The harvest of spiny lobster off the Florida Keys has never been better, but the price fishermen are being paid is down significantly so far because the Asian market has yet to take off this season.
The season started earlier this month with trap fishermen catching near record number of lobster, fishermen said. A trap will produce about 10 pounds of lobsters on average over the course of an eight-month season, with the bulk being harvested in the first couple of months. So far this year, fishermen have been harvesting as much as five pounds a week, commercial fishermen Gary Nichols and George Niles said.
“It has been good as it’s ever been,” Niles said. “I don’t think we will see the prices we have seen in years past. But one bad hurricane could change all that.”
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