Thousands of people hit the waters of south Florida on Wednesday to hunt for lobsters in an annual feeding frenzy that in past years proved fatal for a number of scuba divers.
The mad dash got under way at the stroke of midnight, which marked the start of a two-day "mini-season" that gives recreational divers a chance to hunt for lobsters ahead of commercial fishermen.
Law enforcement officials were out in force, trying to ensure the estimated 184,000 lobsters killed in a typical mini-season are the only casualties.
Last year alone, five divers died and several more were injured during the two day lobstermania.
Heart attacks, lack of experience, foul weather, drunkenness, and what one official called "plain stupidity," have been blamed for past casualties.
There have been plenty of cases of boats colliding with divers, people running out of air deep in the deep, and lobster hunters surfacing far away from their rides back to shore..
The US Coast Guard had rescue jets, helicopters and boats on stand-by early Wednesday, and fully expected to use them.
"We're going to have a lot of missing divers," USCG officer Dana Warr said, speaking from experience.
Lobster-rage can also be a problem. Territorially minded divers have been known to threaten each other with harpoons, flares and even guns to protect their catch.
"One year we had a person shoot at someone who was on what he considered his own personal lobster spot," said Becky Harrin of the Monroe Sheriff's office.
And then, there's also greed.
Divers determined to catch more than the daily bag limit have come up with the most extraordinary hiding places for their illegal catch.
Every now and then, an over-enthusiastic crustacean fiend will try to hide his over-the-limit dinner-to-be in his neoprene dive suit, only to find out why the crawly marine critters are called spiny lobsters.
Unlike their northern cousins, the lobsters found in Florida's warm waters do not have claws, but they have plenty of horn-like spines.
As many as 30,000 people were expected to join the fun, with boats and divers crowding the waters off Miami, the Florida Keys and other parts of the southeastern state, competing for a chance to go after the prized delicacies, which had four months to multiply in peace.
The lobsters must be caught by hand. Most divers use a "tickle stick" to coax them out of holes and crevaces, and into a net.
The daily bag limit is of six to 12 lobsters, depending on the area, and the delicate creatures must measure at least 7.6 centimeters. Egg-bearing females are an absolute no-no.
Law enforcement officers on the look-out for illegal crustacean cargo board boats, patrol docks and keep a keen eye out for bulging bags, coolers or dive suits, some using specially trained sniffer dogs.
"People will find the most imaginative ways of hiding lobsters," says Bobby Dube, a law enforcement officer with the Florida Wildlife agency. The unusual hiding spots include "the crotch of neoprene suits" and secret compartments in dive tanks. One lady was once found with 40 lobster tails in her handbag.
"There's a lot of crazy people doing a lot of crazy things," says Dube.
