Lobstermen Feel Pinch of Rough Surf as Season Opens

Lobstermen took to the seas Wednesday with the opening of the new lobster season, but a strong surf apparently limited their success on what is considered their most lucrative day.

Varying surf, weather conditions and the harvesting of legal-size stock from the lobster beds from San Diego to Santa Barbara cause the amount of California spiny lobsters caught by commercial and private lobstermen to drop dramatically as the season progresses toward its March 20 closing.

State laws allow commercial lobstermen to put out their traps six days before the season opening and bait the traps 24 hours ahead of time. All day Wednesday traps were hauled up and by late afternoon, the catches from the first of dozens of commercial boats were being weighed at Anthony’s Fish Grottos, one of the largest lobster wholesalers in San Diego.

The total weight of lobsters caught Wednesday in San Diego waters was not available, but several fishermen said the yields didn’t seem to match big amounts from previous years.

Gene Mierlot, a lobsterman for 40 years, said he and his son, Mike, caught 400 pounds of the crustaceans in 200 traps. He said it was an average take for an opening day but that 500 to 600 pounds would have made him happy.

“I talked to some guys who got only 30 or 40 pounds from 100 traps,” said Mierlot, a Cardiff resident. “There was a pretty big swell out there today.”

Jack Perdew, who has been trapping lobsters in the ocean along Encinitas, Del Mar and Cardiff for 19 years, seemed to have one of the day’s bigger takes at 600 pounds.

“I couldn’t even get to all my (200) traps today, maybe three-quarters of them, so I don’t know my total (first-day catch),” Perdew said.

Local lobstermen were receiving $5.50 per pound from wholesalers, up 50 cents from last year. The average restaurant price for a lobster dinner is $19.