Two deaths in Keys as lobster miniseason starts
Two people died in Keys waters on Wednesday as Florida’s lobster miniseason got underway.
A 51-year-old Tampa man died after losing consciousness just north of Key West at about 12:30 p.m. while snorkeling off a boat, the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office said.
He became unresponsive near Bluefish Channel. People in the boat began CPR until the Coast Guard arrived. He was taken to Lower Keys Medical Center in Key West, where he died. The man’s name won’t be released until his family is notified.
Also on Wednesday afternoon, a 64-year-old Garland, Texas, man died after collapsing in a boat on the Gulf side just north of mile marker 3.
Gregg Leon Dietz was standing in a 32-foot Fun in the Sun rental when he collapsed at about 12:30 p.m. The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission took Dietz to U.S. Coast Guard Station Key West. He died at Lower Keys Medical Center.
Neither death is considered to be suspicious, said Adam Linhardt, the sheriff’s office spokesman.
Miniseason draws thousands of people to the Keys and other coastal spots in the Sunshine State to grab spiny lobster. It’s got that holiday festive feel for boaters and divers.
But over the years, the two-day event has kept cops busy in handling crowds, investigating accidents and making arrests.
“It’s crowded,” Jason Rafter, a spokesman for the
Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said Wednesday morning.
“We are out in full force,” Rafter said. “From Key Largo to Key West, we are on it.”
Florida’s lobster miniseason unfolds every year during the last consecutive Wednesday and Thursday of July. The event allows people to hit the water and take their legal limit of spiny lobster ahead of the regular season, which runs Aug. 6 through March 31.
In the Florida Keys, the bag limit is six per person, per boat. The same limit applies to lobstering within Biscayne National Park in Miami-Dade County. For the rest of Miami-Dade and the rest of the state, the bag limit is 12 lobsters per person, per boat.
Lobster miniseason opened Wednesday morning with some murky water and windy conditions in South Florida.
Still, people set out early. “It took us an hour longer this year, they were a little harder to catch,” said Blake Guillory, 33, of Naples, Florida, on Wednesday after his crew bagged their limit of 12 lobsters per person. They were on the hunt north of Biscayne Bay.
Guillory caught one that he decided to preserve as a trophy: a six or sevenpound lobster that he took to a taxidermist.
“I would still eat it,” he said, with a laugh.
Before this year’s miniseason opened, at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday, two Florida men had died after snorkeling, the FWC said.
A 27-year-old Port Orange man, who hasn’t been identified by authorities, was pulled from the water Monday, with the agency initially saying it was a fatal boating accident and that the man had suffered head trauma. On Tuesday, a 53-year-old man from Englewood died after feeling ill while snorkeling in Sawyer Channel.
FWC isn’t the only agency keeping watch over the catches this week. The Coast Guard and the Monroe County Sheriff’s Office are also checking boats to ensure lobster hunters are in compliance with the rules. And Miami-Dade
Fire Rescue has been busy on Twitter reminding people about safety.