NOAA makes priority to remove hundreds of illegal 'casita's' used by lobster poachers in Florida Key
SEAFOODNEWS.COM [Sun Sentinel] by Steve Waters August 18, 2014
Florida poachers can be pretty creative. The problem is that after the individuals are caught, the devices they used for their illegal efforts often continue to impact marine resources.
That's why a team from NOAA Fisheries is now in the Keys searching for and removing building materials from the water used in a large lobster poaching operation.
Instead of traps, the operation used what are known as casitas, which is Spanish for little houses. Made from cinder blocks, lumber and sheets of metal, casitas have been described by NOAA marine habitat restoration specialist Sean Meehan as looking like coffee tables that are six inches high. They provide good hiding places for lobsters, which gather under the casitas.
In the Keys, casitas are generally placed in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico...
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