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Events & Seasons

Belize Lobster Season: Closed 1 March to 30 June, With the Size and Trap Rules

Verified live on By · Guatemala-based researcher; not a Belize resident
On this page 4 sections

Verified on 14 November 2026 on the Belize Fisheries Department’s regulations page, the Fisheries Regulations and three later instruments as the Attorney General’s Ministry publishes them, a 2022 Fisheries Department notice on the Government of Belize Press Office site, and the Placencia BTIA’s Lobsterfest page.

Spiny lobster is closed to taking, buying, selling and possession in Belize from 1 March to 30 June in any year, under Statutory Instrument No. 106 of 2022, the latest amendment of that rule we found on the Attorney General’s Ministry’s site, read on 14 November 2026. The Fisheries Department’s regulations page prints the same window, Closed season: 1 st March to 30 th June, with a minimum carapace length of 3 inches and a minimum tail weight of 4 ounces. If the regulation is unchanged, the next closure runs from 1 March 2027 to 30 June 2027 and the season reopens on 1 July 2027 (our calendar reading, not a dated notice).

RuleWordingPrinted by
Closed seasondeletes “15th February and the 14th June” and substitutes “1st March and the 30th of June”SI No. 106 of 2022, regulation 2(a), amending regulation 3(1)(b)
Closed seasonClosed season: 1 st March to 30 th JuneFisheries Department regulations page
Trapsno person shall set any lobster trap in the fisheries waters of Belize during the period 1st March to 30th JuneSI No. 106 of 2022, new regulation 3(1A)
Traps from 15 Junea person licensed to fish for crawfish may set a lobster trap from the 15th of June “if the lobster trap is closed and unable to catch crawfish”SI No. 106 of 2022, new regulation 3(1B)
Sizeminimum carapace length 3 inches; minimum tail weight 4 ouncesFisheries Department regulations page
Size, regulation text“if the cape length is less than three or the tail weight is less than four ounces”Fisheries Regulations, regulation 3(1)(a), Revised Edition 2020

The closed season is written as a calendar window that applies in any year; the trap ban covers the same 1 March to 30 June window, with closed traps allowed back in the water from 15 June.

How the dates reached 1 March to 30 June

The Fisheries Regulations call the spiny lobster crawfish. Four documents show the change:

  1. Revised Edition 2020. The consolidated subsidiary laws on the Attorney General’s Ministry site still print regulation 3(1)(b) with the older window: no crawfish to be taken, bought, sold or possessed “between the 15th February and the 14th June, inclusive, in any year”.
  2. Press Office notice, 18 February 2022. The Fisheries Department announced that the Caribbean spiny lobster season would close on February 28, 2022, “in accordance with Statutory Instrument No. 128 of 2021”, and that the closed season “is from March 1st to June 30th in any year”. It added that Belize’s closed season follows “the harmonized regional lobster regulation (OSP-02-09)” of OSPESCA, the Organization for Central American Fisheries and Aquaculture Sector.
  3. Statutory Instrument No. 105 of 2022, gazetted on 16 July 2022, revoked the Fisheries (Amendment) (No.2) Regulations, 2021, with S.I. 128 of 2021 in its margin.
  4. Statutory Instrument No. 106 of 2022, gazetted the same day, put “1st March and the 30th of June” into regulation 3(1)(b) and added the trap rules.

The later Fisheries amendment we read, Statutory Instrument No. 135 of 2024 (gazetted 17 October 2024), replaces regulation 26:08, on fishing in the Glover’s Reef, Turneffe Atoll and Lighthouse Reef Atoll marine reserves; its arrangement lists no change to regulation 3.

Eggs, soft shells and fillets: the regulation and the department

  • Berried and moulting lobster. Regulation 3(1)(c) to (e) bars crawfish that is berried, has had its eggs removed, or is moulting or soft-shelled. Regulation 4 bars removing from a female lobster “any eggs or spawn or the setae or fibre to which any eggs or spawn are or have been attached”. The department’s page states both rules in its own words. Regulation 3(2) carves out one exception: crawfish with a cape length of less than 3 inches, and berried crawfish, may be taken for aquaculture purposes under a special licence granted by the Minister.
  • Fillet or diced tail meat, regulation wording. Regulation 3(1)(f), as the Revised Edition 2020 prints it, bars “fillet or diced lobster tail meat, except under a special permit issued by the Fisheries Administrator”. That limb carries no dates.
  • Fillet or diced tail meat, department wording. The Fisheries Department’s page says: “No person or establishment shall be in possession fillet or diced lobster tail during closed season.”

The two wordings differ in scope; this page prints both and does not choose between them.

  • Possession in the closed season. The 2022 notice states: “Any person found in possession of lobster during the said closed season will be prosecuted” under the Fisheries Resources Act, Chapter 210. It also said the department “will be actively enforcing the removal of traps” during the closure.
  • Marine reserves. The Gladden Spit and Silk Cayes reserve’s regulations say the Fisheries Regulations “shall apply within the Reserve”; that reserve’s own rules are on our whale shark season page.

Lobsterfest

The government sets the season; the festivals are run by others. The Placencia BTIA’s Lobsterfest page, read on 14 November 2026, says “Belize offers three different Lobster Festivals” without naming the other two, describes Placencia’s as a three-day weekend with a raffle at BZ$2 a ticket (US$1.00, our conversion at the fixed BZ$2.00 = US$1.00 rate), and dates the fishing tournament to “the 2nd Annual Placencia Lobster Festival held in 1999”. Its events listing showed no dated Lobsterfest: “No listings were found matching your selection.” No organiser page we read prints a Lobsterfest date. The village is covered on Placencia.

What the Fisheries Department’s lobster entry does not say

  • Which instrument sets its dates. The lobster entry on the department’s regulations page gives the window but cites no Statutory Instrument (read 14 November 2026).
  • A season notice later than 2022. The most recent lobster-season notice we read is the Press Office notice of 18 February 2022.
  • A tail weight in grams. The department and the regulation print ounces only; we have not converted.

How we researched this

On 14 November 2026 we read the Fisheries Department’s regulations page; downloaded from the Attorney General’s Ministry’s law library the Fisheries Resources Act subsidiary-law volume (Revised Edition 2020) and Statutory Instruments No. 105 and No. 106 of 2022 and No. 135 of 2024, and extracted their text; read the Fisheries Department’s 18 February 2022 notice on the Press Office site; and read the Placencia BTIA’s Lobsterfest page. We did not read Statutory Instrument No. 128 of 2021 itself. The dates of the next closure and reopening, and the US-dollar raffle figure, are our calendar reading and conversion; every other date and limit is printed by the sources below.

Sources

Last verified: 2026-11-14

Researched and written by Estuardo Enriquez for belizetravelblog.com, an independent site with no connection to any airport, airline, tour operator or government body.

Written by Estuardo Enriquez.