I found these two videos on the use of lobster houses in Florida, which is illegal. Divers dump all kinds of material into the ocean in order to attract lobsters and have been causing damage to the environment and is resulting in overfishing. According to the video though they have been very successful and have been bringing more lobster than the fishers that use traps. There are some fishers that are licensed to create artificial reefs by dumping materials but they have to be approved beforehand to make sure that the area where the dumping occurs will not be damaged and the materials will not disintegrate and cause damage to the environment.
I think that lobster houses should be regulated to make sure that they are made out of approved materials and put in the proper locations to reduce environmental impact, but I'm not convinced that they should be completely banned. The fishers that use traps feel threatened because the lobster houses are more effective and their fishing method is harmful to the environment as well. When there is a major storm, their traps get thrown about reefs causing damage and the fishers leave juvenile lobsters, called "shorts," in their traps to attract other lobsters. This results in a significant loss in the number of juveniles in this fishery because they usually get eaten by other lobsters or fish or die due to starvation.
Lobsters are neat!
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