Quote:
Originally Posted by Swimmer
Your not suppose to pick those lobsters up off the beach without a license, same with the clams that wash up. uh oh!
I have been fishing the derby since 1973 more often than not, and every year except one since 1980 and have never heard of lobsters being used by a winner. We have a few winners here. Maybe they can chime in on this statement.
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Actually, you can't pick them off the beach at all, with or without a license--at least in Massachusetts. The only legal way of harvesting lobsters in Massachusetts is by potting, or by free diving. Free diving--more properly called free-handing--includes wading and harvesting them by hand--while they're in the water. You can't even legally keep one if you catch it on a hook and line. Pots have to include an escape vent.
And lobsters can't be harvested by any method at night.
Surf clams can be harvested without a license in certain towns--one would have to check the local shellfishing regs. No permit is needed to take a bushel of sea clams a day in Bourne, for example. All surf clams in Massachusetts have to have a minimum 5" shell length to be taken, even where no permit is needed. The state sets the individual species size limits for shellfish, and the towns regulate permitting and seasons.