VOLUME SEVEN JULY 1994 NUMBER ONE

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ster:.::...... : > NEWSLETTER

RECENT EVENTS AND AQUACULTURE New Book UPDATE

An important addition to the lobster literature has just arrived. Research in Lobster Management, edited by Bruce Phillips, Stan Cobb, and Jiro Kittaka, was published by the Fishing News Books Division of Blackwell South Australia Scientific in early 1994. The editors say, in the Preface, "In deciding to prepare this book, we intentionally focused on spiny because of FROM: JIM PRESCOTT the growth in the industry, the concerns about management, some sig- nificant developments in biological knowledge, and the exciting develop- Research on the southern spiny ments currently underway in aquaculture." The book opens with a brief lobster, Jas us edwardsii, in South review to introduce the biology of spiny lobsters. Following come twelve Australia has intensified dramati- chapters that review the status and management of major fisheries by cally since August 1993. Research geographic region. Case studies present in-depth views of specific recent is now cooperative between the research efforts that have aided management. These range from industry and the issues in reproductive biology, to bioeconomic modeling, to the use of South Australian Research and artificial shelters for facilitating catch. The final section consists of thir- Development Institute with addi- teen chapters on aquaculture and marketing, and focuses on the Japanese tional funding from the Fisheries approaches to determining how to culture spiny lobsters, as well as the Research and Development Cor- poration. The cooperative ap- CONTINUED ON NEXT PACE proach has been the result of the 's desire to have more input into research and a new responsibility for directly RESEARCH NEWS managing the fishery through what are known as Integrated Recent Studies on the Larval Biology of the Spiny Management Committees. Lobster ( cygnus) of The three year research project has the goal of producing an age/ FROM: J.W.T.J. LEMMENS, B. MARINOVIC, AND B. KNOTT length structured, spatial model of the population. This is not un- usual, but another aspect of the Although the spiny lobster of Western Australia, Panulirus cygnus, in- project is. The model will be made cluding its planktonic stages, (see Phillips et al., 1980 for an overview) accessible to biologists and non- has been extensively studied, remarkably little is known about how such specialists through an interactive factors as water temperature and light affect behaviour of the computer graphics interface. The phyllosoma and puerulus stages. Recent studies under the supervision of aim of the interface is to allow Dr. Brenton Knott at the Marine Biological Laboratories of the Depart- biologists, fishery managers and

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workshop addressed the technolo- structures are called "casitas", and gies of enhancement, including RECENT EVENTS provide about 22% of the catch. artificial reefs, habitat and the effi- CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PACE These two countries are the only cacy of enhancement techniques. ones officially using these artificial The final session reviewed topics in shelters to capture spiny lobsters. marketing and distribution of cultivation practices including nu- spiny lobsters in Japan. However, given the great interest trition, genetics, and the manage- shown by several other countries ment of impoundments. The book is 550 pages long, con- for introducing similar structures tains many line drawings and in their spiny lobster fisheries, the The second part of the meeting was photographs, and is indexed. It Instituto Nacional de la Pesca a three-day workshop during costs £69.50. from and the Centro de which seven expert panels pro- Investigaciones Pesqueras from vided instruction and exchanged Cuba, held the 1st Binational information on current technologies Workshop "The use of artificial and new developments in lobster Workshop on shelters in lobster fisheries: their Homarus stock enhancement. Topics in- impact in the dynamics and man- cluded care of broodstock, larval Stock Enhancement agement of the resource" May 17- handling and management, and 19,1993 at Isla Mujeres, México. A restocking techniques for juveniles. second workshop will be held in A cross-Atlantic workshop on A draft manual, "Practices and fisheries and aquaculture of Havana Cuba, in October 1994 Homarus Techniques in the Production of (see Announcements). was held in Galway Ire- Juvenile Lobsters" was prepared by land at the Shellfish Research the Shellfish Research Laboratory to Laboratory in Carna, April 18 - About 50 researchers from several accompany these sessions. This part 22,1994. Hosted by John Mercer, Mexican and Cuban institutions of the meeting engendered substan- the meeting attracted more than attended the workshop. The main tial exchanges among the gathered 100 lobster scientists, managers topics were: Use and planning of scientists, fishers, and associated and fishers from Belgium, Canada, artificial shelters; design and posi- industry and regional development France, The Channel Islands, representatives. tioning of artificial shelters; as- France, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Nor- way, Great Britian, and the USA. Further information about publica- i tions arising from the workshop The The workshop was organised in can be obtained from John Mercer response to the growing interest at the address below. by Irish lobster fishers in the long- We hope to have a fuller report of the work- term future and development of Editors: shop in the next issue of The Lob- the lobster industry. The major ster Newsletter. objectives of the meeting were to John Booth review the status of MAF Fisheries, Greta Point Homarus For further information, contact: P.O. Box 297, Wellington gammarus and H. americanus NEW ZEALAND stocks, to examine the state of the Dr. John P. Mercer FAX: (4) 386 0574 art in lobster stock enhancement, Shellfish Research Laboratory J. Stanley Cobb and to-explore prospects for and Carna Co., Galway constraints to, stock enhancement Department of Zoology Ireland University of Rhode Island for the fishery. Kingston RI 02881 USA FAX: (401) 792 4256 The meeting took place in two parts. The first was a two day John Pringle Fisheries and Oceans conference of formal presenta- Mexico-Cuba Workshop PO Box 550 tions, starting with keynote ad- on Artificial Shelters Halifax B3J 2S7 dresses by M. Fogarty (Lobster CANADA Stocks and Lobster Fisheries) and FAX: (902) 426 3479 S. FROM: DR. JAIME CONZ.4LEZ-CANO Waddy (Lobster Biology, Behav- The Lobster Newsletter is cospon- ior, Reproduction and Ecology). sored by Fisheries & Oceans, Canada The spiny lobster This was followed by sessions on and the Rhode Island Sea Grant is the most important fishing re- stock enhancement programs by Program. It is published twice yearly. source in Cuba and on the Carib- country(Norway, Ireland, USA, bean coast of Mexico. More than Coordination: Ron Duggan France, Italy, and the U. K.), and 50% of catch in Cuba is obtained the industry view of enhancement using artificial shelters called Please send change of address to efforts. The second day of the John Pringle. "pesqueros". In Mexico, the same

The Lobster Newsletter - Volume 7, Number 1: July 1994 Page 2 sessment and monitoring; and Density of the Spiny Lobster, lyzed. The stabilizing buffer effect pros and cons of using artificial Panulirus argus, in Artificial Shel- of refuges in resource dynamics is shelters. ters in Bahia de la Ascension, described and suggestions made Quintana Roo, México. W. Aguilar, about how its role could change A total of 26 papers were pre- A. Aguilar, & T. Camarena the vulnerability of lobsters due to sented. A Proceedings including individual aggregation. The ref- 20 of the papers will be published The highest density (between 20-80 uge effect, accessibility and vul- and available to anyone inter- lobster/casita) for 55-75 mm cara- nerability in the presence of ested. Requests should be sent to: pace length lobsters was observed "casitas" are analyzed. during the closed season. During Dr. Jaime Gonzcilez-Cano the fishing season an irregular den- Artificial Shelters used in the Subdireccic5n de Recursos Pesqueros sity pattern was seen and highest Fishery for Spiny Lobsters in Instituto Nacional de la Pesca value (between 10-40 lobsters/ Quintana Roo, México. P. I. Ca- Chilpancingo 70, Col. Condesa casita) was observed for sublegal ballero 06100, México, D.F. México sizes or juveniles (25-45 mm CL). Fax (5) 286 11 41 During the cold front season den- This is a contribution to the sity declines sharply with a similar knowledge of artificial refuge use Here I provide very brief summa- pattern to the fishing season. The as an art of fishing in Quintana ries of 17 of the presentations. highest density for each season one Roo. It presents solutions for some was found on rocky bottoms. construction problems. 'There are Global Analysis of the Introduc- approximately 7 different types of tion of Artificial Shelters in the Artificial Shelters as a Fishing shelters and it is considered that Lobster Fishery of the Yucatan Method and Their Importance in the total number of "casitas" in Peninsula, Mexico. J. Gonzàlez- Relation to the Regulations of the Quintana Roo is about 3000. Cano & C. Aguilar-Cardozo. New Fishing Laws. A. Solôrzano & J. Gonzalez-Cano Elements of the Analysis of the In this work the most plausible Spiny Lobster Fishery using Arti- scenarios of introducing casitas, The development of Mexican lob- ficial Shelters in Quintana Roo, suddenly or by stages, along the ster fishery management strategies México. E. Sosa & A. Ramirez- coasts of the Quintana Roo and development are described. Some Gonzàlez Yucatan states are analyzed. The of the articles of Mexican fishing analysis consider the impact of law articles are reviewed in relation Catch, effort and catch per unit these structures on future catch to concessions. Emphasis was effort patterns and trends in the for both closed and open sys- placed on relation to fishing meth- Ascension and Espiritu Santo bays tems. We assumed that casitas ods to be used, particularly are described. These are compared have an important role in the "casitas". to those in other localities where behavior of the fishery in periph- casi tas are employed. The possible eral areas along the Quintana Application of Technology to the consequences using casitas are Roo state. Recommendations for Capture of Spiny Lobsters in the discussed. Several hypotheses are using casitas are given. Yucutan. R. Torres-Lara & S. Salas described: stock-recruitment, casitas distribution against local Use of Artificial Shelters and its The technological lobster program lobster distribution and variability Relationship to the Productivity in Yucatan is discussed at length. It in relations with abundance, and and Efficiency of the Spiny Lob- includes: justification, objectives reduction of emigration from ster Fishery. F. Arregufn & J. and scope from 1989 to date. The nursery areas to open sea. González-Cano oulcome of the program has not been evaluated yet. Nloreover, fish- Use of Artificial Shelters in the The use of artificial habitats tends ermen accepted it in principle with Spiny Lobster Fishery of to increase fishing efficiency with- certain reluctance and has been Quintana Roo, México. E. Sosa & out having an effect on biological implemented slowly. A. Ramirez-Gonzàlez production. In this sense, if for socioeconomic reasons, the use of Similarities and Differences Be- This is a descriptive work. It re- these devices is considered for tween Artificial Shelters and views briefly the available infor- exploitation, we recommend con- Other Fishing Nlethods. J. mation on casi tas and the actual trol of the magnitude of the fish- Gonzàles-Cano tendency of its use in the ing operation, based upon the Quintana Roo state. actual productivity of the popula- Artificial shelter and fishing device tion and the ecosystem where the concepts are reviewed and differ- fishing activity takes place. ences amongst them are noted. The different refuge concepts are ana- CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

The Lobster Newsletter - Volume 7, Number 1: July 1994 Page 3 the present density of pesqueros in areas. For zone I, the season be- this area (6.1 pesqueros/Km2) to RECENT EVENTS gins 15 days before, and ends 30 4.7 (pesqueros/Km2) is suggested. days after the last season. For zone CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE II, the catch season has not Development, Use, and Manage- changed. This work compares last Fluctuations in Catch of Spiny ment of Artificial Shelters in the three catch seasons and includes a Lobster (Panulirus argus) in Arti- Cuban Spiny Lobster Fishery. R. discussion about the effect of ficial Shelters, in the area of the Cruz, M. de Leôn, & R. Puga. changing the catch season for zone Gulf of Batabano, Cuba. R. Cruz, I. Male and female monthly pro- R. Puga, & M. de Ledn The Cuban lobster fishery combines portion of commercial catches and features both from industrial and some quality control measures for The amount of lobsters per artifi- artisanal fisheries. The latter has the product are also reviewed. cial shelter can be considered as reached a high level of develop- an index of abundance, inversely ment and catches are obtained us- Ecological Aspects to be Consid- correlated to the fishery effort. ing artificial shelters, known as ered in Site Selection for the In- Estimates of recruitment to the "pesqueros". These have been used stallation of Artificial Reefs. M. fishery in June display a linear for more than five decades, al- relationship for catches obtained Salgado, R. Griôn, G. Ramirez, & though its use in other countries J. V. Mendoza. by the "pesqueros". The did not occur until the early 1970s. catchability coefficient (q) shows a The experience accumulated in the The main objective of the present wide variability in different sea- management of this resource has sons. survey is to carry out the right enabled a guarantee of strict admin- selection of best sites for place- istrative control with the strategic ment of artificial reefs. The main Fishing Mortality of Spiny Lob- purpose of maximizing foreign sters Associated with Different goal is to enhance inshore fishery currency. In this sense, efficient yield of the Colima state. Capture Techniques in the Gulf measures to conserve the resource of Batabano, Cuba. R. Puga, M. related to the cycle of spiny lobsters Selection of Materials and De- de Leôn, & R. Cruz. and to an extensive use of signs for the Construction of pesqueros have been put into effect. Artificial Reefs for Fisheries on It was proved that the variation in Colima State, México. R. Girôn. fishing mortality rate, when the Fishery for the Spiny Lobsters M. Salgado, M. G. Ramirez, & J. season is open, is significantly Panulirus inflatus (Bouvier) and P. Mendoza. related to the artificial shelters gracilis (Streets) on the Southeast checked and is more intense over Coast of the Gulf of California, the groups of 3 to 4 years, with This work describes the objectives México. L. M. Flores-Campana & for the selection of appropriate size of first capture of 81.2 mm R. Pérez materials and designs for artificial (CL). For the period of massive reefs construction and installation, migration, fishing mortality is Artificial shelters made from con- in the coastal zone of Colima, related to the traps joined by nets crete blocks may be a way to in- Mexico. Three (jaulones) checked and is bigger materials and four crease lobster catches, considering designs were selected and de- over groups of 4 or 5 years, while that the coast of the Sinaloa state is scribed. the size of first catch is 83.4 mm. not a well-protected area and it presents high energy swell with Jaime Gonzcilez-Cano Intensity of Fishing on the Lob- different topographic features, sand Subdirecciôn de Recursos Pesqueros ster Resource in the Gulf of and rocky bottoms. Instituto Batabano, Cuba. M. de Leôn, R. Nacional de la Pesca Chilpancingo 70, Col. Condesa Cruz, & R. Puga. Effects of a Change in the Fishing 06100, México, D.F. Season on the Fishery for the Red MEXICO Using different models of produc- Spiny Lobster (Panulirus interrup- tion, it was possible to estimate a tus, Randal1,1840) during the pe- potential catch of 7,300 tons of riod 1992-1993, in the West Coast lobster per year using 102,000 of . M. M. Ramade artificial reefs (pesqueros) and 18,110 traps with nets (jaulones). Last September 9 of 1992, the catch From optimum fishing pressure season for the red spiny lobster and CPUE per gear, a lessening of (Panulirus interruptus) changed in the Mexican Pacific Ocean. The coast was divided in two big fishing

The Lobster Newsletter - Volume 7, Number 1: July 1994 Page 4 Traditional Property out of Little River (27 licenses in all) have their own "property" to FISHERIES AND Rights and Cooperative fish as they like. Adjustments are AQUACULTURE Management in the Ca- made if an area becomes less pro- ductive than the others. There are UPDATE nadian Lobster Fishery also "open grounds" that every- body has access to. The system has CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 FROM: JEFF BROIVNSTEIN AND JOHN . many advantages over the system TREMBLA? that prevails in rnost lobster areas fishers to develop insights into the (no property rights as such). complex way the population may While there is much discussion Among the advantages are less respond to alternative manage- about the merits of property rights reason to fish in excess of trap ment strategies, and perhaps envi- in fisheries management, the fishers limits, and less overcrowding of ronmental variables. This method of Little River, northeastern Cape the best grounds. Fishing traps on of technology transfer has already Breton Island, Nova Scotia, have a trawls (5-6 per trawl) is much proven successful with a model of working system that is grounded in easier and Little River fishers are the southern shark fishery. history. In the late 1800s there was a among the fastest to complete problem with lobster traps being their daily hauls of 275 traps. Per- The first phase of the study has hauled by non-owners. The com- haps the most positive aspect of been an intensive tag,ging study to munity was staunch Presbyterian the Little River system is the sense provide the biological data for the and so religious, fishers would of stewardship it fosters in those model. During the first six months clean bait from trap spindles Satur- with rights to a piece of the of the study, 20,000 lobsters were day, to prevent the trap from fish- grounds. tagged. About 10,000 of these were ing on the Sabbath. The Presbyte- tagged by volunteer fishers who rian Minister of the day was both a With a stronger fisher's associa- had taken part in a two year catch spiritual leader and a voice of au- tion built around the property sampling program, and were thority. In answer to those worried issue, non-property rules were proven data collectors. About 1,500 about illegal trap hauling, the Min- agreed to including those dealing recaptures have been made so far. ister had a solution—that every with dumping of bait, placement Industry support for the project is man (women were not fishers back of traps in the open grounds and so strong that nearly all of the re- then) would fish only those waters restriction on large "4-bow" traps. captured lobsters were released by fronting his own property. Fishers Fishermen in the area generally the fishers after being measured, off someone else's property would favour an increase in the mini- sexed and so on. Measurements of be under suspicion. Property mum carapace size, have dis- lobsters which did not moult be- boundaries became marked so they cussed reducing their trap limits, tween release and recapture indi- could be seen a few miles from and are providing boat time and cate that most fishers are measuring shore. experienced assistance to a Halifax the lobsters very carefully. With Fisheries Research Laboratory several more months of fishing While this system of property rights team studying growth, movement, season left, it is hoped to tag a fur- was never formalized in law, it has arid pre-recruit lobster abundance. ther 20,000 lobsters. The intensive served the purpose well, and for The progressive nature of the tagging program will continue for a most of this century it went unchal- Little River lobster fishers is traced further year. lenged. About 10 years ago prob- to their cooperative system of lems developed as some lobster "lobster ground ownership". With While not without its problems, this licenses left the area and more were the world wide trend in govern- cooperative research has resulted in bràught in from neighboring ports; ments to reduce fisheries manage- far more enthusiasm from the par- in particular the new licenses were ment costs, the Little River ex- ticipants and much more data ac- brought in by residents who lived a ample is encouraging; it shows quired than would have otherwise few miles from shore and thus that communities can agree upon been possible. Since fishers are di- could not claim shoreline property rules that restrict effort and con- rectly involved in the research, it is rights. Also, some fishers had come tribute towards conservation. hoped that they will have greater to own long pieces of the shoreline, faith in the results, and will be more and some owned property with I. Brownstein prepared to accept adjustments to better lobster bottom. R. R. # 4, Baddeck, Nova Scotia management if necessary. Canada, BOE 180. To deal with these problems the Jim Prescott local fisher's association became I. Tremblay Project Leader stronger and developed a system of Halifax Fisheries Research Laboratory P.O. Box 1846 compromise and democratic-deci- P. O. Box 550, Halifax, Mount Gambier sion making. Today fishers working Nova Scotia, Canada, B3I 2S7. South Australia 5290

The Lobster Newsletter - Volume 7, Number 1: July 1994 Page 5 The tanks were covered by 2 cm were found, suggesting that thick blue styrofoam, and some FISHERIES AND roughly 60% of the small juveniles light could pass through this and had molted. Similarly, about 70% AQUACULTURE the sides. A skylight over the plant of the small juveniles molted be- UPDATE allowed some ambient lighting; the tween Days 36 and 63, and about room was also lit with fluorescent 36% between days 64 and 92. lighting during the day. From 18 CONTINLIED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE Clearly, not all juveniles molt at October (Day 1) to 18 November each peak. (Day 32), the seawater was held at Molting Periodicity in a constant at 15°C, at which time The four large juveniles molted Captive Population of water temperature was increased between Days 24 and 33 (before over eight hours to 18°C. On 30 Juvenile Spiny Lobster the molting peak for the smaller December 1993 (Day 74), water juveniles) and again between Days temperature briefly rose to 21.5°C ( edwardsii) 98 and 104 (during the molting due to a circuit fault. peak for the smaller juveniles) - an FROM CRAY CORPORATION LTD. interval of roughly 2 months. Dur- Observations of molt frequency ing our observations, the smaller were made by counting and remov- Observations on molt frequency juveniles grew from a mean of 2.7 ing empty exoskeletons in the tanks have been made over four months g to 9.1 g wet weight. The larger on juvenile spiny lobsters held at each morning. Here we report re- juveniles grew from 26.0 to 41.8 g sults to 4 February 1994 (Day 110). constant temperature in a pilot- wet weight. Over this period, 14 small juveniles scale recirculating farming system. died, but there were no deaths Juvenile jas us edwardsii We will continue to monitor the collected among the larger juveniles. as early post-pueruli from molt frequencies in this captive Castlepoint near Wellington, New population to determine how long Four distinct peaks in molting were Zealand on 5 May 1993 were this cycle is sustained. If the trend observed among the small juveniles transported by air to our recircu- persists, then the next step will be (see Figure) - centered on about lating plant in Dunedin. The 100 to design experiments to identify Days 14, 40, 68, and 97. The peaks juveniles (wet weight 1.5 - 7.9 g) the proximate factor(s) cueing occurred just before full moon each were evenly divided among four molting. It may then be possible to lunar month, and an average of 27.7 0.05 m3 white, opaque plastic manipulate to the aquaculturist's days apart. Molting was observed tanks. In addition, four larger advantage the specific environmen- at others times of the month, but at juveniles (wet weight 22 - 50 g), tal factors that stimulate molting. a much lower frequency. collected from Castlepoint on 25 August 1992, were held in a sepa- Cray Corporation Ltd. Between Days 5 and 35 (from the rate 0.175 m3 tank. All first peak of molting to the begin- P.O. Box 6351 were fed green-shelled mussels, ning of the second peak), 59 shells Dunedin Perna canaliculus. New Zealand

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The Lobster Newsletter - Volume 7, Number 1: July 1994 Page 6 An Overview of the restriction on effort. There are also mature was used to indicate differ- spiny lobster sanctuaries, one east ences in growth rate between loca- Fishery of of Ichaboe Island and another in tions. Along with length weight Namibia and Research Luderitz Harbour. There is no limit correlations, the results suggest Recommendations on mesh sizes for traps or ring-nets that growth rate declines from and those in use restrict the escape south to north; a similar trend is of undersized lobsters. Undersized present in the South African J. FROM: KOLETTE GROBLER spiny lobsters can make up to 70% lalandii (Pollock & Beyers, 1981; of catches, so there is probably high Pollock, 1986; Pollock & Shannon, Exploitation of the Namibian mortality from handling and re- 1987). In addition, lobsters from spiny lobster, Jasus lalandii, dates cycling. southern grounds are heavier than back to the early 1920s (Matthews, similar-sized individuals from 1962). A highly productive re- As sexual maturity of females ap- northern areas. At the Ichaboe source in the early 1950s, it pro- pears to be age related and not size Sanctuary, however, both males duced up to 9000 t annually. How- specific (Beyers & Goosen, 1987; and females appear to grow much ever, during the last 40 years a Chittleborough, 1976,1977; Pollock, faster than on any other Namibian gradual decline has occurred in 1987), the size at which 50% are ground except Kerbe Huk (see annual catches, until the early table next page). 1990s when the annual Total Al- lowable Catch was reduced to The influence of bottom dissolved about 200 t. It appears that a com- s oxygen levels and food availability bination of factors, including over- (mussel biomass) on the spatial exploitation (Beyers & Wilke, distribution of J. lalandii (discussed 1990) and environmental effects by Pollock, 1982 and Beyers & (Pollock & Shannon, 1987) contrib- Wilke, 1990) was observed by uted to the decline. The fishing diving in May 1993. The results, grounds at SW Blinder (Marshall which will be described elsewhere, Rocks) were the most productive could explain the apparent decline in the 1960s (Matthews 1962, in growth rates from south to Beyers, 1979, Beyers & Wilke, 26° north. Density-dependent effects 1990), but after population crashes (Pollock & Beyers, 1981; Pollock, there in the mid 1970s and the late 1986) may explain the very low 1980s, this area now has low pro- growth rates at the Hottentot Point duction. Possible contributing grounds. Although at present this factors include over-exploitation, is the most productive area north environmental factors (low dis- of Luderitz, the average size of solved oxygen levels at the bot- lobsters caught is much smaller tom), and predation. During a than on any other ground. recent dive survey, whelks, which probably are important predators Rock lobster research in Namibia on J. lalandii were in much higher 27° is still having teething troubles. numbers in the SW Blinder area Results confirm the need for more than at the Ichaboe Island Sanctu- information throughout the ary or any of the neighbouring Namibian grounds on such lobster grounds. Southern areas things as growth, larval settle- (e.g. Kerbe Huk), relatively unim- ment, and the effect of portant in the late 1980s (Bailey, fishing gear. This is ex- Beyers & Lipschitz, 1985), are now w..d tremely important in among the most productive both light of the present de- in total catch and CPUE. CONTTNUED ON The present commercial grounds NEXT PACE extend from just north of the Or- 28° ange River to Easter Cliffs/Silvia Hill, with the main ones being the Hottentot and Gallovidea Reefs and Kerbe Huk (see figure). Man- agement measures include a mini- mum lower size limit (65mm cara- pace length), a quota system, and W

The Lobster Newsletter - Volume 7, Number 1: July 1994 Page 7 Literature Cited Lobster Fishing in Iran FISHERIES AND Bailey, G.W., Beyers, C.J. de B. and Lipschitz, S.R. 1985. S. Afr. J. Mar. Sci., 3:197-214. AQUACULTURE FROM. MOHSENHADJIRASOULIHA UPDATE Beyers, C.J. de B., 1979. Invest. Rep. Sea Fish. Brch. S. Afr.,117: 26 pp. Iran coastal waters total about 2500 km along the Sea of Oman CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PACE Beyers, CJ. de B. and Goosen, P.C. 1987. S. Afr. J. Mar. Sci., 5: 513-521. and the Persian Gulf (see Figure). pleted state of the resource. Re- The presence of spiny and slipper search planned includes a study of Beyers, C.J. de B. and Wilke, C.G. 1990. S. lobsters along the southeast coast Afr. Sea Fish. Res. Inst. Invest. Rep., 133: from the Port of Chabahar to the the effect of a modification in fish- 56 pp. ing gear to reduce the numbers of Strait of Hormoz has been known undersized spiny lobster being Chittleborough, R.G. 1976. Aust. J. Mar. to local fishers for many years. A handled, temporary closure and Fresh wa t. Res., 27(3): 499-516. well established fishery, however, did not develop for lack of an intensive survey of the SW Blinder Chittleborough, R.G. 1977. Rapp. P.-v. Reun. available market. Fishers did not area, monitoring of annual growth Cons. perm. int. Explor. Mer., 175: 217- 222. target lobsters, catching only the occasional lobster while fishing for other species. Size at which 50% and 100% of female jas us lalandii are mature on the coast of Namibia, sampled from commercial catches (*) and dive surveys during 1993. The author carried out the first fis h'enes resource science study of the lobster species aiong this coast; Area Carapace Length (mm) at Maturity emphasizing , descrip- tive ecology, spawning, fishing 50% 100% techniques stock assessment. The most important commercial spe- Kerbe Huk 59.0* 65.5 cies belonged to the Palinuridae and Scyllaridae. SW Blinder 51 -1*, 52.0 56.5*, 56.8 1. - the numeri- Ichaboe Island cally dominant species along the 54.5 62.0 southeast coasts of Sistan and Baluchestan Provinces is repre-. Gallovidea 52.5 56.8 sented by the subspecies P. homarus megasculpta and P. hornarus homarus. Hottentot Point 48.0*, 50.9 56.5*, 56.8 They grow up to 12 cm CL (30-32 cm total length) and tend to inhabit rocky shores rates, puerulus settlement, and in waters of 1-5 m depth with the seasonal inshore-offshore migra- Matthews, J.P. 1962. Invest. Rep. Mar. Res. Lab. S. W. Afr., 7: 61 pp. juveniles in the nutrient-rich tions, as well as the long-term nearshore and the adults in the monitoring of environmental fac- Pollock, D.E. 1982. Invest. Rep. Sea Fish. deeper offshore waters. tors affecting distribution and Inst., 124: 57 pp. survival of spiny lobsters. Pollock, D.E. 1986. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci., 2. -this species 43:2107-2117. inhabits the transparant, shallow CAF Grobler (5-15 cm deep), coral outcrops of Sea Fisheries Research Station Pollock, D.E. 1987. S. Afr. J. Mar. Sci., 5: 531- the Persian Gulf islands and 545. PO Box 394 grows to 46 cm total length with a Lud eritz Pollock, D.E. and Beyers, C.J. de B. 1981. mean length of 30 cm. 9000 Trans. Roy. Soc. S. Afr., 44: 379-400. Namibia 3. -is distrib- Pollock, D.E. and Shannon, L.V. 1987. S. Afr. uted along muddy/rocky shores J. Mar. Sci., 5: 887-899. at the mouths of rivers at depths of 3-40 m. Their maximum total length is 45 cm, and mean length is 20-25 cm.

4. orientalis -this Scyllarid, or , has been found

The Lobster Newsletter - Volume 7, Number 1: July 1994 Page 8

in all sandy and muddy coastal lobsters and slipper lobsters are yet A New Monitoring and areas of the Oman Sea and Persian only a by-catch of the trawl fishery. Gulf. They tend to live in waters Assessment Program in 10-50 m deep; their maximum Processing Victoria, Australia total length is 25 cm with a maxi- mum CL of 8 cm. Lobsters are transported live to the FROM: PATRICK COUTIN processing plants. They are be-

5. Scylla rides squarnosus - a non- headed, washed sorted and and then In 1993, the Victorian fishing commercial species, is infre- packed in 5-10 kg boxes and frozen to industry and fisheries managers quently distributed in 20-50 m -30°C for storage and shipment. The made Jas us edwardsii research and water. major market is Europe. monitoring a priority and a 3-year research project has been funded Fishing Methods Summary through the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation. Prior to 1987 lobsters were only Briefly, lobstering was promoted as The program is based at Ma- captured as by-catch because there a fishery only since 1988, the but is now rine Science Laboratories in was no local market and the fishers a proven fishery. Individual quick Queenscliff, south of Melbourne were not willing to risk loss of gill frozen lobster tails have been suc- near the southwest corner of Port nets fishing lobsters on rocky reefs. cessfully marketed in Europe. The Phillip Bay. Cynthia Elliot Government, in an attempt to de- and next step is to attempt to manage Dale Thomson were appointed in velop the fishery, offered gill nets the stocks, thus the following re- 1994, and you will probably meet for fishing lobsters and offered a source science research projects them at the next lobster workshop, market at a set price. The loss of gill were undertaken at the Shilat Re- in New Zealand. nets, however, proved uneconomi- search and Training Organization: cal, thus efforts were placed on local manufacture of lobster traps from • discernment of optimal trap design A long-term program will be es- local materials. This proved unsuc- and bait type; tablished to collect data from the cessful, but it did result in the im- commercial and recreational fish- port of plastic traps from abroad. • determination of spawning season eries. The quality and complete- The new plastic traps were distrib- in order to set open fishing sea- ness of the historical commercial uted free to fishers by the Iranian sons; catch and effort data will be as- Fisheries Co. (Shilat) and a good sessed and the data developed for price offered for the catch; and a • stock monitoring; and use in stock assessment models. bonus offered to the fisher with the These data are reported at fine highest landing. • assess the potential for the grow- area (10 x 10 miles) and depth ing-out of lobster larvae and juve- resolution which may enable de- The private sector strategy niles. tailed spatial modelling. Commer- worked; there is now a thriving cial catch sampling by research lobster fishery in the Oman Sea Mohsen Hadkirasouliha staff and fishermen will provide and Persian Gulf. Plastic traps and Shilat Research and Training Organi- fength frequency data by sex as gill nets are used to harvest spiny zation well as information on maturity Shilat, Iran and molt cycles. Monitoring of recreational catches will depend eN 50\ g2 54 518 Ç6(5E 30N1 on surveys by enforcement offic-

‘ e Bushehr ers and voluntary logbooks dis- , ,)(Province tributed to dive shops. Finally, a small-scale program monitoring Sistan and - puerulus settlement will begin Baluchestan using crevice collectors in an ex- Province perimental design similar to that used in New Zealand, Tasmania, and South Australia.

The 3-year research project will focus on tagging juveniles and adults from commercial boats to determine growth, movement, and mortality rates. This informa- tion, together with data on fecun- Rock Lobsters EM Sand Lobsters. CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

The Lobster Newsletter - Volume 7, Number 1: July 1994 Page 9 FISHERIES AND sively more negative with age. RESEARCH NEWS This supports the hypothesis that AQUACULTURE changing larval photo-response UPDATE CONTINUED FROM PACE I facilitates transport initially off- ment of Zoology, University of shore and subsequently onshore CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PACE Western Australia have shed new off Western Australia, with larvae possibly using differential circula- light on issues like diurnal vertical tion patterns (Phillips 1981). dity, will be incorporated into migration and energetics, and the way in which these affect growth yield and egg per recruit assess- Studies on P. cygnus pueruli by ments. One area off Apollo Bay and survival during larval develop- ment. Sjaak Lemmens have provided will be intensively tagged by convincing evidence for non-feed- Ph.D. student Rod Treble from ing during this transition stage After extensive trails, Baldo Melbourne University to examine (Lemmens,1994c). Late-stage Marinovic succeeded in developing stock depletion methods of stock phyllosomata, pueruli of various a system for rearing P. assessment. Further offshore, fish- cygnus phases of development, and juve- phyllosoma larvae in the laboratory erman Andrew Levings, who is niles were collected through under various environmental con- working towards a Masters degree plankton sampling and with in- ditions. A similar system was suc with Deakin University, will tag shore puerulus collectors (Phillips, Giant King cessfully used to study larval devel- (Pseudocarcinus 17ExternalM.O. and internal feed- gigas). opment of the scyllarid Balmain This species, found in wa- ing structures are poorly devel- Bug ters deeper than 100m, was a (Marinovic et al., oped in pueruli and possibly al- 1994). He demonstrated that bycatch of the 450 t a year Victo- low feeding only on small, soft growth of P. cygnus rian lobster fishery but is now larvae was food particles (Lemmens, 1991; significantly higher at a constant, targeted with landing exceeding Lemmens and Knott, 1994); calcifi- elevated water temperature com- 200 t a year. cation of feeding structures does pared with a daily fluctuation in not occur until after metamorpho- temperature. Thus, temperature sis to the juvenile. Cellular fluctuations associated with daily changes in the hepatopancreas vertical migration do not appear to Patrick Coutin during puerulus development are provide a metabolic advantage. We Rock Lobster Program consistent with a functional suspect the adaptive nature of daily Marine Science Laboratories change from a storage to a diges- vertical migration should possibly Victorian Fisheries Research Institute tive function (Lemmens, 1991). P.O. Box 114 be sought in other factors (e.g., predator avoidance). Queensclifff Changes in cellular activity during Victoria 3225 larval development were deter- The rearing system also allowed mined using nucleic acid levels study of the photoresponse of (Clemmesen, 1988). There is a high phyllosomas. At a given isolume, cellular activity in late-stage the directional response of phyllosoma larvae, with a gradual phyllosoma larvae became progres- decline in RNA/DNA ratio dur-

The Lobster Newsletter - Volume 7, Number 1: July 1994 Page 10 ing puerulus development. RNA/ REFERENCES will form hierarchies in captivity. DNA ratios reached a minimum However, little is known of how Clemmesen, C.M. 1988. Meeresforsch 32: value after metamorphosis to the 134-143. these hierarchies are maintained. juvenile, before gradually increas- Using the one-on-one "boxing ing again. These observations are Lemmens, S. 1991. In: Ed. P. Lavens, P. match" as an experimental design, consistent with negative growth, Sorgeloos, E. Jaspers, F. Olevier (eds.). many facts concerning how lob- expected where there is a non- Fish 8,z Larviculture Sympo- fight how they maintain sium. Special Publication No. 15. - sters and feeding stage. Carbon/nitrogen European Aquaculture Society, Gent. pp. the memory of their fights have (C/N) analysis was used to deter- 266-268. been discovered. If two lobsters mine levels of energy reserves who have no previous knowledge (Lemmens, 1994a). Late-stage Lemmens, J.W.T.J. 1994a. Mar. Biol. 118: 383- of one another are allowed to in- phyllosomata accumulate energy 391. teract, one of the animals usually reserves which gradually diminish Lemmens, J.W.T.J. 1994b. Exp. Mar. Biol. will become dominant after a pe- during the puerulus stage and do Ecol. (in press). riod of intense fighting. Experi- not increase again until after the ments by Christy Karavanich have Lemmens, J.W.T.J. 1994c The Western Rock moult to the juvenile. With meta- Lobster (Panulirus cygnus; : shown that when these two ani- bolic data, these results show that Palinuridae): feeding biology and mals are separated for 24 hours pueruli can survive for 2-4 weeks energetics of puerulus larvae. Ph.D. and placed either in isolation or in on internal energy reserves. Meta- thesis, University of Western Australia, two communal tanks between bolic needs of post-settlement Perth. 205 pp. fights, they will maintain the pueruli are low, while Q10 values Lemmens, J.W.T.J. and Knott, B. 1994. J. memory of the first fight if al- (a measure of the effect of tem- Morphol. (in press). lowed to interact again. The loser perature on metabolic rate) are from the first fight will almost moderate compared with those of Marinovic, B., Lemmens, J.W.T.J., and Knott, immediately back away from the phyllosomata and juveniles B. 1994. J. Crust. Biol. 14(1): 80-96. dominant lobster and avoid a (Lemmens, 1994b). Ash-free dry Phillips, B.F. 1972. Crustaceana 22: 147-154. second fight. This memory can last weight and C/N ratio in post- for about 1 week if the animals are settlement pueruli decreased as Phillips, B.F. 1981. Oceanogr. Mar. Biol. Ann. kept in isolation between the first summer progressed: the rate of Rev. 19, 11-39. and second fight. If the sense of energy consumption was tempera- Phillips, B.F., Morgan, GR., and Austin, olfaction is ablated (Karavanich ture-dependent (Lernmens, 1994a). C.M. 1980. FAO Fisheries Synopsis. Food and Aterna, 1991) or urine is The observed processes may well and Agriculture Organization of the blocked from release during a explain seasonal fluctuations in United Nations, Rome. pp. 1-64. second fight, the memory of the puerulus settlement. Although Phillips, B.F., Pearce, A.F., and Litchfield, first fight is lost. there is little doubt that (apart R.T. 1991. J. R. Soc. West. Aust. 74:93-100. from the time of egg hatching) Work by Thomas Breithaupt, in water temperature, wind and which lobsters had a catheter per- currents are the main factors de- manently placed in the urinary termining puerulus settlement Chemical Signals in the pore, revealed that more urine is seasons (e.g., Phillips et al., 1991), released in the presence of a sec- the way these variables act on ond lobster than during resting or recruitment are placed in a com- activity initiated by non-social pletely new perspective when our FROM: CHRISTY KARAVANICH disturbances such as being chased results are taken into account. It by a stick (Breithaupt and Atema, seems likely that our conclusions The laboratory of Dr. Jelle Atema 1993). Additionally, urine release can, to a considerable extent, be at the Boston University Marine occurs during aggressive behav- extended to other palinurid (and Program in Woods Hole, Massa- iors but not during defensive be- possibly scyllarid) lobsters. A chusetts has been studying the so- haviors. These results suggest that number of papers on the above cial behavior of the American lob- urine is used during agonistic studies are being published. ster, Homa rus americanus for over 20 encounters and contains a chemi- years. Recent work has concen- cal signal for recognition of the Lemmens trated on finding the source and "agonistic partner". The recogni- B. Marinovic function of chemical signals in the tion may either be of an individual B. Knott agonistic and màting behavior of nature or of a dominant status. Marine Biological Laboratory the lobster. Further boxing matches in which Department of Zoology the subordinate from a first fight Nedlands, Western Australia 6009 Lobsters are aggressive animals, was matched with an unfamiliar AUSTRALIA making them useful subjects for the dominant in the second fight re- study of agonistic (fighting) behav- vealed that the subordinate does ior. It has been shown that lobsters CONTINUED ON NEXT PACE

The Lobster Newsletter - Volume 7, Ntunber 1: July 1994 Page 11 The Atema laboratory will continue separating the "blue" and "green" its RESEARCH NEWS multi-faceted approach to study- water was near White Island at the ing the chemically mediated behav- CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE time. Over the 2 hours starting ior of the American lobster with around 2100,6 small red medusae not back away from all dominant investigation of behavioral, bio- (yet to be identified) drifted past lobsters in a second fight. The chemical, histological and electro- and were netted. The bell of each subordinate lobsters actively physiological data. We strive to was about 50 mm in diameter and fought the unfamiliar dominant understand more completely how had on its dorsal surface one final- lobsters, in some cases even win- this utilizes chemical signals stage phyllosoma. When the me- ning the match (Karavanich and in many aspects of its life history dusa with phyllosoma attached Atema, 1993). Experiments are in from aggression to reproduction. was placed in a tank and then progressto investigate further this approached, the phyllosoma apparent "individual recognition" Christy Karavanich would raise its exopods. When by collecting and manipulating Boston University Marine Program separated from the medusa, the urine from familiar and unfamiliar Marine Biological Laboratory phyllosoma fell to the bottom of agonistic partners. If individual Woods Hole MA 02543 the tank where it remained. recognition truly exists, lobsters USA REFERENCES will join a very short list of inver- Close-up color photographs of the tebrates known to be capable of Caldwell, R. 1985. Anim. Behav., 27: 194-201. larvae quickly established their this feat (Caldwell, 1985; Halpin, identity. I. alticrenatus is a slipper 1980; Hazlett, 1969; Johnson, 1977; Breithaupt, T. and Atema, J. 1993. Biol. Bull., lobster widespread in New Seibt, 1973). 185:318. Zealand waters and which also Bushmann, P. and Atema, J. 1993. Biol. Bull., occurs in Australia. Its phyllosoma There is evidence that chémical 185: 319. development, described by signals in urine also play an im- Atkinson & Boustead (1982), takes portant role in the mating behav- Halpin, Z. 1980. Biol. of Behav., 5: 233-243. around 4-6 months. Final-stage ior of the American lobster. Previ- Hazlett, B. 1969. Nature, 222: 268-269. larvae are most abundant from ous work by our laboratory has November to March. Unlike the shown that it is the female who Johnson, V. 1977. Anim. Behav., 25:418428. Jasus spp in our waters, it seems selects the male with whom she that fbacus can complete its entire Karavanich, C and Atema, J. 1991. Biol. Bull., will mate. Current work by Paul 181:359-360. larval development within the Bushmann has demonstrated that shelf edge. females find males and evaluate Karavanich, C. and Atema, J. 1993. Biol. potential mates using information Bull., 185:321-322. What is the basis of the association carried in male urine. He has also between phyllosomas and medu- Seibt U. 1973. Micronesia, discovered a gland in all lobsters 9: 231-236. sae? Are they food; do they ensure that releases a product into the phyllosomas are not carried too urine (Bushmann and Atema, far offshore; are they camouflage 1993). This gland is unlike any- Phyllosomas Riding and protection? thing previously described in lob- Jellyfish sters and is an excellent candidate Literature Cited for a pheromone source. Conclu- Atkinson, J.M. and Boustead, N.C. 1982. FROM. JOHN BOOTH sive evidence for this possibility Crustaceana 42: 275-287 requires more research, examining AND RUSSELL MATTHEWS both lobster behavior in response John Booth to the gland product and the bio- Early in December 1993, in Bay of MAF Fisheries Greta Point chemistry of the gland itself. Plenty on the east coast of the P.O. Box 297 North Island of New Zealand, Wellington Russell Matthews found a final- NEW ZEALAND stage phyllosoma of the scyllarid lobster Ibacus alticrenatus associated Russell Matthews with each of 6 medusae. Associa- 37 Kawaha Point Rd. tion of scyllarid phyllosomas with Rotorua medusae is not new, but we think NEW ZEALAND this is a first for our Ibacus species.

Russell was surface bait fishing under a lantern at night in 10 m of water off White Island. The line

The Lobster Newsletter - Volume 7, Number 1: July 1994 Page 12 interest in the use of artificial shel- AQUACULTURE ANNOUNCEMENTS ters, the members of the organiz- ing committee extends an invita- AWARD MORE ANNOUNCEMENTS ON BACK PACE tion to scientists and fishery managers from other countries to Congratulations are due to Dr. E. attend and participate in the V. Radhakrishnan and Dr. M. workshop. Vijayakumaran, scientists of the Artificial Shelter Central Marine Fisheries Research Registration fee is US$80, and Institute in Cochin, India. They Workshop, accomodations at the university were selected for the "Aquacul- "Langosta '94" for 7 nights, airport transfer, and ture Award" in appreciation fof breakfast and one meal per day is their contribution to lobster cul- A workshop on "Artificial Shel- offered for US$290. ture research. The award was ters in the Fisheries for Spiny Lob- presented by the Marine Products sters and Population Dynamics" For further information, write or Export Authority of India during will be held in Havana, Cuba, fax to: 'INDAQUA.' the first-ever aquac- October 17-21, 1994. The main ulture show, held at Madras in focus will be on the Cuban and Lic. M. H. Ceballos, Sec retaria March 1994. Mexican fisheries and their use of Comité Organizador "casitas" or "pesqueros" as tech- Centro de Investigaciones Pesqueras niques for capturing spiny lob- 5ta Ave. y248 sters, and their effects on the Barlovento, Santa Fé population dynarnics of the spe- La Habana, Cuba cies. Since there has been so much Telef: (537) 227089 I 233614 Fax: (537) 311108 I 33534

The Lobster Newsletter - Volume 7, Nurnber 1: July 1994 Page 13 Increased lobster abundance rather in abundance of kelp on Nova PERSPECTIVE than increased fishing effort was Scotia's outer coast was almost in responsible for most of the change synchrony with the time of lobster in landings. Catch per unit effort recovery, but lobster catches remained constant or increased in started increasing 1-3 years before Why Are There So Many spite of a large increase in effort in kelp recovery. In the adjacent American Lobsters? nearly all areas (Miller et. a11987; areas to the east and west, which Krouse 1993). However, Addison also experienced increases in and Fogarty (1993) believe expan- lobster, kelp cover did not change FROM. BOB AMER sion in fishing area could have (Miller 1985). K.H. Mann (pers. contributed to the increase in the comm.) has pointed out, however, U.S. The above question has exercised that lobster landings in the 1970s the imaginations of fishers, fishery did not fall as far in the area that The very large area over which retained their kelp cover. scientists, and fishery managers landings increased argues against for over a decade. The increase in favorable management regimes or Change in the benthic physical landings has been very wide- changes in regimes as causes. habitat over the area considered is spread during the 1980s, extend- Seasons, minimum sizes, fishing an unlikely cause, and any ing from New Jersey to the effort, etc. vary a great deal over the changes in lobster food supply are Magdalen Islands in the central area considered (Dow 1980); and unknown. Gulf of St. Lawrence. Newfound- changes in management during the land is the only area of significant 1970s and 1980s were small. Temperature has been the variable catches that is excluded. Al- most commonly correlated with though the explanation for the A low level of broodstock (recruit lobster yields, using lags of 0-7 increase is an intellectually overfishing) was a popular explana- years (see Elner and Campbell challenging question, I believe it tion for the depressed catch rates 1991, and Pezzack 1992 for isn't very important in a fisheries during the 1970s (Robinson 1979); reviews). However, I know of no management context. A great deal however the very large year classes lobster fishery, in fact no shellfish of effort could be spent in attempt- which occurred in the 1980s, some fishery, where temperature has ing but failing to answer this of which were produced by these persisted as a reliable predictor of question, or in finding the answer low population levels, weakens this landings. but not knowing how to use it. argument (Pezzack 1992). There are more important ques- In summary, because landings tions about managing lobster If size at female maturity decreased, increased over such a large fisheries. egg production would increase geographic area, we are, by because more lobsters would have a default, left with a best guess that One approach to problem solving chance to spawn before being taken the cause was a widespread, but which scientists are taught is to by the fishery. However, there was unidentified environmental factor falsify hypotheses one at a time no systematic change in size at (Miller et al. 1987; Campbell and until we find one that cannot be maturity in four Nova Scotia ports Elner 1991; Pezzack 1992). falsified. That hypothesis is then over 4 years during the late 1980s accepted (until it is also falsified). (R. Miller and F. Watson, unpub- After all the above considerations However, devising adequate tests lished). we still don't have the answer, or of hypotheses concerning large even a promising testable hypoth- scale field events such as this one Two changes in the biological esis. Well, so what? From a is difficult. The following discus- community have been proposed as fisheries management perspective sion is an extension of more causes. Groundfish catches have the factor responsible probably scholarly treatments by Ennis declined precipitously, perhaps cannot be controlled and thus not (1986), Elner and Campbell (1991), releasing lobsters from predation. useful for manipulating stock and Pezzack (1992). The possible However, I am aware of no study abundance. Furthermore, because explanations for the increase in finding lobster to be a significant it was such an unprecedented landings are reviewed, then dietary component of commercial event in many areas it may have alternative lobster management groundfish. Furthermore, a field no use as a predictor of landings. questions are introduced. study that identified the predators If we think of another reasonable of tethered lobsters found that non- hypothesis and can assess it at The starting date of the landings commercial species, cunner and reasonable cost, fine, but lets not increase was not synchronous sculpin, were the most important get our "knickers in a twist" over among areas, but peak catches (Wahle and Steneck 1992). Non- this problem. were nearly so, and catches in all commercial mud crabs were also areas have increased significantly shown to be an effective predator Also from a fisheries management since 1980 (Table 1). (Barshaw and Lavalli 1988). Change point of view, we would do better

The Lobster Newsletter - Volume 7, Number 1: July 1994 Page 14 spending our efforts improving Bay of Fundy to the Gulf of St. In conclusion, I suggest we follow the yield from the year classes Lawrence. The areas with the the first rule of problem solving, nature gives us. Yield from a year largest proportional increases that is to choose a solvable prob- class can be enhanced by reducing (southwest and southeast Nova lem. waste from trap ghost fishing and Scotia) also had 100 year record handling mortality. The minimum lows in the late 1970s and early REFERENCE size can be set for a high yield per 1980s. It is possible that yield from Addison, J., and M. Fogarty. 1993. Lobster recruit, and both season and size this smaller area might be more News Letter 65(1): 10. set to maximize market price. malleable than the larger area, and enhanced by expanding reproduc- Barshaw, D.E., and K.L. Lavallf. 1988. Mar. Furthermore, instead of focusing tive capacity. The usual options Ecol. Prog. Ser. 48: 119-123. on the causes of peak catches we include a larger minimum size, a Dow, R.L. 1980. In: The biology and could try to increase lobster maximum size, tail notching of management of lobsters. Vol. II, p. 265- abundance in the troughs. Table 2 ovigerous females, reducing overall 316,. J.S. Cobb and B.F. Phillips eds. shows a finer geographic break- fishing mortality, and spatial Academic Press. down than Table 1, including only refuges closed to fishing. the Nova Scotia coast from the Elner, R.W., and A. Campbell. 1991. Memoirs Queensland Mus., Brisbane 31: 349-363.

Ennis, G.P. 1986. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sâ. 43: 2072-84.

Krouse, J.S. 1993. U.S. commercial and Table 1. Catch ratios of lobster landings in the year of peak landings recreational American lobster, Homarus versus the early 1980s. Areas are arranged from south to north. ameriranus, landings and fishing effort by state, 1970-1992. Unpub. ms., Maine Dept. Marine Resources. Year of low Year of peak Catch Location landings landings ratio Miller, R.J. 1985. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sd. 42: 2061-2072. N.J.-N.Y.-Conn. 80 90 3.8* Rhode Island 81 91 4.0 Miller, R.J., D.S. Moore, and J.D. Pringle. 1987. CAFSAC Res. Doc. No. 85:20p. Massachusetts 80 90 1.7* Maine 84 91 1.6 Pezzack, D.S. 1992. J. Northw. Atl. Fish. Bay of Fundy 80 90 2.2 Sci. 14: 115-127. Atlantic Nova Scotia 80 91 4.3 S. Gulf St. Lawrence 80 89 2.2* Robinson, D.G. 1979. Fish. Mar. Serv. Tech. Rep. 834 (Pt. 3): 77-99. Central Gulf St. 80 91 2.3* Lawrence Wahle, R.A., and R.S. Steneck. 1992. J. Mar. Newfoundland 80 Biol. Ecol. 157: 91-114.

*Increase began before 1980. The ratio would be higher using an R. J. Miller earlier year. Halifax Fisheries Research Laboratory P. O. Box 550, Halifax, N.S., Canada, B3J 2S7 Table 2. The same treatment as Table 1 for a sinaller geographic area.

Year of low Year of peak Catch Location landings landings ratio Western Nova Scotia 80 91 3.9 Southwest Nova Scotia 80 91 10.8 Southeast Nova Scotia 80 91 7.1 East Nova Scotia 80 90 3.8 Northeast Nova Scotia 80 91 2.1

The Lobster Newsletter - Volume 7, Number 1: July 1994 Page 15 ANNOUNCEMENTS

If you wish to remain on we have it is on the card. Please scientists, managers, and other check the address and make any interested folk around the world. the mailing list for necessary corrections. You will also The Lobster Newsletter, find spaces for telephone, fax and e- Illustrations Needed! mail addresses if you wish to pro- please return the post- vide them; these will facilitate com- card enclosed with this munication among lobster We always are looking for inter- researchers. The mailing list is esting old woodcuts, modern il- lustrations, amusing anecdotes or issue. available for non-commercial pur- sayings about lobsters to enliven poses to any subscriber of the It is time again to "clean house" Newsletter. the pages of the Newsletter. If you in our mailing list. Nearly 600 find something that you think would be of interest to our read- people in 47 countries receive the Thanks very much. We look for- Newsletter, and we value each ward to continuing to serve lobster ers, please send it or a good pho- and every one of our readers. tocopy to one of the editors. However, we know that some of Thanks very much! you have moved on, or that your interests have changed. Many of you have sent address changes, and a few copies come back from each mailing marked as undeliver- able. The last time we cleaned up the mailing list was in 1989, and we must do it again.

Your name and mailing address as

JULY1994 TLôbster NEWSLETTER P.O. Box 550 Halifax, NS B3J 2S7 Canada G. Su#itm C ornm unicsti on,,> Direct orat e C^epar[mer^t Of risneries and ûceans 200 Kent Street O#ta,ia Ontario KlA0E6 Canada

ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED VOLUME SEVEN DECEMBER 1994 NUMBER TWO

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RECENT EVENTS FISHERIES AND AQUACULTURE A note from Dave Pollock about mass mortalities of lobsters in South Africa reminded us of the ecological disaster in Florida Bay, USA (The Lobster News- UPDATE letter 5(2)) and a mass mortality of lobsters in Canada several years ago. We asked Bill Herrnkind to bring us up to date on what is happening in Florida and The Helgoland Lobster: Don Maynard to write a short piece about his experience with a catastrophic mortality event of Homarus. As Pollock points out, these catastrophes are not a Disappearing Island new, nor are they necessarily linked to human activity. However, the increasing Population prevalance of coastal eutrophication around the world suggests that low oxygen events may become more frequent. The lobster, with its relatively low mobility FROM: KLAUS ANGER (compared to fishes) and low tolerance for reduced 0 2 (many species will not AND JOACHIM HARMS tolerate much below 2 mlJl) as well as its conspicuous size and value, may emerge as a key species for characterizing and drawing attention to these events. For its tin size, the Island of We urge the readers of The Lobster Newsletter to let us know if similar mortali- Helgolancis extraordinarily well- ties happen in their regions. known. Historians know it for its interesting past (it had been ruled Catastrophic Lobster Mortalities in the Benguela by pirate captains, the German Upwelling System Duke of Schleswig, and by Danish and British governors, before Ger- many traded it for Zanzibar, in FROM: DAVE POLLOCK 1890); marine biologists know it for its 100 year old research station Catastrophic mortalities of marine organisms have been recorded ir- (Biologische Anstalt Helgoland, regularly for centuries in many places. There is evidence that toxic algal BAH); paleontologists collect its blooms and related fish kills have become more frequent in the Northern unique triassic and tertiary fossils; Hemisphere (especially within enclosed seas) during the past two or and millions of tourists (tourism has become the major economy on CONTINUI: D ON NEXT PACE the island) have visited and en- joyed this spectacular, lonesome NEWS red rock in the North Sea. Perhaps it is less known among lobster specialists, although the island On the "Over Size" Puerulus of Projasus parkeri does have an old tradition in lob- ster fisheries. The nearest neigh- FROM: PAULETTE McWILLiAM bouring popu- lations are found some distance The editors' comment on Richard Webber's splendid drawing of the away in northern Denmark, Nor- puerulus of Projasus parkeri reproduced in The Lobster Newsletter Vol. 6 way, and around the British Isles. (2) invited response about the possible size of the final phyllosoma. My Hence, our lobsters are likely a guess is its total length (TL) was around 54 mm, but it may have been as true island population in the bio- small as 40 mm. geographic sense (Fig. 1).

CONTI NUED ON PAGE 5 CONTINUED ON PAGE I I involving 120,000 lobsters, took (calcium carbonate rock pocked place in March 1989 at the same with solution holes and overlain RECENT EVENTS locality. These events were associ- by a thin veneer of carbonate sedi- ated with the shoreward advection ment) interspersed with seagrass CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE of oxygen-depleted bottom water, meadows are most prominent in three decades due to eutrophica- but none seemed to have been asso- the southern portion of the bay. tion. But eutrophication is not ciated with red tides. Sponges, octocorals, and caused just by human activity. macroalgal patches, particularly However, in February and March red algae (e.g., Laurencia spp.), are Eutrophic conditions in eastern 1994, a massive mortality of fish characteristic features that pro- boundary upwellings are largely and lobsters took place at St. Hel- vide the settlement substrate, food the result of natural processes in ena Bay just south of Elands Bay. resources, and shelter for spiny that enhanced nutrient supply This involved hundreds of tons of lobsters. Despite extremely heavy from deep waters provides the fish and sharks, as well as about 60t fishing pressure on the adults basis for high rates of phytoplank- (over 300,000 individuals) of lob- over the last two decades, contin- ton production in shallow waters. sters. Detailed results and descrip- ued postlarval recruitment and On the west coast of southern tions await publication. It appears postsettlement growth and sur- Africa, the Benguela upwelling that severe oxygen-depletion of bay vival have provided a relatively system is one region where major waters was associated with dense stable catch. Between 1991 and fish kills have occurred as a result accumulations of red tide com- 1993, however, we documented of eutrophication caused purely prised of a mixture of non-toxic and widespread mortality of sponges by natural phenomena. toxic dinoflagellates. Mortalities following repeated cyanobacterial were primarily caused by asphyxia- blooms encompassing > 1000 km' In the Benguela, high diatom pro- tion, rather than by the toxicity in central Florida Bay. The loss of duction is often replaced by di- itself. The catastrophic mortality is large sponges that typically shel- noflagellate blooms (induding red likely to have severe repercussions ter juvenile lobsters was nearly tides) during late summer and for certain isolated lobster fishing 100% at many sites we sampled auturnn, when southerly winds grounds in the vicinity of the bay which induce upwelling abate. (which itself is a lobster sanctuary), The The phytoplankton dies and de- and may also impact adversely on Lobster cays in dense accumulations, us- several local finfish and shark fish- NEWSLETTEli eries. Recovery rates of affected ing up oxygen in the cold, sub- Editors: thermocline waters. Oxygen- populations will be monitored. depleted waters near the seabed John Booth are thus common during autumn. Dave Pollock MAF Fisheries, Greta Point Sea Fisheries Research Institute P.O. Box 297, Wellington Private Bag X2 NEW ZEALAND West coast rock lobsters (jas us FAX: (4) 386 0574 are sensitive to low oxy- lalandii) Rogge Bay 8012 jdbQfrc.maffish.govinz gen levels, and often mass inshore Cape Town in an attempt to avoid oxygen- SOUTH AFRICA J. Stanley Cobb Department of Zoology depleted conditions. They appear University of Rhode Island to avoid dissolved oxygen levels Kingston RI 02881 USA of about 2 m1/1 or less (about 33% FAX: (401) 792 4256 saturation). Since the late 1960's Impact of Sponge-Shelter [email protected] there have been four catastrophic Loss on Juvenile Spiny John Pringle mortalities, each associated with Fisheries and Oceans oxygen depletion during autumn. Lobster, Pan ulirus argus, PO Box 550 In March 1968, thousands of rock in Florida Bay: Halifax B3J 2S7 lobsters were stranded and died at CANADA An FAX: (902) 426 3479 Elands Bay on the Cape west coast Update [email protected] following a calm period coincid- ing with spring tides. The subtidal FROM: W. IIERRNKIND The Lobster Newsletter is cospon- and intertidal zones where the sored by Fisheries & Oceans, Canada and the Rhode Island Sea lobsters accumulate are gently Florida Bay contains the essential Grant Prog-ram. It is published sloping rock. Eighteen years later, nursery habitat for the region's twice yearly. in March 1986, again after a calm spiny lobster population. It is a period coinciding with spring shallow, subtropical lagoon lying Coordination: Ron Duggan tides, about 90,000 moribund lob- between the southern tip of Florida Please send change of address to sters were washed ashore at and the Pleistocene reef ridge of the John Pringle. Elands Bay. A similar occurrence, Florida Keys. Hard-bottom areas

The Lobster Newsletter - Volume 7, Number 2: December 1994 Page 2 before and after the blooms. Juve- Keys. They survey data provide an Storm Generated Lobster nile lobster abundances declined important, empirically based esti- by an average of 49% over that mate of the impact of sponge loss (Homarus americanus) time in this productive nursery on the region's spiny-lobster popu- Mortalities off Prince area of > 200 km2. We therefore lation. expect a decrease in that area's Edward Island, Canada contribution to the fishable lobster The field survey revealed that the population. Lobsters take 2-3 sponge die-off region provided FROM: DON MAYNARD years to enter the fishery after about 20% of the total nursery pro- & WADE LANDSBURG settlement, so the full impact of duction of juvenile lobsters. On the habitat loss will occur over the basis of our comparison sampling On November 12th 1986, three next few years. Moreover, these in 1990-1993, indicating a 49% lob- days of storm-force northerly impacts may be long lasting be- ster decline in that area, the total winds in the Gulf of St. Lawrence cause the blooms have not abated, impact is about a 10% reduction. abated, and in their wake lobsters preventing recovery of the The model results predict that the were stranded on exposed beaches sponges. total decline would range from of Prince Edward Island (PEI) in about 1% to 20% depending on the eastern Canada. Early reports of In 1994, our goal was to estimate availability of intact alternative, lobster mortality came from the the potential impact of these re- underutilized shelter such as solu- Brackley Beach National Park area cent, widespread disturbances on tion holes, sea whips, coral heads, the same afternoon. Lobsters are a the total juvenile spiny-lobster etc. That is, the larger decline is most valuable commercial species, population. One way we ap- expected where nonsponge shelter thus a survey team was assembled proached this problem was in is scarce because the small, preda- consisting of scientific staff from initiate a computer-simulation tor-vulnerable juveniles would be the Gulf Fisheries Centre, the model of spiny-lobster recruit- exposed more and, consequently, morning of November 13th, to ment in Florida Bay to generate suffer high mortality rates. The field quantify lobster mortalities be- predictions of potential changes in surveys in the sponge die-off region tween Cove Head Harbour and juvenile lobster abundance under showed a definite shift in sheltering Tracadie Bay. various scenarios of habitat distur- potential lies somewhere between bance. Under Mark Butler's lead- the modelled extremes. We plan to Distance along the shoreline was ership and guidance from Ken- refine the model further but are measured with a vehicular odom- neth Rose (Oak Ridge National encouraged by the approximate eter. Team members, walking in Labs), we developed a first-gen- correspondence between its initial front of the vehicle, collected eration, individual-based, spa- predictions and the empirical esti- whole lobsters or pieces thereof tially explicit biological model in mate. Regarding the fishery impact, found between waters edge and collaboration with John Hunt for a 10% loss may not be easily de- the high water mark. All piles of 1 the Florida Marine Research Insti- tected against intcrannual variation flotsam were sorted for lobster tute and Florida Department of in catch but potentially constitutes a remains. A total of 5 kilometres of Environmental Protection. Indi- yearly loss of over half a million beach were surveyed in this man- vidual-based models literally track lobsters until sponges grow back to ner. At the time of the survey, air each individual within a popula- sheltering size. temperature was 0°C and the bot- tion and incorporate biological, tom water temperature from the spatial, and temporal interactions W.F. Herrnkind closest available station, at ap- in a realistic, often probabilistic Department of Biological Science proximately 10 metres depth was fashion, in order to construct pro- Florida State University 5° C. Ice forming in the surf zone jected populations and pinpoint Tallahassee, FL 32306 USA indicated the cold air tempera- life stages, habitats, geographic tures combined with the mixing locations, dates, or processes cru- Mark J. Butler IV effect of waves resulted in much cial to the model outcome. The Department of Biological Sciences lower near shore temperature than information we have obtained Old Dominion University that measured at 10 metres. As over the past decade on lobster Norfolk, VA 23529 USA lobster activity is directly related recruitment processes made it to temperature, we suggested the possible for us to develop this sudden drop in water temperature type of model. We also conducted reduced lobster activity. If this a large-scale quantitative field occurred quickly, the lobsters may survey of juvenile spiny-lobster have been unable to take shelter or numbers and nursery habitat move to deeper waters away from structures throughout the Florida the wave affected substrate.

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The Lobster Newsletter - Volume 7, Number 2: December 1994 Page 3 million commercial lobsters are tangled in a bottom set net. It was landed during an average nine entirely blue in color. Stripes RECENT EVENTS week season along this coast. along the pereiopods were similar in color to the normal P. CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE Anecdotal record of the occurrence penicilla tus. This is the first time The survey revealed the greatest of storm related mortalities of lob- the color pattern has been re- density of lobsters to be located sters in the Gulf of St. Lawrence corded from Sri Lankan waters. within the piles of storm cast sea- have appeared through out history. weed dislodged from the substrate In 1811, Bishop Msgr. Plessis, re- The blue lobster is being kept at by the storm. The marine plants ported in his journals that lobsters the Crow Island laboratory of the consisted primarily of Laminaria covered beaches for several National Aquatic Resources saccharina, Fucus vesiculosus and kilometres after a storm in Agency in Sri Lanka. Zostera marina. The substrate Caraquet, New Brunswick. In 1873, within one kilometre of the coast Shippagan, New Brunswick experi- D. S. Jayakody is a patchwork of sand, sandstone enced an August storm which de- National Aquatic Resources Agency cobble and sandstone reefs and posited drifts of lobsters one to five Crozv Island ledges. Abundant seabird tracks in feet deep on the beach. Recent re- Colombo 15 the sand provided evidence of ports of storm-cast lobsters have SRI LANKA scavenging and predation. This been noted, but quantitative data bird predation resulted in an un- were not collected until this survey, der estimation of the storm in- which is the only quantitative study Editors note: Dr. Jayakody's letter duced lobster mortality as we did of storm-induced lobster mortality was accompanied by two photo- not attempt to assess the loss to in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. graphs of the blue specimen. Strik- the birds. Intact lobsters and lob- ingly bright blue specimens are ster pieces were later examined Storm related mortality of lobsters rare but not unknown in Homa rus and measured in the laboratory. in a nearshore stock should be in- populations. Is unusual blue col- cluded in estimates of natural mor- oration found in other species? A conservative estimate of lobster tality. Repeated storm events over a mortality in the survey area was short time period could cause con- calculated, using the principle of siderable cumulative mortality. LETTERS mutual exclusion. If a 10 metre transect yielded 10 lobster claws, Donald R. Maynard three carapaces and four abdo- Jacques Whitford Environment Limited To the editors: mens, the confirmed mortalities 4G Walker Drive for this area was noted as four, Charlottetown, PEI We work with the red lobster fish- based on the abdomens. The loss CANADA C1A 8S6 eries (Panulirus interruptus) in the of a claw is not fatal, while separa- middle portion of the peninsula of tion of the carapace from the ab- Wade La ndsburg Baja California, at Cedros Island. domen by, say a seabird, is. This Fisheries and Oceans Presently, we are in the process of technique is another source of Gulf Fisheries Centre reviewing the minimum legal under estimation. P.O. Box 5030 length for capture (now 82.5 mm Moncton, NB cephalothorax length) in coopera- The number of confirmed mortali- CANADA ElC 9B6 tion with the Ministry of Fisheries. ties was 39 per linear kilometre of We would like to know of papers shoreline. The carapace size of or programs that review the mini- individual lobsters and separated A distinct color variety of mum length of capture in other carapaces collected ranged from species of lobsters around the 22 mm to 135 mm. world. FROM: D.S. JAY AKODY The commercial lobster catch com- Jose Gonzalez Aviles position along the 200 kilometre Panulirus penicillatus is a com- Sociedad Cooperative de Produccion coast of northern Prince Edward monly occurring spiny lobster spe- Pesquera Island is predominately in the cies found along the south coast of Ave. Ryerson, #117 range of 64 to 81 mm CL. Consid- Sri Lanka. Nôrmally, it is dark Isla de Cedras ering lobsters within the commer- brown in color. It occurs in shallow Ensenada, B.C. cial size range only, the estimated rocky bottom areas to a maximum MEXICO storm mortality was 5800 lobsters depth of 12m. On 20th December for the entire 200 kilometre coast- 1993, a 122mm carapace length line. To put this level of mortality female P. penicillatus with a sperm in perspective, approximately 95 packet (tar spot) was caught en-

The Lobster Newsletter - Volume 7, Number 2: December 1994 Page 4 development in this genus, the Importance of the Clean- larval shield is more equivalent to a RESEARCH NEWS true carapace (covering most of the ing Pereiopods in Pre- thorax) and has a true rostrum CONTINUED FROM PAGE ONE venting Embryo Mor- proturding from it. The carapace Is it possible that the puerulus covers the optic lobe and the talities in Homarus phase in Projasus lasts much anteriomedial margin of the larval gammurus (L.) longer than that estimated for carapace (from which measure- ments are taken) is clearly demar- other palinurid genera such as FROM., INCEBRICT UCLEM Jasus or Panulirus ? Could it ex- cated by the base of the rostrum. tend from 3-6 months and perhaps Embryo mortality, caused by involve one or more ecdyses, with In relative terms, a TL of 54 mm is microbial fouling of the egg sur- a concomitant size increase? And not oversize for a final phyllosoma face, has been a problem in cultur- if lasting longer, is it possible the larva. The TL of the final stages of j. ing externally brooding decapods edwardsii and Palinustus puerulus in Projasus is also a feed- sp. were (Fisher, 1976; Fisher et al. 1978; reported to be approximately 48 ing stage and able to manipulate Fisher, 1986). Fouling occurs with and ingest soft food? Comments mm (Lesser, 1978; McWilliam and both filamentous and non- are welcome. Phillips, 1987) and 50 mm (Gurney, filiamentous forms; one common 1936 see Fig. 15) respectively. The filamentous bacterial pathogen is The duration of the puerulus of so-called 'giant' phyllosomata of Leuchothrix mucor (Johnson et al. in nature is possi- the early literature were mainly late 1971). The non-filamentous forms larval stages of the genera bly up to 70 days (Booth, 1989). normally accompanying the fila- Scyllarides and But Projasus is is a deep-living, Parribacus (which,P mentous forms (Nilson et al., with Arctides, more 'primi tive', palinurid. When are the more 'primi- 1975), are shown (Fisher, 1976) to erected by George and Grindley tive' of the scyllarid genera). Those be responsible for mass mortalities of P. antarcticus (1964) it was regarded as interme- have ranged from a of eggs from the Dungeness diate between Palinurellis TL of 65 - 80 mm. Michel (1971) (Cancer magister). (Synaxidae) and jas us. reported the TL for the final stage of Parribacus sp. as 83 mm (Holthus, Scattered data in the literature (too 1985). Whether such larvae ever Most decapods exhibit parental numerous to cite) indicate the TL metamorphose is another matter care in aeration and grooming of of the final phyllosoma larva of (Gore, 1985). embyros, by picking and brushing Projasus tends to be greater (by the egg mass with specially some 4-10 mm) than that of the Literature Cited adapted pereiopods (Bauer, 1979). It has been shown that these legs puerulus in species of Jasus and Booth, J.D. 1989. N.Z.J. Mar. Freshw. Res. 23: Panulirus . This is explicable be- 43 - 50. are essential in the defence against cause the anterior margin of the George, R.W. and Grindley J.R. 1964. J. Proc. microbial fouling in the , larval cephalic sheild (from which Roy. Soc. W. Aust.: 87 - 89. Heptacarpus pictus (Bauer, 1979) measurements are always taken) Gore, R.H.1985. In: Larval Growth, pp. I - and Palaemon macrodactyl us 65. A. Wenner and A.A. Balkema eds. is actually that of the optic lobe, Crustacean Issues 2. (Fisher, 1986). Nephropid lobsters which is not equivalent to the Gurney, R. 1936. Discovery Rep. XII: 377- use the fifth pair of pereiopods in anterior margin of the puerulus 440. grooming. carapace (repositioning occurs in 1-Iolthuis, L.B. 1985. Zool. Verhand. No. 218: 1-130. In Norway lobster juveniles are metamorphosis). The primordium Lesser, J.H.R. 1978. N.Z.J. Mar. Fish. Res. 12: of the true carapace margin and 357 - 370. cultured large scale at the Institute supraorbital spines become visible M°Williams and Phillips 1987. Crustaceana of Marine Research Lobster Hatch- as a "rostral elevation", or dorsal 52:1 - 24. ery, as part of a government spon- 1992. Crustaceana sored sea ranching program. Egg flange, posterior to the anterio- 62: 249 - 272. medial margin of the larval shield Michel, A. 1971. Cah. O.R.S.T.O.M. ser. mortalities caused by microbial in the final phyllosomata of both Oceanogr. IX: 459 - 473. fouling has been a frequent prob- genera (McWilliam and Phillips, lem. This note summarizes obser- 1987,1992). vations on the importance of the Paulette S. M`6villiam cleaning pereiopods as an anti- 18 Moroak Street Only in the synaxid, Palinurellus fouling mechanism in the Euro- Hawker ACT wieneckii, is the puerulus about the 2614 pean lobster (Hommarus same length as it's final phyllo- AUSTRALIA gammarus). soma - actually a few millimeters longer (see Michel, 1971). This is because, throughout later larval

The Lobster Newsletter - Volume 7, Number 2: December 1994 Page 5 gest that microbial fouling could be Recent Advances in the responsible for the embryo mortali- RESEARCH NEWS ties. Hence, the observations carried Biology of Japanese out on H. gammarus, support the Palinurid Lobsters CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE general assumption that the clean- Culture of juvenile lobsters usu- ing pereiopods are important in the FROM: HIDEO SEKICUCHI ally takes place twice yearly, defence against microbial fouling June to August and January to on eggs. The Japanese archipelago extends March. To induce winter em- over subarctic (Hokkaido Island), bryo hatching„ wild caught egg The findings imply that eg,g mor- temperate (Honshu Island), and bearing females are held in wa- talities caused by fouling of egg tropical/subtropical (Ryukyu ter with elevated temperatue surfaces can be significantly re- Island) zones of the northwest (14°C to 18°C) from early Octo- duced if a loss of cleaning pereio- North Pacific (Figure), so the ma- ber till hatching starts. pods is prevented. The loss of legs rine fauna is remarkably varied. A Broodstock are housed in an in the hatchery is normally a result total of 27 palinurid an scyllarid open, single pass, culture sys- of intraspecific aggression in the lobster species are known and tem (Grimsen et al., 1987). The collective containers. Addition of others (cg., Scyllarus spp.) may observations presented below shelters in these containers may still be found (Sekiguchi, 1988). were recorded in early Decem- reduce the intraspecific aggression. ber 1991 and 1992. Unfortu- An optimal feeding regime may nately, in 1991, it was not pos- also minimize aggression by reduc- Panulirus spp. form the most im- sible to investigate animals with ing hunger as motivation for con- portant fisheries, so most biologi- both fifth pereiopods in place; flicts. However, individual storage cal and ecological studies of lob- one was removed from each of the lobsters would eliminate this sters in Japan have been directed lobster for genetic studies prior problem completely. More careful at these, particularly P. japonicus. to the current observations. handling during sampling of the Catches of P. japonicus have fluctu- Dead eggs, collected from broodstock will also be important ated between 970 and 1850 t per heavily infested lobsters, were for reducing loss of legs. year since 1951 (Nonaka, 1986); P. examined under high magnifi- longipes femoristriga, P. penicillatus, cation for the presence of fila- REFERENCES and P. versicolor catches are much lower, with annual yields of P. mentous fouling. Bauer, R.T. 1979. Zool. J. Linnean Soc 65: 281-303. longipes fernoristriga up to 50 t The number of lobsters with Fisher, WS. 1976. J.Fish. Res. Bd. Can. 33: (Sekiguchi, 1988). embryo mortalities was higher 2849-2853. Fisher, W.S. 1986. In: Pathology in marine P. japonicus occurs along the Pa- in 1991 than in 1992 (Table 1), aquaculture. C.P. Vivares, J.R. Bonami probably because of the one and E. Jaspers eds. European Aquacul- cific coast open to the Kuroshio missing fifth pereiopod. There ture Society Spec. Pub. 9, Bredene, Current - central and southern was a significant (p<0.001, Belgium. Japan, around Kyushu (but not Fisher-Irwin exact test) decrease Fisher, W.S, E.H. Nilson, J.F. Steenbergen Ryukyu) Is., Cheju Is. (Korea), and and D. V. Lightner. 1978. Aquaculture 14: northern Taiwan (Sekiguchi, 1988, in number of lobsters with egg 115-140. mortality when cleaning che- Grirnsen, S., R.N. Jaques, V. Erenst and J.G. 1989). The southern boundary for liped number increased . The 13alchen. 1987. Modeling„ Identification P. japonicus is the northern one for examination of dead eggs re- and C_ontrol 8: 61-68. P. longipes femoristriga and also Johnson, P.W., J. Sieburth, A. Sastry, C.R. coincides with the northern limit vealed the presence of massive Arnold and M.S., Doty. 1971. Limnol. fouling, probably by L. mucor. It Oceanogr. 16: 962-969. of coral reefs in the northwest is therefore reasonable to sug- Nilson, EH., W.S. Fisher and R. A. Shleser. Pacific, P. longipes fernoristriga has 1975. Proc. World Maric. Soc 6:367-375. been reported from Ryukyu and Ogasawara Is. and northern Tai- Table 1. Number of lobsters with and without wan; P. longipes longipes is found embryo mortality in relation to presence/ absence of pereiopods. Ingebrigt Uglem only in northern Taiwan (Huang Institute of Marine Research et al., 1988). None of these species No. cleaning periopods Lobster Hatchery has been reported from mainland None One Both P.O. Box 130 China or the Yellow and Japan N-7200, Kyrksceterora Seas. 1991 (n-92) NORWAY No. Mortalities 2 60 - Generally, fi shing grounds are on No. Mortalities 20 10 - rocky coasts. Mie, Wakayama, and 1992 (n=102) Nagasaki Prefectures (including Coto Is.) in western Kyushu have No. Mortalities 0 17 77 highest P. japonicus catches No. Mortalities 3 5 0

The Lobster Newsletter - Volume 7, Number 2: December 1994 Page 6 (Nonaka, 1986). Berried females comm.). First-stage phyllosomes are south of the Kuroshio Current) are common during spring to often collected over fishing grounds sometimes reach Okinawa Island. early summer throughout the (Harada, 1956; Murano, 1967), but From these, and from the move- fishing grounds and are protected. mid- and late-stage phyllosomas ment of satellite-traced buoys, I Seasonal migrations include have rarely been taken in coastal infer that it takes it takes nearly movement inshore from deeper waters (Sekiguchi, 1988). Pueruli one year for full circulation in sub- shelf waters in winter and early are collected with artificial traps set gyres of the Kuroshio-Counter spring, and migration alongshore close to rocky shores, mainly in Current (Sekiguchi, 1988). The in shallow shelf areas in other summer (Fushimi, 1976; Ichirai et larval period of P. japonicus in the seasons. Most movements have al., 1967, Kanamori, 1982). laboratory is also around one year, been less than 10 km, but some as described above. have taken place over tens of kilo- The Kuroshio Current flows north meters (e.g., Ishida and Tanaka, between Taiwan and Ryukyu Is- A hypothesis for larval recruit- 1985). land. Recent oceanographic studies ment of P. japonicus follows. suggest that the Kuroshio-Counter Phyllosomas hatched in shallow, Details of early life history and Current forms a sub-gyre within rocky reefs in summer are en- larval recruitment in P. japonicus the subtropical gyre (Hasunuma trained and transported in the are scattered. Larvae have been and Yoshida, 1978). Trajectories of Kuroshio Current and then in the cultured from egg to settlement in satellite-traced buoys released into Kuroshio Counter Current. 307-391 days using Mytilus gonad the Kuroshio Current west of Subfinal- and final-stage as food (Kittaka and Kimura, 1989; Ryukyu Island. (Ishii, 1981; phyllosomas enter the Kuroshio Yamakawa et al., 1989). In nature, McNally et al., 1983) were a) gener- from waters east of Ryukyu Is- phyllosomas have been found ally to the northeast, but often with land, and pueruli are transported associated with medusae clockwise and/or anticlockwise and dispersed along the Pacific (Shojima, 1963; Herrnkind et al., circulation south of Shikoku and coast of central to southern Japan 1976); nematocysts have been Honshu, and b) east toward the and western Kyushu (Sekiguchi, detected in the gut of Hawaiian archipelago or into the 1985,1988). phyllosomas, and medusae are counter current south of the ingested by larvae in the labora- Kuroshio and then south or south- LITERATURE CITED tory (Sims, 1968; Cobb and Wang, west. Kittaka, J. and K. Kimura. 1989. Bull. Jap. 1985), but experiments indicate Soc. Sâ. Fish. 55: 963-970. that medusae are not sufficient Floating volcanic pumice from Iwo Sekiguchi, H. 1988. Benthos Res. (BuiL Jap. alone as food (Kittaka, pers. Island south of Ogasawara (and Soc., Benthol.) 33/34: 1-16. Sekiguchi, H. 1989. Bull. Jap. Soc. Fish. Oceanogr. 53: 315-318. Yamakawa et a1.1989. Bull. Jap. Soc. Sci. Fish. 55:745. Other literature is referred to in Sekiguchi HOKKAIDO IS (1988, 1989). Hideo Sekiguchi Faculty of Bioresources Mie University 1515 Kamihama-cho, Tsu, JAPAN SEA Mie 514, 0 HONSHU IS JAPAN NAGASAKI

^ KO2E4 • , SA4Ac c KUROSHIO YELLOW SEA

MIE The Shocking Truth CHEJU 1v V 0 rt SHIKOKU IS WAKAYAMA About Q GOTO IS KYUSHU IS/ American Lobsters EAST CHINA r;• SEA 00 FROM: PETER KOELLER o ; OGASAWA IS The Early Benthic Stage (EBS) of the American lobster leads a cryp- tic existence immediately after Iwo Is settling on the bottom as "Stage IV" postlarvae (about 8mm cara-

TAIWANV CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

The Lobster Newsletter - Volume 7, Number 2: December 1994 Page 7 American lobsters are more vulner- the vacating of the shelter, and RESEARCH NEWS able to trawls when an electric cur- especially during the movement rent precedes the net. Michel toward the anode. This control CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE Comeau from our Moncton, N.B. would be particularly useful, but laboratory, recently conducted ex- the diver must be able to observe pace length). They remain well periments (unpublished data) to the animal and vary the electric hidden under small rocks before determine the best voltages and stimulus in response to behaviour. emerging for increasingly longer pulse lengths for stimulating lobster To do this requires the immediate periods of time, beginning when to move from their shelters. Phillips presence of a diver during sam- they are 35-45mm CL. EBP re- (1980) described a device which pling, which poses safety related search is an expensive and cum- caused the spiny lobster, Panulirus problems (Stewart and Cameron, bersome proposition. It is also cygnus to move from shelters to- 1974). UW video may be helpful in destructive to habitat. Divers must ward an electrode, but to our this regard. turn over rocks in a corralled sam- knowledge no one has demon- pling area, or "vacuum" rocks, strated electrotaxis in Homarus Additional laboratory experiments sediment and the young lobsters americanus. are planned this fall using animals from quadrats with an air-lift sam- supplied by the St. Andrews Bio- pler. When exposed, small lobsters We used the TUNS device to suc- logical Station. are extremely agile and often es- cessfully demonstrate that Ameri- cape a pursuing diver. can lobsters as small as 30mm CL, REFERENCES do have an electrotactic response. There are good reasons to con- Under certain frequencies and volt- Phillips, B.F. and A.B. Scolaro. 1980. J. Exp. tinue research on techniques to ages they move backwards, to- Mar. Biol. Ecol. 47:69-75. Stewart, P.A.M. and G.M. Cameron. 1974. enhance fishery scientist's ability wards the positive electrode, simi- J. Cons. int. Explor. Mer. 36: 62-70. to enumerate and/or capture EBP. lar to their well known "escape" Saila, S.B. and CE. Williams. 1972. Mar. An EBP abundance survey could response. Technol. Soc. J. 6:25-31. be used to predict recruitment 4-6 years in advance of the fishery. This behaviour could form the basis Peter Koeller Halifax Fisheries Information on distribution, espe- of a combination electrofishing/low Research Laboratory cially location of important "nurs- velocity water flow sampler that P.O. Box 550 ery" areas, would be invaluable in reduces bottom time for divers and Halifax, N. S. habitat management and environ- permits surveys of juveniles with CANADA, B31 2S7 mental reviews. minimal habitat destruction.

An effective sampling device Alternatively, an electric quadrat could put EBP research and sur- could bring lobsters into the open Lobster Phylogeny veys within reach of more investi- and temporarily stun them for col- gators despite dwindling budgets. lection by divers. Another possible Project Update- This spring we conducted initial application is an electric " prod" to Summer 1994 experiments with a prototype coax larger animals from their shel- device that may meet this objec- ters. However, much work needs to Many thanks to those of you who tive. The device, developed by be done before practical field sam- Technical University of Nova responded to our request for in- plers can be designed. In particular, formation on lobster DNA re- Scotia (TUNS) electrical engineer- we would want to know if the search. We appreciate the reprints ing student Greg Crowell, is based electrotactic response is exhibited and suggested laboratory tech- on the electrofishing method used, by the newly settled postlarvae. niques. As of this summer we since the turn of the century, by Also, we noticed that animals be- freshwater fishery researchers. have legs of following species of neath rocks attempt to head straight lobsters: for the anode, becomming jammed Electrofishing in the marine envi- between rocks. This suggests the ronment presents special chal- sampling process will have to con- Panulirus argus lenges. Salt water is highly con- sist of two steps involving two Panulirus gattatus ductive and effectively "shorts types of electric stimulation - a non- Panulirus versicolor out" an ordinary current. Lobsters directional phase which brings the lack a spinal cord, which in fish animals out of shelters, and a sec- Panulirus penicillatus facilitates the involuntary orienta- ond "tractor beam" which uses the Scyllarus americanus tion and movement in the electric electrotactic response to herd them Scyllarides nodifer field (electrotaxis). However, U.S. toward the collector We also found researchers (Saila and Will- the lobster's movement controllable Parribacus antarcticus iams,1972) showed that adult during the initial agitation, during

The Lobster Newsletter - Volume 7, Number 2: December 1994 Page 8 •

For those of you that missed our if applicable, sex, carapace Tethering experiments original letter in December 1993, length, date and location of col- The Lobster Newsletter Vol. 6(2):13, lection (be specific, the more with lobster (Panulirus here is a brief description of the information the better), argus) in Cuban reefs Lobster Phylogeny Project. We are gathering the legs of lobsters to 4. use a different container, prefer- FROM: A. tIERRERA AND D. IBARZÀBAL construct a lobster molecule phy- ably plastic with a screw-top lid, logeny using both mtDNA and for each pair of legs sent, A tethering experiment to evalu- nuclear DNA sequences. Our goal ate relative mortality rate of lob- is construct a series of nested phy- 5. fill the container with absolute sters, Panulirus argus, in the reef logenies of lobsters, superfamilies (95-100% ethanol (indicate if only environment was carried out as within the family Palinuridae, and able to obtain 70% ethanol) at part of the ecological investiga- species within the genus least twice the volume of the tions on lobster populations in the Panulirus. At each taxonomic level legs; the greater the ratio of etha- Cuban southwestern reefs the amount of accumulated varia- nol to tissue the easier the DNA (ULISES Project). tion the mtDNA and non-coding extraction, regions of nuclear DNA require us to use more or less conservative 6. place container in a 20°C freezer Lobsters measuring between 79 regions. We have found a region for a day or longer before and 158 mm CL were collected of the mtDNA which shows ap- sending, from the reef and transferred to proximately 2-4% sequence diver- shipboard for acclimation in a gence between members of the 7. wrap the containers with plenty continuous flowing water tank. genus Panulirus. The region is of packing materials. Tethers were constructed by lock- approximately 550 base pairs in ing a flattened plastic cable-tie length of the Cytochrome Oxidase We are also limited by our budget. around the cephalothorax be- I gene. Our first phylogeny we We would like to be able to send tween the second and third plan to tackle is the genus complete collection kits to all inter- pereiopods, and tying it firmly Panulirus with inclusion of all ested lobster biologists, however at upon it; leaving a free portion of species and sub-species. this time that is not possible. We are approximately 30 or 40 cm to be not yet to the point of passing the tied to a stake or any hard bottom We are limited by two factors. hat among our fellow structure. First, we are still in need of lobster lobsterologists, but we would ap- legs. We are primarily interested preciate your legs, ethanol, and Lobsters were tethered in the reef in lobsters of the genus Panulirus postage. In addition, if you think between 17 and 30m depth (from but since we are planning to con- your fishery organization would be the spur and groves zone to the struct broader phylogenies in the interested in funding a small pro- reef slope) at 72 selected points: 18 future we would be happy to re- portion of the laboratory costs, or if in optimum shelters (height = 30 ceive legs of any species of lobster. you know of any international fish- cm and depth > 45 cm, in which Ray George has made the follow- ery agencies that fund such re- lobsters could be totally con- ing suggestions for how the collec- search we would appreciate your cealed); 17 in suboptimum shelters tion of legs can be standardized. comments and recommendations. (height > 30 cm and/or depth < 20 Since there exists a remarkable As always we look forward to hear- cm, with some part or the whole amount of variation within each ing from you. If you have addi- animal visible) and 37 in open species we request two legs from tional questions, recommendations areas (27) lobsters bearing all its the same individual while it is still or 'Oster legs, send them to: appendages and 10 lacking their alive and the following additional antennae). The criteria for shelter information: Lobster Phylogeny Project optimality were obtained from do Michael I. Childress measurements of the height, width 1. a good color photograph of the Department of Biological Science and depth of 356 natural unoccu- specimen after the two legs Florida State University pied shelters (natural offering), 305 have been removed, Tallahassee, FL 32306 USA shelters occupied by solitary lob- Telephone: (904) 644-6214 sters (selected shelters) as well as 2. the two legs should be from FAX: (904) 644-9829 measurements of the length, width walking legs 2, 3 or 4 (since e-mail: [email protected] and height of the carapace of the walking legs 1 & 5 are some- lobster in the shelters. times valuable taxonomic char- Michael Childress acters) and only fresh legs Margaret Ptacek should be sent, Bill HerrnIcind (at the address above) 3. label the legs carefully (using only pencil), species, subspecies CONTINUED ON NEXT PAGE

The Lobster Newsletter - Volume 7, Number 2: December 1994 Page 9

, data complement those results with eyestalk and the top of the right RESEARCH NEWS a 7.1% of mortality/day for a antennae. higher size range (79-158 mm CL) CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PACE exposed to similar conditions. This The attack of the triggerfish is a strong experimental evidence Observations were made at 8:00 Balistes vetula on a lobster, begin- that natural mortality in spiny lob- ning by the eyestalks have been and 16:00 h, over seven days, to ster is size-dependent record mortalities and to observe reported by Kanciruk (1980), but this species is solitary while C. the interaction between lobsters Several species of groupers sufflamen is always in schools. The and different fish species, making (Epinephelus striatus, E. morio a qualitative census of potential and E. attack by C. sufflamen appears to cruentatus) and snappers (Lutjanus predators. jocu, L. analis be a very well-developed collec- and L. cianopterus) tive strategy, that reminded us an interacted with tethered lobsters in Optimum shelters displayed no attack of wolves, although tether the vicinity of the experiment. mortality, while in the subopti- may facilitate in some extent the However, the massive attack of five action of predators. Due to their mum shelters predation occurred great triggerfishes in the third to fifth day accounting (Canthidermis rapid movements, flattened body, sufflamen) of 30 to 50 cm FL, on a for a cumulative mortality of very strong mouth and schooling 138 mm CL lobster tethered to a 23.1%. In open areas, when lob- behavior these triggerfishes seem suboptimum shelter, was the most sters were intact, mortality was to be more dangerous predators relevant event observed. This fish recorded from the first day and than was thought. As far as we species had been observed daily in increased cumulatively to 52.6% at know this fact has not been re- the sites of the experimental area, ported before and it is surprising day seven. It was even higher for swimming near the bottom. lobster without antennae reaching since these triggerfish are com- 100% cumulative mortality in the monly seen swimming near the third day (Fig. 1). During a manoeuver of circular surface as plankton eaters. movements, characterized by rapid approach and retreat, the biggest In terms of daily mortality, lob- LITERATURE CITED triggerfish bit the base of the left sters in suboptimal shelters antennae removing it. The attack Eggleston, D.B. 1991. Ph.D. thesis, Virginia reached 3.1 %a; intact lobsters in was immediately directed to the left Institute of Marine Science, College of open areas, 7.1%; and lobsters eyestalk, until it was destroyed. William and Mary, Gloucester Point, without antennae in open areas, VA, USA 142 pp. With only one antennae and one 33.3%. Eggleston (1991) found 88 Kanciruk, P. 1980. In J.S. Cobb and B.F. eyestalk, the lobster unsuccessfully and 24% daily mortality for lob- Phillips, eds. The Biology and Manage- tried to avoid the predators which ment of Lobsters, Vol. 2, Ch. 2, pp. 82. sters in open areas of the reef, for began to bite the left pereiopods Academic Press, N.Y. sizes between 46-55 and 56-65 mm breaking all of them one by one. LC, respectively (values extrapo- lated from his Figure 11), and our Then it was even easier for the trig- gerfishes to destroy the right A. Herrera pereiopods while biting the right D. Ibarzâbal Oceanology Institute 1st Ave., 18406, Playa Ciudad de la Habana CUBA

1 2 3 4 5 Observations (days)

Figure 1. Variation of cumulative lobster mortality at different protection alternatives. C: intact lobsters; WA: lobsters without antennae; N. sample size. The Lobster Newsletter - Volume 7, Number 2: December 1994 Page 10 However, in spite of a paucity of periments and field studies have fishing activity for at least seven started at the BAH marine station FISHERIES AND years during 1945 - 1952 (the island to nullify the hypothesis that de- was used as training target for cline in lobster is due to competi- AQUACULTURE Royal British bombing pilots), lob- tion with and predation by the UPDATE ster catches have since decreased crab, . According to dramatically (Fig. 2): Only about fishermen the crab abundance has CONTINLIED FROM PAGE ONE 10,000 landed per year in the 1950's, increased substantially. about 1,000 in the 1970's, and con- sistently <600 per year since 1980; Both species are reared in the the 1992 catch officially amounted laboratory, and mutual predation to 1021obsters. Interestingly, this and competition for habitat and decline coincides with decreased food resources are studied in rela- landings in the Scandinavian coun- tion to body size and environmen- tries, while those of the British Isles tal variables. Much basic informa- remain rather stable (Dow, 1980). tion is lacking, so we need to further study recruitment, growth, A number of potential causes or and other life-cycle parameters in combination of causes of this sub- both H. gammarus and C. przgurus stantial decline in the Helgoland at Helgoland. For example, Fig. 3 lobster population have been sug- shows the moulting frequency of gested, e.g. commercial over-exploi- lobster at ambient temperatures in tation, seawater pollution, harbour flow-through culture. In construction, natural causes, man- Helgoland lobster may grow to made calamity (in 1947 the British the tenth post-embryonic instar military attempted to remove the (including the larval stages), be- WN island from the seascape by blow- fore overwintering (similar to H. Fig. 1. Geographical position of the Island of ing up 6,000 metric tons of ammu- americanus). There was no signifi- Helgoland. nition), and effects of other environ- cant moulting activity at tempera- mental destruction and noise from tures below 10°C. For centuries, about 30,00045,000 years of bombing. lobsters per year were caught here A part of this program is a doc- (Fig. 2), and the denomination We can only speculate what might toral thesis, just now started, on "Echt Helgolinder Hummer" have initiated the dramatic decline population genetics of H. ("genuine Helgoland lobster") in the Island's H. gamrnarus popula- gamma rus. This species does not used to be a guarantee of high tion since world war II; we do, migrate over wide distances, un- quality. Increased fishing efforts however, have a testable hypothesis like some populations of the led to peak landings around 1900 of why the decline continues today, American lobster (Howard, 1988; and in the 1930's (about 87,000 despite little commercial fishing Jensen et al., 1993). Also, the dura- animals were landed in 1937). activity. Combined laboratory ex- tion of pelagic larval development in our warm temperate waters is relatively short. In consequence, Lobster catches around the island of Helgoland limited exchange with other Euro- pean populations might have con- 8o4 ...... I ...... Ï...... E...... ;...... tributed to the continued decline of the Helgoland lobster. 70 1 1 Last but not least, our studies 60 1615 1790^°^ include larval bioenergetics. Com- ^ ...^ ...... ,^.:...... €.1883' ...... parison of biochemical and CHN data suggests H. gamma rus larvae 40 hatch with a larger body size and ...... a higher dry weight compared M with those of H. americanus, but apparently with lower relative (% of weight) C, N, lipid, and protein reserves (Fig. 4; c.f. also biochemi- 1600 1650 1700 1750 1800 1850 1900 1950 2000 cal data given by Sasaki et al., 1986, and Anger and Harms, Year • 1990). This may indicate a higher Fig. 2. Lobster landings at Helgoland (source: Goemann, 1990).

The Lobster Newsletter - Volume 7, Number 2: December 1994 Page 11 A 2.0 - o FISHERIES AND H. gamma/ us 74 4.2 AQUACULTURE Ivi g L5 - CJ 4.1 ffl UPDATE FR LO 4.0 -1 CF CONTINUED FROM PREVIOUS PAGE e eiffleA- Min dependence on food resources in 0.5 rAyA„r 3.9 European lobster larvae. How- Hatch AB C D H. a Hatch AB C D H. a. di ever, we observed a substantial 0.8 ao ol variability among different ni F 39 w hatches of both the European (Fig. -ea tit 4) and the American lobster (An- E 0.6 i"."; 38 ir ger et al., 1985, observed that some U . 37 -« H. americanus larvae are able to 0.4 1 36 H develop successfully from hatch- 35 ing to the second stage even in 0.2 34 H MY7A1 complete absence of food). Thus, Hatch A B C D H. a. Hatch A B C D H. a more comparative research of ti intra- and inter-specific variability 10.0 1 in bioenergetic traits of lobster

larvae is required. 0.15_ I' 1 tp 9.5 Our working group has some 9.0 experience with the investigation M 1 of crab life cycles, but very little 8.5 I with lobsters. So any advice from 0.05 rA wLE or cooperation with lobster spe- 8.0 e Hatch AB C D H. a. Hatch A B C D H. a. cialists would be most welcome. Let's hope it is not too late to save our little island lobster popula- tion! Fig. 4. Dry weight (W) and elemental composition (carbon, C; nit rogen, N) of freshly hatched stage I lobster larvae, in 4 different hatches (A-D) of H. gammarus and one of 11. americanus (H.a.). REFERENCES Anger, K., Storch, V., Anger, V. and Capuzzo, J.M. 1985. Helgolânder Meeresunters. 39: 107-116. B.F. (eds.), The Biology and Management Htunmer. Kohlrenken-Verlag Anger, K. and Harms, J. 1990. Comp. of Lobsters 2, Acad. Press, New York: pp. Oldenburg, 88 pp. Biochem. Physiol. 97B: 69-80 265-316. Howard, A.E. 1988.1n: Fincham, A.A. and Dow, R.L. 1980. In: Cobb, J.S. and Phillips, Goemann, 0. 1990. Echt Helgolânder Rainbow, P.S. (eds.), Symposia of the Zoological Society of London 59, Clarendon Press, Oxford: pp. 355-364 Jensen, A.C., Free, E.K. and Collins, K.J. 20 „x"->•0•• 1993. ICES, CM. 1993/K:49: 9 pp. -- II-- Moulting Sasaki, C.C., Capuzzo, J.M. and Biesiot, P. 60 .! ! Ternperature 1986. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 43: 2311-

(%) H15 2319

(°C) ity 40 tiv t Iv Klaus Anger It 10 ture

ac It

ra Joachim Harms e

ing Biologische Anstalt Helgoland

lt 20

u Meeresstation I ii vll vin Ix 5 4 Temp 27483 Helgoland, Mo té1 g Germany té t, it, y 0 O 0 50 100 150 200 Age (days)

Fig. 3. Moulting frequency in a laboratory population reared under ambient temperature conditions.

The Lobster Newsletter - Volume 7, Number 2: December 1994 Page 12 fied by the individual tag pulse rate Lobster Culture Research on Artificial (1- 0.5 Hz). The data logger is re- A New moved and replaced by divers. Facility on the French Reefs in Poole Bay, UK Mediterranean Coast While the range of the electromag- FROM: KEN COLLINS, EMMA FREE netic system is limited (<4m away AND ANTONY JENSEN from the seabed aerials) it transmits FROM: GUY CHARMANTIER AND through rock and concrete. Four CHRISTOPHE HAOND In 1989 the first experimental artifi- lobsters have been tracked continu- cial reef made of waste material in ously for two months, showing Our laboratory has been con- the UK was deployed in Poole Bay, on the ecophysi- extensive movement around and ducting studies on the central south coast of England away from the reef units. The elec- ological ontogeny of lobster juve- (Collins et al. 1991.) The reef is com- tromagnetic system also is being years. Larvae posed of 50 tonnes of concrete, and niles for several used in the lab, in a 12 x 5m seawa- were produced in a small facility cement stabilized coal ash blocks ter tank, in order to study shelter in Montpellier, using filtered recir- coal ash blocks formed into 8 conical size selection and animal interac- culated sea water. units, each 1m high by 5m across. It tion. Further development is was deliberately sited on flat open planned to allow simultaneous In Sete, 25 km west of Montpellier seabed approximately 3km away tracking of many more animals and from the nearest rocky habitat. Lob- on the Mediterranean coast, the to transmit physiological data such sters (Homarus gammarus) moved in university owns a biological sta- as heartbeat. We also hope to pro- within three weeks, leading to ques- tion founded in 1879. As part of a duce a combined electromagnetic tions about the movements of these 1993 station renovation program, and acoustic tag which will allow we built a lobster culture facility species. Since 1990 an extensive tracking within reefs and at a dis- study of the lobster population on consisting of tanks for holding tance over open seabed. the artificial reef and in Poole Bay berried Homarus gammarus fe- males; ten, 401 plankton-kreisels has been undertaken (supported by We have demonstrated the poten- the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries for larval culture; and a compart- tial value of artificial reefs in pro- and Food.) Claw, streamer and T-bar mented raceway for 100 viding additional habitat for lob- tags have been used to mark 140 postlarvae and juveniles. Running sters. Further research is needed to sea water used in the system is animals on the reef and 3500 in the understand behavior and shelter pumped from a canal linking a commercial fishery in and around size requirements of the different Poole Bay. Recapture rates have been large salt pond to the sea; the wa- stages in order to design purpose- high (>30%). The majority of lobsters ter is filtered and degassed. An- built reefs. Juvenile lobster restock- were recaptured within 1.5km of nual salinity and temperature ing experiments around the UK by their capture location (Jensen et al. variations range from 33ppt to MAFF have yielded large numbers 38ppt and from 5°C to 26°C. The 1993). of hatchery-reared animals in com- facility has been operating since mercial catches (Bannister et al. Lobsters have now been resident for May, 1993 with satisfactory results 1994). The two studies suggest the up to 4 years on the artificial reef. in terms of survival, rate of devel- feasibility of constructing commer- opment and growth. In particular, The movement of lobsters on the reef has been studied with acoustic te- cial lobster reefs stocked from juvenile survival has been 95% lemetry and more recently with elec- hatcheries. despite high summer tempera- tromagnetic telemetry. In this latter tures. The raceway capacity will Literature Cited system (Collins et al. 1994) a tag soon be increased. attaçhed to the animal emits 3ms Bannister, R.CA., J.T. Addison, and S.R.J. Lovewell. 1994. Crustaceana (in press). Researchers interested in lobster pulses at 32.7kHz through a 4cm diameter coil. The pulses are re- Collins, K.J., A.C. Jensen, and A.P.M. larval studies are welcome to con- Lockwood. 1991. Oceanologica Acta 11: ceived by 5m diameter loop aerials tact us about possible work in Sete 225-229. laid on the seabed around each reef and/or Montpellier. Collins, K.J., J. French, and A.C. Jensen. unit and joined to a central receiver 1994. ja Proc 6th Intl. Conf. Elect. Eng. in Oceanog., 19-21 July 1994, Churchill Laboratoire d'Ecophysiologie and data logger on the seabed. Tagged animals within the loop and College, Cambridge. Inst. Elect. Eng., de Invertébrés 394:1-5. Université Montpellier II, 3-4m outside of it can be monitored Jensen, A.C, K.J. Collins, and E.K. Free, 34095 Montpellier Cedex 5 continuously. Aerials are sequen- 1993. ICES C M. 1993/ K:49. FRANCE. tially connected to a 3 stage TT'•F receiver tuned to 32.7kHz with a Ken Collins, Emma Free, Antony Jensen BFO to convert to base band output. Department of Oceanography The output bursts are converted to University of Southampton S0171BJ unipolar pulses which are recorded Southampton on a data logger. Animals are identi- UNITED KINGDOM

Page 13 The Lobster Newsletter - Volume 7, Number 2: December 1994

.1 1 .4 ' The opening chapter provides a BOOK REVIEW Minimum legal size (MLS) limits solid grounding in essential aspects and protection of ovigerous fe- of the basic biology and ecology of males are broadly applied as regu- this diverse group, serving as a latory measures in many lobster Spiny Lobster valuable background for the more fisheries, although in most areas, applied orientation of the subse- Management the MLS is below the size of matu- quent chapters. The first section of rity. This issue, coupled with high the book (12 chapters) describes the Bruce F. Phillips, J. Stanley Cobb, exploitation rates raises funda- current status and management of and Jiro Kittaka, Editors. 1994. Fish- mental questions about the factors ing News Books, Oxford. spiny lobster populations in Aus- tralia, which control the resilience of ISBN 0-85238-186-7.550 pages. New Zealand, the Indo-West these populations to sustained Indexed. Illustrated with line draw- Pacific, Hawaii, South Africa, Kenya, Brazil, Cuba, Central perturbations such as harvesting. ings and a few black and white pho- As with clawed lobsters, spiny America, Mexico, Florida, and Eu- tos. Cost: £ 69.50 lobsters appear to exhibit high rope (particularly France). It pro- resilience to heavy exploitation. vides a timely review of trends in REVIEWED BY. MICHAEL FOGARTY Comparative life history studies landings, methods of capture, man- within the Palinuridae and be- Lucrative fisheries for spiny lob- agement practices, and levels of tween this group and the exploitation. These chapters have sters occur throughout temperate, Nephropidae would provide valu- been coordinated to permit ready subtropical, and tropical seas, able clues to understanding the supplying a rapidly expanding comparisons across taxa and geo- graphical areas. response of lobster populations to worldwide market for luxury harvesting. . These fisheries, sup- Management regimes for spiny ported by over 30 lobster species, The second section of the book lobster fisheries encapsulate the full range from small-scale artisanal deals in 10 chapters with topics spectrum of systems employed in operations to highly sophisticated ranging from reproductive dy- fisheries throughout the world. and heavily capitalized industries namics, ecology of the early life in developed countries. Spiny These range from open-access fish- stages, stock structure, catch pre- eries to individual transferable Lobster Management provides a dictions based on environmental quota and effort systems. The latter comprehensive overview of fisher- measures and pre-recruit indices, are among the vanguard of new ies, management, aquaculture population and bioeconomic mod- approaches to management in fish- potential, and markets for spiny eries. eling, and the role of artificial lobsters. The 36 chapters in this With few exceptions, the shelters as capture devices. In spiny lobster fisheries described are volume focus on various aspects keeping with the focus of the book heavily exploited and landings in of utilization of wild stocks, re- as a whole, these chapters main- many have declined. In general, the search in support of management, tain a practical orientation, em- open access fisheries have fared the and artificial enhancement of phasizing important aspect of worst and suffered the greatest spiny lobster populations. The biology, behavior and ecology declines. Even in fisheries with global perspective afforded by this with direct implications for man- intensive input controls such as that treatment provides valuable in- agement. There can be little ques- for the Western Australian rock sights into the efficacy of different tion that understanding the repro- lobster, declines in spawning stock management strategies and the ductive ecology (including biomass have been documented role of applied ecology in resource dispersal mechanisms) of spiny and linked to continuing increases management. In addition, impor- lobsters holds the key to predict- in efficiency brought about by tech- tant recent advances in rearing of ing how these populations will nological innovations - an impor- the early life stages and related respond to exploitation and the tant object lesson for anyone in- basic biological studies are de- levels of natural variability to be volved in fishery management. scribed which have opened new expected in the fishery. This sec- Other innovative approaches ap- avenues for supplementing pro- tion provides extremely valuable duction of overexploited natural plied to management of spiny lob- insights into the linkage between populations and meeting market sters that deserve broader attention reproductive biology and fishery include the use of marine reserves demands. dynamics (and in stock-recruit- in Florida, South Africa, New ment relationships for one spe- Zealand, and Hawaii. Given inter- cies). It is shown how basic demo- national concerns regarding the graphic characteristics (notably ecosystem effects of fishing and on the size at sexual maturity) have maintenance of biodiversity, this changed under exploitation; again, approach merits careful scrutiny. observations of this type are criti- The Lobster Newsletter - Volume 7, Number 2: December 1994 Page 14 cal to understanding the stability hance the long-term productivity of in growth, maturation and sur- and resilience of these popula- the stocks. vival. tions. Careful investigation of larval dispersal, settlement pat- The third section of the book de- Finally, issues of product quality, terns, habitat requirements, and scribes important new develop- shipping of live lobsters, market sources of mortality, has both ments in the culture of spiny lobster structures and marketing strate- enriched our knowledge of funda- through the extended larval phase gies are described. This completes mental ecological processes and and in grow-out techniques for the overview of the many prag- led to the development of fishery postlarvae and juveniles. The bio- matic concerns treated in this vol-

forecastis. It is demonstrated that logical underpinnings of this ume — all of which lead to the predictions of year class strength achievement are rooted in detailed end product which graces the can be effectively made for several studies of the maturation process, epicure's plate. While science has species based on measures of hy- mating behavior, feeding and nutri- served spiny lobster management drographic conditions (as indexed tional requirements, as well as dis- well, we are well advised to recall by sea level). Considerable ad- ease and its control in aquaculture that the impetus (and funding) for vances have been made under- systems. These topics are treated study is due to the commercial standing the ways in which the very effectively in the final section importance of the product. teleplanic larvae utilize current of the book. The daunting complex- systems. Measures of pre-recruit ity of the physiological systems Nearly a decade and a half has abundance (at the puerulus and involved has been neatly unraveled now passed since the publication later juvenile stages) have also to make aquaculture ventures a of the landmark volumes, Biology been used directly to predict possibility. Intermediate steps to and Management of Lobsters; events in the fishery for some circumvent the still problematical many advances have been made species (notably Panulirus cygnus). larval period include the grow-out in lobster biology in the interven- It is particularly satisfying that of pueruli and/or older juveniles. ing years. Spiny Lobster Manage- studies of physical oceanography Potential interactive effects on the ment fills a different niche but it and ecology have permitted pre- wild stocks would have to be care- does offer important updates to diction and led to successful man- fully considered although the op- many critical topics for one of the agement programs. portunity to use these newly devel- two major families treated in the oped tools to provide experimental earlier work. Spiny Lobster Man- Application of biotechnological approaches to basic ecological prob- agement belongs on the bookshelf tools has provided new avenues of lems should also be recognized. For of any student of crustacean fish- research on the essential question example, much could be learned eries biology. of stock structure. In particular, about density-dependent responses the analysis of mitochondrial Michael I. Fogarty DNA has enhanced our view of Northeast Fisheries Center levels of genetic variability in the National Marine Fisheries Service genus jas us . The importance of Woods Hole, MA 02543 USA development of reliable data col- lection systems monitor catch and fishing effort over time is carefully established; these data are the basic building blocks of stock as- sessment. The role of modeling in synthesizing results is also nicely showcased and essential lessons for biological and economic as- pects of management are ex- tracted. Finally, this section de- scribes the use of artificial shelters in Cuba and Mexico (where they are known as pesqueros and casitas respectively). These struc- tures provide shelter for commu- nally-dwelling lobsters and act as an aggregating device for capture fisheries. A vital question is >sus tristani. From Holthuis whether these structures also en- 1991 F.A.O. Species catalog No. 13. Drawing after Bate 1888

The Lobster Newsletter - Volume 7, Number 2: December 1994 Page 15 ANNOUNCEMENTS

Fifth International Lobster Workshop

The Fifth International Conference on Lobster Biology and Management will be held in New Zealand in mid-February 1997. This meeting follows on from the ones held in Australia, Canada, Cuba, and, last year, in Japan.

Contributions on all lobsters - spiny, slipper, clawed and scampi - will be considered.

There will be sessions for formal papers and posters as well as workshops in which researchers, managers and industry will take part. Workshops will focus on topics of wide interest and in which you will be encouraged to contribute preliminary results from ongoing work.

The formal papers and the conclusions from the workshops will be published after normal refereeing.

We want your help in deciding workshop topics. Please send your suggestions (and enquiries) about the 1997 Workshop and Conference to:

John Booth, Convenor Fifth International Conference and Workshop on Lobster Biology and Management MAF Fisheries Greta Point P.O. Box 297 Wellington, New Zealand Fax: +64 4 386 0574 e-mail: [email protected]

DECEMBER 1994 Lpbster NEWSLETTER P.O. Box 550 Halifax, NS B3J 2S7 Librnry Canada 200 Kent St. Qtta%A Canada

ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED