IN THE FLORIDA KEYS ( CNN ) -- In the early morning darkness of the Florida Keys , the low hum of the Mystic I is hardly enough to disturb the slumber of the tourists in their hotel rooms . A lobster fisherman holds two spiny tail lobsters caught during the Mystic I 's trip off the Florida Keys . From the wheelhouse , Captain Karl Lessard steers his boat into the darkness toward the fertile fishing grounds off the small Island of Marathon , Florida . This is a ritual that Lessard has done thousands of times . `` I 've been fishing for 38 years , my family has been fishing since the 1820s , there are a lot of fourth- , fifth- and sixth-generation fishermen that are here in the Keys , '' Lessard says . At dawn he reaches a spot that holds a special meaning for him . `` I pass where my mother 's and father 's ashes are scattered . Just around sunrise , it 's a very spiritual place for me . '' In the light of a spectacular sunrise , Lessard plots his course on the open waters . `` I fish for the freedom , '' he explains . `` It 's good for the soul . It 's a fantastic way to make a living , coming out here in God 's glory every day . '' He adds with a laugh that fishing also `` gets me away from the house . I hate those 'honey-do 's . ' `` It 's spiny tail lobster season in the Florida Keys , and that is what Captain Karl and his three-man crew are on a quest for today . `` I am hoping to catch between 300 and 400 pounds , with the new moon that slows fishing down , '' the skipper says . They travel 20 miles offshore to where they have put out their traps . They hope to find them filled with the clawless crustaceans that live in these shallow waters . `` In the Keys , people really started fishing for lobster in the 1930s , '' Lessard says . `` Before that there was very little market for them . '' Lobster fishermen in years past worried more about the impact of things like hurricanes , but these days they have other concerns , namely the price they can get for their catch . `` This ... economy that we are in is not really promoting the sale of our product , '' Lessard says . `` Lobster is going from eight dollars a pound to three dollars a pound . We are basically in survival mode at the present time , but it is still a wonderful way to make a living . '' As a mate hooks the buoys and throws the line in the winches , the traps break onto the surface . As they are hoisted on deck the captain smiles at what he is seeing . `` We got some nice lobsters today , some grandes , '' he says . Watch the skipper at work on the water » . Lessard navigates his boat along his strings of traps as his crew pulls them , repeating the motion some 480 times . Two dolphins play off the bow . `` This is the most beautiful office that anyone could have in the world , '' the lobster fisherman says . `` If you feel the calling , there is no better way to make a living . It 's something I 've wanted to do since I was a child , and I 'm blessed to have been able to do what I wanted to do in life , and have the freedom to do it . `` I hope my family can do it for another hundred years . '' As the afternoon wears on , the traps rise out of the ocean and fall back to the seabed , and a constant flow of lobster fills up the boat 's holding tanks . The catch seems to be better than expected . `` Sometimes if you are lucky , it 's better than being good . And if you 're good and lucky , that 's even better , '' Lessard jokes . With the last trap dropped back into the water , Lessard and the crew of the Mystic I head back to the dock , where they will place the day 's catch onto the scales to see how good the sea has been to them . `` Today we caught 476 pounds . I did n't expect to do this well with the phase of the moon , '' Lessard says . Tomorrow morning the captain will rise again in the darkness and answer the calling that he and his family have heeded for generations . `` My family is out here , and I plan on being out here and joining them someday , '' Lessard says , `` although I would like it to be a long time from now . ''
Lobster fisherman 's family has been working the waters since the 1820s . Crew off the Florida Keys is on a quest for spiny tail lobster . Boat skipper laments the economic tailspin , falling price of lobster . `` This is the most beautiful office that anyone could have ''