearing an Easter Bunny costume, will start the dive off at an undisclosed reef and hide the Easter eggs. Divers will later hit water to find the eggs.

Several prizes will be awarded to the hunters along with a Dive-Trip-for-Two to the diver who finds an egg with the winning color.

You can contact Captain Slate at 1-800-331-DIVE

Florida Lobster Challenge!

The Florida Lobster Challenge (F.L.C.) is a statewide lobster tournament that takes place annually during the two-day Florida Lobster Mini-Season. The Lobster Mini-Season is always the last consecutive Wednesday and Thursday in the Month of July.

For 2003, it�s inaugural year, the F.L.C. was a huge success with 16 Sponsors and more than 50 entries. Based on feedback from F.L.C. contestants and sponsors, we believe that the F.L.C. is well on its way of becoming a premier event within the Florida SCUBA diving community.

In 2004 the Florida Lobster Challenge benefited Marine Life Center of Juno Beach, a non-profit education and conservation facility located on the ocean in Palm Beach County. The Center promotes education of all marine life but focuses on the many Sea Turtles we have here in Palm Beach County. The Center provides sea turtle presentations and turtle walks to local beaches during the turtle-nesting season. The Center also monitors sea turtle nesting activity and provides rehabilitation to injured and stranded sea turtles. The Florida Lobster Challenge feels confident that most divers participating in the tournament feel strongly about marine conservation and would like to insure that the magnificent sea turtles they see on almost every dive are here in the future.

Entry fee was $35.00 and includes:

Entry into the tournament

Tournament T-shirt

Dinner at Awards Party

Entry in the door prize drawing

And much more

And the winner was Gerald Weisenseel with his 9.08 pound spiny lobster!

All proceeds benefit the
Marine Life Center of Juno Beach

November 5, 2004 - NOAA Fisheries announces that the commercial fishery for shallow-water grouper (red, black, gag, yellowfin, scamp, yellowmouth, rock hind, and red hind) in Gulf of Mexico federal waters w ill close at 12:01 a.m., local time, on November 15, 2004, when the 2004 red grouper quota of 5.31 million pounds, gutted weight, is projected to be reached. The existing regulations require closure of the entire shallow-water grouper fishery when either the red grouper quota or shallow-water grouper quota is reached. The commercial fishery will remain closed until 12:01 a.m., local time, January 1, 2005. The operator of a vessel with a valid reef fish permit having shallow-water grouper aboard must have landed and sold such shallow-water grouper prior to 12:01 a.m., local time, November 15, 2004.

NOAA Fisheries is an agency of the Commerce Department's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

May 2004 -- Press Release

Feb 2004 -- Press Release

Dive Operators - Now you can write in with tips and the latest conditions to be published on the page your site is listed. This will allow others to know what diving is like in your particular region of Florida as well as what it is like to dive with you. Or, you can post the information on the Message Board.