Tropical Rock Lobster

On the East coast, the tropical spiny rock lobster Panulirus ornatus makes up about 95 per cent of the catch. Other species are caught in low numbers:

• Painted spiny lobster (or painted coral lobster) Panulirus versicolor
• Coral crayfish (or painted crayfish, white-whiskered rock lobster, long-legged spiny lobster, blue-spot rock lobster) Panulirus longipes fermorostringa
• Pronghorn spiny lobster (or surf lobster, double-spined lobster) Panulirus penicillatus
• Eastern rock lobster Jasus verreauxi (only taken by recreational fishers).

Catch rates increased significantly in 2003 (from 2001 and 2002 catch rates) to 50 CPUE (kgs per tender day fished) (Atfield 2004).

Approximately $4 million (DEH assessment).

Most of the catch of tropical rock lobsters is within the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area, primarily in waters between Cape York and Princess Charlotte Bay. There is also a fishery for tropical rock lobster in Torres Strait (not covered here). Of the 28 licensed commercial fishing boats in the east coast fishery, 20 are dual licensed to fish in Torres Strait.

Tropical rock lobsters are collected by hand or with a spear or spear gun because they rarely enter traps. Divers either free-dive or use hookah on inshore and mid-shelf coral reefs.

The harvest of tropical spiny lobsters on Queensland's east coast south of 10° 41’S and east of 142° 31” 39’E is managed by the Queensland Department of Primary Industries & Fisheries (DPI&F).

The DPI&F are advised on the management of the rock lobster fishery by the Harvest Management Advisory Committee (Harvest MAC) which has representatives from the commercial rock lobster fishing industry, Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority, Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service, Australian Institute of Marine Science, Queensland Boating and Fisheries Patrol, recreational fishing industry and other commercial harvest fisheries.

Commercial fishery: There is limited entry to the commercial rock lobster fishery. In 2003, there were 28 primary tender vessel licences and 93 tender licences (Atfield, 2004). There are restrictions on the size of the vessel and type of gear with closed areas and a closed season. There are minimum legal size limits. Breeding females (egg-bearing or mated) cannot be taken. There are no catch quotas used in the fishery.

Recreational fishers have a minimum size limits, a bag limit and cannot take breeding females. There are also restrictions on gear, area and seasonal closures. Underwater breathing apparatus can be used although snorkels are not allowed.

An environmental assessment of the East Coast Tropical Rock Lobster fishery by the Australian Government Department of Environment and Heritage found that the fishery is relatively well managed but identified several risks that must be managed to ensure that their impacts are minimised:

• significant latent effort in the commercial sector of the fishery and no measures in place to limit total catch;
• abscence of fishery specific objectives, performance indicators and performance measures for target species and ecosystem impacts;
• limited validation of fishery dependent data and lack of fishery independent data collection;
• no formal assessment of stock status or reliable estimate of sustainable yield for target species in place;
• need to further quantify the extent of removals from all sources in the stock assessment process;
• no compliance risk assessment strategies to address a range of compliance risks that exist for the fishery.

The submission from the Queensland Department of Primary Industries & Fisheries (Atfield 2004) that was used in the assessment providees valuable information about the fishery.

The commercial catch is monitored through compulsory daily logbooks which are validated from processor records (that also provide additional biological data). The logbooks record location of the primary vessel, collection method (hookah, free-diving), total daily fishing hours, catch totals for both live and tails product; and number of lobsters captured. A project (2002/008) by the Fisheries Research and Development Corporation (FRDC) is assessing the reliability of the logbook data.

CSIRO is undertaking a review of all biological data collected on the East Coast Tropical Rock Lobster Fishery since 1980 (supported by FRDC). This work will help to assess the sustainability of the fishery.

Atfield J. 2004. An ecological assessment of Queensland ’s East Coast Tropical Rock Lobster Fishery. A report to the Australian Government Department of Environment and Heritage from the Queensland Department of Primary Industries and Fisheries.

DEH. 2004. Assessment of the Queensland East Coast Tropical Rock Lobster Fishery. Australian Government Department of Environment and Heritage.