Ben, the spanish lobster and slipper lobsters are not protected in any way except that you cannot spear them...in fact, a fwc buddy of mine is fond of telling the story about a fellow officer approaching a diver on the beach, the diver see's he is a LEO and takes off leaving a bag full of short bugs...the warden looks at the bag and realizes that they are all spanish bugs...he had a great meal that night.
guy thought he was a poacher but was just a fool 