A Lobster’s Tale: Why Recreational Anglers are so Interested in the California Spiny Lobster

By Seth Meyer, Contributor

      California spiny lobster season started the first weekend of October and ends in mid-March. Every year, anglers flood the coastal areas around Southern California, not for the weather or the beach, but to target a crustacean that used to be considered a meal only fit for inmates, but is now considered a delicacy. The lobster, more specifically the California spiny lobster. 

California spiny lobsters are omnivorous animals, meaning they eat everything, like most humans. A lobster spends some time scraping algae off rocks, other times cracking mussels open with its strong mandibles, and even sometimes scavenging dead animals too. This makes the lobster a top predator that is very important in the ecosystem controlling the population of species below it on the food chain. This is quite the important role for the spiny lobster. 

Many people are not as familiar with the spiny lobster as much as they are with their closely related clawed relatives. The history of the American lobster is more in-depth and less decadent than one might think though. As mentioned previously, lobster used to be considered a trash meal and only fed to slaves and prisoners. History.com tells the tale of lobster being so plentiful in the 1700s that it was considered a nuisance. The “cockroaches of the sea” were used for fertilizer and bait for fishing before being used as a cheap way to feed slaves and prisoners. It wasn’t until the mid-1800s that a fishery began for the American lobster. Canning facilities were created to make the lobster last longer and people began increasingly to travel via train to the East Coast to try this exotic seafood. Increasing in popularity in the 1880s, the fishery took an uphill climb until the total boom in World War II where it was eaten by the rich around the country. 

For anyone not familiar with our spiny friend, the California spiny lobster (Panulirus interruptus) inhabits rocky bottom areas as far north as Monterey Bay down to Magdalena Bay in Mexico. When compared to its East Coast counterpart, the spiny lobster might look like it’s missing something, its claws. Instead of claws, spines run along the whole body as a self-defense mechanism. Trying to pick up a spiny lobster without knowing what they are capable of will find you in a world of pain as these spines are razor-sharp. With a lifespan of 30 to 50 years, these crustaceans might also tell you where they were on Y2K while slapping your hand with their tail covered in spines.

At the same time as this newfound interest in the American Lobster, exploration of the West Coast was underway where they found a similar-looking species being eaten by the Native Americans. Although the meat is similar, the lack of big meaty claws and the long-standing history of the East Coast counterpart caused less interest in this species. This lesser interest has allowed the spiny lobster to stay under the radar for decades, only being of keen interest to those in the know. 

Lobster season is in the winter time because scientific research has shown that lobsters spawn in the spring and summer. Having a fishing season outside of the spawning time ensures no harvesting of females carrying eggs occurs, damaging the population. Unfortunately, this also means that the best time to catch lobster is at night in the winter. Additionally, the only two methods of catching allowed are hand-pulling traps or diving in the water, making lobster fishing no walk in the park.

So, with all this being said, what brings anglers from all around Southern California to the coastal areas around San Pedro, Long Beach, Orange County and San Diego come the first weekend of October when the season opens? For one, the interest in catching one’s own food has increased throughout the years and when it’s lobster, the investment in gear and time can result in catching lobsters worth $50 or even $100. Secondly, I would argue it is the taste. 

Unless you have had American lobster straight out of the Atlantic sitting on a pier in Maine, as well as spiny lobster straight from San Pedro Fish Market or Brian Frlekin at Slavko’s Poultry House (and Seafood), then you won’t be able to truly appreciate either lobster at its freshest. If you went out and caught it yourself though, that’s as fresh as it gets. From my personal experience and from others I’ve talked to, the spiny lobster is the sweetest-tasting lobster we’ve ever had. This has anglers excited when October comes around.

Sherwood Prusso of Huntington Beach agrees and is always excited when lobster season starts. An owner of a private boat, he and his friends headed out on opening weekend this year and multiple times throughout the last month to find these nocturnal delicacies. He stated, “The first few weeks we had some great nights and then it normalized but I would say it’s still on average from years before.” California Department of Fish and Game also agrees with the normalcy of the season stating almost 27,000 lobster report cards have been sold with the expectation of more being sold throughout the season, which is on par with previous years. 

The report cards don’t mean any schooling is involved though, rather this is the method that the department uses to report the number of lobsters caught in a season. When you purchase your lobster report card, an additional charge to the state fishing license, you are given a long sheet with space to fill in information such as: what region you dropped your traps in, how many traps you dropped and pulled, and how many lobsters you caught. All this information is due at the end of the season, so catch rates are unknown until the season is over. 

Jenny Hofmeister, Ph.D., from the Department of Fish and Game, shared that catch data is used to create three metrics: the total amount of mass of lobsters caught, the catch per unit effort (number of legal lobsters caught per trap pull), and spawning potential ratio (a measure of the amount of reproduction in a season). She also confirmed with me that the 2021 to 2022 season’s metrics were above the threshold, suggesting a stable population of lobsters. 

Prusso and Hofmeister are excited about the 2022 to 2023 season and you should be too. If you are not keen to weather the nighttime temps and water, fear not, as there are many local opportunities to find spiny lobster to enjoy with your family. At Slavko’s Poultry, you can find spiny lobster on sale now for $45 / pound. You can also find it at San Pedro Fish Market at their market price. Last but not least, if you are further away and can’t make it to San Pedro, Catalina Offshore Products is an online retailer where you can find spiny lobster for sale around $42 per whole lobster, you just have to wait for shipping.