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Once again,
If you procure the lobsters through legal means, and they are of legal size and sex, you can do whatever you please with them.
As for picking them up off the beach, if they are dead, eating them would be the LAST thing I would ever consider.
Here's a "loophole" for the beachcombing collectors: If you have a rec license for lobster, wait until they are "underwater" and collect them. Since there is no specific ruling relating as to how deep they have to be, underwater means UNDERWATER. Not 20 feet, not 10 feet, not even 3 inches.
Although the poaching aspect sounds more important today, I would logically speculate that the beach-combing restriction would be to prevent people from collecting dead shellfish and eating them.
As for the "posession" argument, you need to specify that it relates to coming FROM and taking FROM the ocean. The blanket rule mangling that has been bantered about here would mean that if you go to a reputable fish monger, buy a couple of lobsters to cook at home, once you leave the store you are in violation unless you have a lobster license, since "posession" was the point. That's absurd, but that's what has been presented here.
Let's all take a moment and check out the Marine Fisheries Abstracts regarding shellfishing. That's where I went right from the beginning.
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