ROCK LOBSTER FISHERY

The Rock Lobster Fishery is Victoria’s second most valuable fishery after abaloneand is based on the southern rock lobster (Jasusedwardsii). The fishery is quota managed, with a total allowable commercial catch set annually after the status of the stock has been assessed. There are two commercial zones in the fishery that operate along the entire coastline of the State.

Almost all of the catch is exported to international markets, predominantly in Asia.

The primary management strategy of the Victorian Rock Lobster Fishery is to significantly rebuild the resource to ensure sustainability and improve catch rates by reducing fishing effort and improving economic efficiency.

FISHERY OVERVIEW

Summary – Key Elements of the Rock Lobster Fishery

  • The Species
  • The Fishery
  • The Fishing Method
  • Management Arrangements
  • Fishery Statistics and Data
  • Catch and Effort Over Time
  • Eastern Zone
  • Western Zone
  • Puerulus Settlement
  • By-product and bycatch species

Summary – Key Elements of the Rock Lobster Fishery

Eastern Zone / Western Zone
Species / Southern rock lobster(Jasusedwardsii)
Fishery boundary / Longitude 143o40’E
Longitude 150o20’E
Latitude 39o12’S / Longitude 143o40’E
Longitude 140o57.9’E
Latitude 40oS
Fishing method / Baited commercial pots
Primary management methods / Limited entry
Individual transferrable quota units and total allowable commercial catch
Secondary management methods / Legal minimum length, gear restrictions, closed seasons, prohibition on the retention of soft-shelled rock lobster or berried females rock lobster
Maximum number of licences / 47 / 71
Maximum number of licences per boat / Not limited / Not limited
Total number of quota units / 1000 / 3633.48
Minimum quota holding per licence / 5 units / 10 units
Maximum quota holding per licence / No maximum / No maximum
Maximum number of pots per boat / 120 / 140
Minimum number of pots to activate licence / 15 / 20
Total number of pots per zone / 2021 / 5162
Legal minimum length / Females = 105mm Males = 110mm carapace length
Closed seasons / Females = 1 Jun to 15 Nov Males = 15 Sept to 15 Nov

The Species

The southern rock lobster (Jasusedwardsii) inhabits coastal reefs from the south-west coast of Western Australia to the south coast of New South Wales and Tasmania and New Zealand.

Southern rock lobsters are found to depths of 150 metres, but most catch comes from inshore waters less than 100 metres deep.

The reduced availability of habitat means that the abundance of rock lobsters is lower in eastern Victoria than in the western part of the State.

The rock lobster has complex life cycle. After mating in autumn, fertilised eggs are carried under the female’s tail for approximately three months before they are released between about September and November. The larvae, known as phyllosoma, live in the plankton and undergo eleven developmental stages over one to two years while being carried by ocean currents.

Adult rock lobsters feed mostly at night and onbottom-dwelling invertebrates such as molluscs, crustaceans and echinoderms.

The Fishery

The rock lobster fishery is divided into two separately managed zones: the Eastern Zone and the Western Zone (Figure 1). The Eastern Zone extends west from the New South Wales border to Apollo Bay. The Western Zone extends from Apollo Bay west to the border with South Australia. The Victorian Government has jurisdiction over the commercial rock lobster fishery in Commonwealth waters adjacent to Victoria through an Offshore Constitutional Settlement Agreement with the Commonwealth Government.

The main ports in the Eastern Zone are Queenscliff, San Remo and Lakes Entrance. In the Western Zone, most catch is landed at Portland, Port Fairy, Warrnambool, Port Campbell and Apollo Bay.

Figure 1: Victorian Rock Lobster Fishery management zones

The Fishing Method

Rock lobsters are caught in beehive-shaped measuring 1.5 metres wide by 1.5 metres long and 1.2 metres high. Pots have one entrance and gaps that allow undersize animals to escape. Pots are connected to buoys that are visible on the water surface.

Management Arrangements

The Rock Lobster Fishery is managed in accordance withVictorianRock Lobster Fishery Management Plan, the primary strategyof which is to significantly rebuild the rock lobster stocks in both zones to a level equivalent to 40% of the estimated abundance in 1951.

A Rock Lobster Fishery Access Licence is required to harvest lobsters for the commercial market; entry to the fishery is limited to the current number of licences. A minimum of 5 quota units and 15 pots are requiredIn the Eastern Zone and 10 quota units and 20 pots in the Western Zone for a licence to be active.

Each zone has a total number of individual transferable quota units and a maximum number of pots. Quota units and pot entitlements are separate and independently tradable commodities within a zone andcan be permanently transferred or leased for a quota period.

Since quota management was introduced in2001, the fishery has been managed through the annual total allowable commercial catch (TACC)which is set for each zone. Each licence holder is assigned a proportion of the TACC (in kilograms)in accordance with the number quota units attached to the licence.

Other management arrangements for the rock lobster fishery include:

  • The legal minimum length for male and female rock is 110 and 105 millimetres in carapace length, respectively.
  • Fishing for rock lobsters is prohibited during closed seasons:
  • Female rock lobsters: from 1 June to 15 November to protect females in berry (with eggs attached) during the spawning period; and
  • Male rock lobsters: from 15 September to 15 November to protect males during the moulting period when soft shells increase their vulnerability.

Fishery Statistics and Data

Fishery-dependent and independent data is used to estimate the biomass of undersize and legal-size of rock lobsters, as well as levels of egg production. The data includes catch, effort, growth, length-frequency distribution, pre-recruit abundance and puerulus abundance, and comes from a variety of sources including commercial fishing activities, observer programs and research programs. The data is used in the annual assessment of stock and the harvest strategy utilises estimates of egg production and available biomass (legally sized animals) in the yearly determination of total allowable catch.

Catch and effort over time

Rock lobster abundance and fishery catch per unit effort have progressively declined over time and TACCs have been adjusted accordingly (Table 1). The primary strategy in the Victorian Rock Lobster Fishery Management Planis to significantly rebuild the resourceby 2020-21.

Table 1: Victorian rock lobster landed catch and annual total allowable commercial catch (TACC)

Quota year / Quota period / EZ TACC set (tonnes) / EZ catch (tonnes) / WZ TACC set (tonnes) / WZ catch (tonnes)
2014-15 / 1 July – 30 June / 59 / - / 230 / -
2013-14^ / 1 July – 30 June / 51 / - / 260 / -
2012-13 / 1 July – 30 June / 48 / 48 / 260 / 260
2011-12 / 1 July – 30 June / 66 / 65.3 / 240 / 237
2010-11 / 1 July – 30 June / 66 / 64.8 / 240 / 237
2009-10 / 1 July – 30 June / 66 / 43.9 / 240 / 230
2009* / 1 April – 30 June / 6.9 / 5.8 / 55.2 / 36
2008-09 / 1 April – 31 March / 66 / 41.3 / 320 / 244
2007-08 / 1 April – 31 March / 66 / 50.1 / 380 / 319
2006-07 / 1 April – 31 March / 60 / 53.5 / 450 / 329
2005-06 / 1 April – 31 March / 60 / 55.7 / 450 / 405
2004-05 / 1 April – 31 March / 60 / 53.2 / 450 / 421
2003-04 / 1 April – 31 March / 60 / 54.4 / 450 / 436
2002-03 / 1 April – 31 March / 60 / 49.9 / 450 / 440

^Complete season catch available September 2014

*Reflects the change in the fishing season to align it with the financial year.

Eastern Zone

Between 1978 (when catch and effort logbooks were introduced) and 1983, the average annual Eastern Zone rock lobster catch was about 130 tonne but decreased to about 66 tonnes per year over the subsequent 16 years. Catches have ranged between 40 and 65 tonnessince quota was introduced in 2001(Figure 2).

Fishing effort between 1978-79 and 1987-88generally reflected changes in catch. Between 1988-89 and 2001-02 however, effort increased substantially without a concomitant increase in the catch. The introduction of quota management in 2001 brought the effort and catch levels back into alignment (Figure 2).

Catch per unit effort (CPUE) decreased from 0.72kg/potlift in 1978-79 to 0.26kg/potlift in 1995-96, the lowest level in the history of the fishery. Following annual increases from 1996-97 to 2003-04, CPUE decreased through to 2008-09. Since then, the CPUE has been increasing and in 2012-13 was 0.51kg/potlift.(Figure 3).

Figure 2: Total catch (tonnes) and effort (x1000 potlifts) in the Eastern Zone from 1978-79 to 2012-13.

Figure 3: Nominal (unstandardised) and standardised catch per unit effort (kg/potlift) in the Eastern Zone from 1978-79 to 2012-13.

Western Zone

Western Zone catch decreased fromjust under 500 tonnes 1978-79to around 300 tonnes in the late 1980s. Catches improved throughout the late 1990s, reaching 520 tonnes in 2000-01. A TACC of 450 tonnes was introduced for the 2002-03 season, but after several years of declining catches and catch rates, the TACC was steadily reduced and a number of licences and associated quota units were bought out of the fishery in 2009. Since that time, TACCs have been set at levels between 230 and 260 tonnes (Figure 4) and as a result of constraining catches, the catch rate has been steadily increasing (Figure 5). At its lowest, the CPUE was 0.37kg/pot lift.

Figure4: Total catch (tonnes) and nominal effort (x1000 potlifts) in the Western Zone from 1978-79 to 2012-13.

Figure 5:Nominal (unstandardised) and standardised catch per unit effort (kg/pot lift) in the Western Zone from 1978 to 2012/13.

Puerulus settlement

After nine to 12 months as planktonic larvae, lobsters metamorphose into a post-larval stage called puerulus and settle in inshore reef habitat. The numbers of puerulus that settle is stronglycorrelated with catches of lobsters four to five years later.

Trends in puerulus counts are consistent between the Victorian Western Zone and the neighbouring South Australian Rock Lobster Fishery (Figure 6). Higher levels of settlement were recorded in 2002, 2005 and 2006 and were reflected in higher catch rates in subsequent years.

Figure 6: Puerulus settlement index in the Southern (SZ) and Northern Zone (NZ) of South Australia and the Western Zone Rock Lobster Fishery from 1998-2010.

By-product and bycatch species

The rate of catch of by-product and bycatch species is comparatively low in all rock lobster fisheries due to the nature of the fishing equipment. However, as part of their logbook reporting requirements, Victorian commercial fishers are required to record the weight of a range of by-product species, the most common of which are octopus and scale fish. Catch of octopus and some fish, such as snapper, will be kept and sold, while other species of fish will be used as bait. Rock lobster fishers are restricted to daily catch limits for certain species; eight wrasse, two banded morwong and a total combined number of two gummy shark and school shark.

The level of by-product taken in the rock lobster fishery has been consistent over the last five years. In the Eastern Zone, an average of 1.5 – 2 tonne of octopus, 0.1 – 0.2 tonne of snapper, 0.6 – 1.6 tonne of wrasse and 1.5 – 3 tonne of leatherjacket have been taken per annum. In the Western Zone, an average of 15 – 20 tonne of octopus, 0.3 – 1.3 tonne of snapper, 0.2 – 0.3 tonne of wrasse and 1.5 – 3 tonne of leatherjacket have been taken.

Commercial fishers are also required to report any incidental interactions with protected species in the Protected Species Interaction Form, which is part of the rock lobster logbook. Protected species that may be encountered in the fishery include all cetaceans, seabirds, marine turtles, seals, syngnathids, great white shark, grey nurse shark and whale shark.

Under the Victorian Wildlife Act 1975, the Flora and Fauna Guarantee Act1988and the Fisheries Act1995, interactions with protected wildlife are an offence and may be subject to prosecution. An operator who is fishing in Victorian waters in accordance with the conditions of a Rock Lobster Fishery Access Licence and the prescribed management arrangements for the fishery, will not be prosecuted for an incidental or unintentional interaction with protected species, provided such interactions are reported.

There have been very few interactions reported with these species and overall the impact of rock lobster fishing on these species in Victoria is negligible. In the 2013/14 fishing season, three Australian Fur-seals and two leatherback turtles were reported.

Additionally, an on-board observer program monitors bycatch, wildlife interactions and discards. Monitoring has shown that fishing-related interactions and mortalities of bycatch species are low, which is due in part to the use of escape gaps in the pots and the ability to return bycatch to the water unharmed. Fishing effects on bycatch species are also minimised through industry Codes of Practice.