CALIFORNIA SPINY LOBSTER FISHERY MANAGEMENT PLAN April, 2016 FINAL California Department of Fish and Wildlife Marine Region CA Lobster FMP April 2016 Executive Summary The California Spiny Lobster (CA lobster) is an important natural resource managed by the state of California for over 100 years. The species supports a valuable commercial fishery and a significant recreational fishery. CA lobsters also act as important keystone predators within the southern California nearshore ecosystem. The commercial fishery in California extends from Point Conception south to the U.S.-Mexico border, and accounted for approximately 430.9 metric tons (mt) (950,000 pounds) in ex- vessel landings and $18.2 million in ex-vessel value during the 2014-15 fishing season. The California recreational fishery ranges from Central San Luis Obispo County south to the U.S.-Mexico border, and is estimated to contribute between $33-$40 million in consumer spending to the California economy each year. The 2011 California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) stock assessment indicates that the CA lobster stock is stable under the current management measures. The current minimum size limit allows many lobsters to reproduce for one to two years before reaching the legal size limit. The seasonal closure (March-October) protects individuals from harvest during the sensitive spawning period of the species. The limited-entry nature of the commercial fishery restricts the number of commercial participants. A substantial increase in average landing price ($/pound) has occurred within the commercial fishery during recent years. Around the same time, overall commercial trap effort as measured by the amount of trap pulls recorded on CDFW-issued daily lobster fishing logs has also increased. The increase in commercial fishing effort has raised questions about the long-term sustainability of the fishery, the negative consequences on the fishing grounds and associated ecosystems from increased gear usage, and the economic health of the commercial fishery. The recent rise in commercial effort is also accompanied by changes in the dynamics of the recreational fishery. The recreational sector has traditionally been dominated by divers, but in the early 2000s, the popularity of boat-based hoop nets began to rise. Starting in 2008, recreational lobster fishermen were required by CDFW to record their daily fishing activity and catch on standardized report cards. Report card sales have increased over the last seven years, suggesting that participation has increased. However, card sales do not necessarily reflect actual fishing effort or catch. Report card return rates have steadily increased since the program was first implemented due to proactive CDFW effort to educate the public and the establishment of a non-reporting fee in 2013. Based on the returned cards, CDFW estimates that recreational fishermen harvested 26% of the total catch (commercial + recreational) during 2014-15 fishing season. As return rate continues to improve from new public outreach and reporting requirements, CDFW will be Marine Life Protection Act (MLPA) - The MLPA, better able to estimate recreational effort and catch. enacted in 1999, required the California Department of Fish and Wildlife to develop a In 2012, the state implemented a set of new marine Marine Life Protection Program, including a protected areas (MPAs) under the Marine Life Protection Master Plan for a network of Marine Protected Act (MLPA) in southern California. The 50 MPAs and two Areas (MPAs) within state waters. The network special closures in this region are designed to serve a of MPAs includes an improved State Marine Reserve (complete no-take areas) component myriad of objectives including conservation of valuable and other classifications of MPAs (State Marine fishery resources. These MPAs create safe zones for Parks and State Marine Conservation Areas). The species such as CA lobsters to reproduce without fishing goals of the MLPA are varied and include pressure, but at the same time shift and compress fishing protecting portions of ecosystems in a variety of habitats, preserving biodiversity, and helping to effort to the remaining non-MPA areas. sustain and protect populations of fished species. ii CA Lobster FMP April 2016 In light of the dynamic nature of the fisheries, it is important for CDFW to adopt a cohesive management strategy for CA lobster. Accordingly, a key provision of this Fishery Management Plan (FMP) is a harvest control rule (HCR) for CA lobster. The HCR serves as the foundation for managing the fishery in the future as well as the primary mechanism to prevent, detect, and recover from overfishing as required by the Marine Life Management Act (MLMA). The HCR is a type of adaptive management framework that identifies potential conservation problems and prescribes appropriate management responses. It consists of three parts: 1) reference points, 2) a control rule toolbox, and 3) a control rule matrix. Reference points are the metrics used to gauge the status of the fishery. The three CA lobster reference points are: 1) Catch, 2) Catch Per Unit Effort (CPUE), and 3) Spawning Potential Ratio (SPR): REFERENCE POINT THRESHOLD RATIONALE Identifies possible change in stock 푎푣푒푟푎푔푒 푐푎푡푐ℎ 푓표푟 3 푚표푠푡 푟푒푐푒푛푡 푠푒푎푠표푛푠 Catch ≤ 0.9 stability, particularly growth overfishing 푎푣푒푟푎푔푒 푐푎푡푐ℎ 푓표푟 10 푚표푠푡 푟푒푐푒푛푡 푠푒푎푠표푛푠 Identifies potential adverse changes in 퐶푃푈퐸 푓표푟 3 푚표푠푡 푟푒푐푒푛푡 푠푒푎푠표푛푠 CPUE ≤ 0.9 the fishery, mainly economic overfishing 퐶푃푈퐸 푓표푟 10 푚표푠푡 푟푒푐푒푛푡 푠푒푎푠표푛푠 Detects biological sustainability, SPR SPRCURRENT ≤ SPR(Average 2000-2008) particularly recruitment overfishing The reference points incorporate Marine Life Management Act (MLMA)- The Marine Life Management Act important information regarding the (MLMA), which became California law January 1, 1999, established goals of fisheries such as the effects of fishing conserving entire ecosystems, recognizing non-consumptive values, and MPAs. New information is sustainability, habitat conservation, restoring depressed fisheries, limiting interpreted in relation to prescribed bycatch, and recognizing fishing communities. reference point thresholds that Catch Per Unit Effort (CPUE) - The rate at which fish are caught; typically a number or weight of fish captured per unit of effort. Units of effort can be signal when changes within the assigned many ways, including the time spent fishing (hours or days), the fishery may warrant management amount of fishing gear deployed (number of vessels, traps, nets, etc.), the responses. Once these changes are number of times that fishing gear is deployed and retrieved (e.g., net hauls, detected within the fishery, resource trap pulls), or a combination of these estimates. Because it is difficult and expensive to scientifically measure the number of fish in an area managers have flexibility to choose (abundance), CPUE is often used as an index for the relative abundance of the appropriate management organisms across time or space. For CA lobster, CPUE is typically defined as response from a toolbox of eight the number of legal (or sublegal-sized) lobsters per trap pull for the management tools. These consist of: commercial fishery, and number of legal lobsters retained per fishing trip 1) Change commercial trap limit, 2) for the recreational fishery. Effort is most often described in terms of trap pulls, total traps, and number of active permits for the commercial fishery, Change recreational bag limit, 3) and number of fishing trips for the recreational fishery. Establish a Total Allowable Catch Spawning potential ratio (SPR) – A ratio of the number of eggs produced (TAC), 4) Implement district closures, during the lifetime of an average female in a fished population to the 5) Change season length, 6) Change number of eggs produced during the lifetime of an average female in an unfished population; used to characterize the amount of impact fishing has minimum size limit, 7) Implement a on a population’s ability to reproduce. maximum size, and 8) Establish a sex Lobster Advisory Committee – A committee composed of representatives selective fishery (Male-only fishery from the recreational fishery, the commercial fishery, environmental or female-specific size restrictions). interest groups, scientific experts, non-consumptive recreational interest The control rule matrix links specific groups, and federal resource managers. The committee was responsible for providing crucial constituent inputs during the drafting process of this reference point results to the FMP, in part through a consensus recommendation. appropriate management response. iii CA Lobster FMP April 2016 The scientific foundation for the HCR underwent an independent, external peer review (see Appendix VII and VII). In particular, reviewers focused on the choice of reference points, the model used to calculate SPR, and the decision to manage CA lobster as a single stock. The primary changes to the previous draft of this FMP in response to peer review include: A von Bertalanffy growth model was used to describe lobster age at a given size within the model used to calculate SPR. Catch and CPUE reference points were made more sensitive by setting the threshold levels at 0.9 rather than 0.8. Expanded discussion of possible reference points and associated models was added to the FMP along with increased explanation of the selected approach. Information on regional differences within the stock was added and better understanding of these differences was highlighted as