The NAFC Marine Centre has recently published a report detailing two lobster conservation programmes that have been carried out in collaboration with the local industry.
The work involved marking the tail of female lobsters with a V shaped notch and then releasing them where they were caught. Once the lobsters have been marked it is illegal to land them and they must be returned to the sea if caught again. The notch will take around four or five years to grow out and during this time each female will breed several times. In this way it is hoped that more juvenile lobsters will be produced by the population each year.
During the first programme in 2001 a total of 1200 females were v-notched, with 365 included in the second programme in 2005/06. It is estimated that these females will produce in excess of 40 million eggs before the mark grows out and it will take around five to seven years for the offspring of the v-notched females to enter the fishery.
Fishermen’s logbook data are vital in determining the success of this programme through reporting the capture of juvenile lobsters and v-notched females. It is hoped that through this reporting in logbooks, an increase in the numbers of juvenile lobsters and recruits to the fishery can be shown. This work has been carried out alongside lobster restocking programmes using juveniles reared in the NAFC Marine Centre marine hatchery.
NAFC would like to thank all of the fishermen who participated in the programme which was also funded by Shetland Islands Council, Shetland Enterprise, Shetland Fishermen’s Association and the Shetland Shellfish Management Organisation. A summary of the work is available in Fisheries Development Note No.22 or a copy of the full report is available from the NAFC Marine Library.
