Aluminum lobster/crab size gauge seen against his inner thigh and a net bag on the waist to hold the catch.

We’ve been freediving local nearshore waters for over 35 years. We’ve been surfing for about the same amount of time and before that in the youngest years was the boogieboard.

We’ve been going to the beaches around here all our lives.

We can’t say how many hours we’ve spent in close observation of the seashore in that time and what goes on there, but it’s many.

We’d like to think we know what we’re seeing when we see it.

And while we didn’t see them with a lobster, we know they were poaching.

Lobster gear on the waist, speargun in hand.

We watched them long enough to see what they were doing and it was suspect to say the least.

On the opening day of lobster season for recreational divers they were working an area we know well, from decades of experience.

They weren’t there hunting fish, although they each carried spears.

We’re sure they would tell us they were going for fish, but they wouldn’t fool us by saying so.

Typically, spearfisherman myself included would not and do not pay such close attention to the specific area they were focusing on, unless they were going for lobster.

We wouldn’t because we know from experience that the fish don’t hang out there.

We know this to be true of other spearfisherman because we watch carefully other players in the game and have for a long time.

Where they were is exactly where I look for lobster, but not for halibut nor seabass.

We’ve taken lobster, halibut and seabass from here, but each from their preferred nook of habit within the place at large.

Where they focused was not even where lesser game like perch hang out.

And it’s not where the coveted corvina can be found either.

But it is exactly where the lobster are to be found.

Putting on a glove preparing to dive for a lobster.

We know they were after lobster by their dive behavior, too. They spent inordinate amounts of time floating over very specific areas and diving down.

That’s not typical of spearing for fish, but it is of lobster hunting.

So, the area of choice and behavior while there are two rather large clues that suggest what is actually going on.

Ostensibly, they were looking for fish. But their actions tell a different story.

At one point the diver with the pole spear that had a broken rubber band put on a right-handed glove, after his buddy had surfaced from a dive and called him over.

Apparently, the one diver had spotted a lobster and told the other to get ready so he put on his glove.

Then they both dove down together, spears in hand.

Again, that’s not typical behavior when spearing for fish.

Spearfishermen don’t usually dive down together to charge a fish and see who can shoot it first or whatever. Such behavior does not make sense if after fish.

But it does make perfect sense if they were diving for lobster.

One of their names might be Zack.

If we’re going to walk the line and play by the rules ourselves, then we demand others do as well.

It’s an outrage to witness flagrant in-your-face violations.

Last year while diving at this exact spot we saw a couple of long lengths of timber bamboo on the seafloor, caught in the caves and crevices of the rock outcrops offshore.

And it was perfectly evident to us at the time that somebody had been using the bamboo as a tool to flush lobsters from the caves, which is illegal.

It seems this place may be getting pillaged right under our noses.