The Status of Australia's Rock Lobster Fisheries

Mature red rock lobster, Jasus edwardsii were air freighted from the North Island, New Zealand to Japan in 1985. During most years since, egg extrusion has taken place during November and December and egg hatching from February to April. In the main experiment, phyllosomas were cultured in 100-litre containers. Each container had an upwelling system, connected either to a Nannochloropsis culture tank (Experiment 1) or to a coral sand filter tank (Experiment 2). Artemia nauplii and mussel gonad were the main foods provided. The numbers of 1st, 5th, and 15th instars were 12 000, 1500, and 137 respectively in Experiment 1, and 1500, 99, and 67 in Experiment 2. The intervals between Instars 1-4 and 4-14 were 43 and 175 days respectively for Experiment 1, and 43 and 169 days for Experiment 2. In Experiment 1, nine phyllosomas (13-15th instar) died during metamorphosis to the puerulus and a single 17th instar metamorphosed 303 days after hatching, 19 days later moulting into the juvenile. In Experiment 2, six 17th instar larvae metamorphosed 293 days and more after hatching, with all dying over the following 3 days. In an ancillary experiment, 30 phyllosomas were cultured in each of two 30-litre tanks containing microalgae: survival was higher, 20% and 43% reaching Instars 14/15 and six metamorphosing after 212-274 days. In all experiments, the developmental sequence was generally consistent with that for larvae from the field. Gill buds appeared at the 13th instar and gills were complete at the 17th instar. Improved culture methods are required to reduce late-stage mortalities.

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“…J. edwardsii is found in New Zealand and Australia where it is the basis of important fisheries (Booth 2000;Phillips et al 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development of the red rock lobster,Jasus edwardsii,from egg to juvenile

Kittaka¹,

Ono²,

Booth

et al. 2005

New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research

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“…Large breeding stocks of J. edwardsii are found in Australia along the southern New South Wales, Victorian, Tasmanian, and South Australian coasts (Phillips et al 2000) and these could provide a source for New Zealand west coast populations. Evidence supporting this theory is that mid-and late-stage J. edwardsii phyllosomas have been found all the way across the Tasman Sea (Booth et al 1990, Booth & Ovenden 2000.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It could be that transit times across it fall within the larval life lifetime for Jasus edwardsii, but are too long to allow Sagmariasus verreauxi larvae to successfully reach New Zealand. Alternatively, since S. verreauxi is a warmer-water species, and breeding S. verreauxi occur mainly along the east coast of Australia between 30 and 33°S (Phillips et al 2000), it could be that larvae entering Few data exist to answer such questions. A limited number of surface drifters (Fig.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Trans-Tasman Sea larval transport: Is Australia a source for New Zealand rock lobsters?

Chiswell¹,

Wilkin²,

Booth³

et al. 2003

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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Two species of rock lobster (Palinuridae) are commonly found in coastal waters around both New Zealand and Australia. Both species have a relatively long larval phase, which raises the question of how populations can be maintained in regions where the mean flow advects larvae away from the coast. Previous work shows that Jasus edwardsii is genetically indistinguishable between Australia and New Zealand, whereas Sagmariasus verreauxi may be genetically different between the 2 countries. Satellite altimeter data are used here to test the hypothesis that Australia acts as a source of larvae for some New Zealand populations, and to investigate if there is a physical mechanism for the apparent lack of gene flow for S. verreauxi. A Lagrangian approach is used in which the western Tasman Sea is seeded with numerical drifters to build up a statistical summary of the likely distribution of larval trajectories. Ignoring biological factors, about 9% of J. edwardsii and about 2% of S. verreauxi larvae might be expected to arrive in New Zealand waters within their respective larval lifetimes. An order-of-magnitude estimate shows that even with extremely high mortality, these rates are high enough for trans-Tasman larval flow to contribute to and possibly maintain some New Zealand populations. Larval flow across the Tasman Sea should be sufficient to maintain transTasman genetic homogeneity in both species. We suggest that 1 reason that S. verreauxi may not be genetically homogenous is that in order to arrive in New Zealand within 1 larval lifetime, they have to cross the Tasman Sea north of the productive Subtropical Front where there is not enough prey to sustain them. KEY WORDS: Lobster larvae · Tasman Sea · Modelling Resale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisherMar Ecol Prog Ser 247: [173][174][175][176][177][178][179][180][181][182] 2003 (approximately 200 km diameter) permanent eddies, such as the Wairarapa Eddy shown in Fig. 1 (Booth & Stewart 1992, Chiswell & Booth 1999. These eddies appear to retain phyllosomas long enough for them to develop into the post-larval puerulus stage, and then swim back to the coast.There is a substantial fishery for Jasus edwardsii on the southwest coast of South Island, and the presence of these South Island populations, away from the influence of the east coast eddies, raises the question of how they are maintained. Mean dynamic height field ( Fig. 1) shows no evidence of permanent eddies off the west coast of New Zealand that could entrain phyllosomas, so it appears that these populations are maintained by a mechanism other than entrainment of phyllosomas offshore.It has been suggested that Australia acts as a source of Jasus edwardsii larvae, and that phyllosomas drift across the Tasman Sea before metamorphosing near the west coast of New Zealand (Booth et al. 1990, Booth & Ovenden 2000. Large breeding stocks of J. edwardsii are found in Australia along the southern New South Wales, Victorian, Tasmanian, and South Australian coasts (Phill...

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“…Juvenile animals tend to be found in shallow water (<40 m) and breeders tend to be in depths of 40-80 m. The fishery is managed in three separate zones, the offshore Abrolhos Islands (Zone A), a coastal region north of latitude 30°S (Zone B), and a southern coastal region (Zone C) ( Fig. 1) (Phillips et al 2000).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Spatial and temporal changes in egg production in the western rock lobster(Panulirus cygnus)fishery

Smith

Lestang

Thomson

2009

New Zealand Journal of Marine and Freshwater Research

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Size at maturity in the western rock lobster (Panulirus cygnus) fishery in Australia increases from north to south and female lobsters carry either one or two batches of eggs per season depending on their carapace length. There has been a steady decrease in the size at first maturity of western rock lobster over the last 30 years, and there are now significantly more small females, many below the legal minimum size, contributing to the brood stock than any time since the fishery has been researched. Biological data were used to show the current contribution to egg production in different management regions of the fishery and historical length-frequency data were used to show how egg production has changed in those regions overtime. Reasons for the change in size at maturity in this fishery are unclear, but the outcome has been that egg production is now more evenly distributed across management zones. Egg production was high at Abrolhos Islands in the 1990s owing to strong year classes of breeding animals entering the fishery over those years. In the period since 2000, egg production has fallen sharply at the islands, but has increased in the coastal population compared with the 1980s and 1990s.

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The Status of Australia's Rock Lobster Fisheries

Cited by 11 publications

References 28 publications

Development of the red rock lobster,Jasus edwardsii,from egg to juvenile

Development of the red rock lobster,Jasus edwardsii,from egg to juvenile

Trans-Tasman Sea larval transport: Is Australia a source for New Zealand rock lobsters?

Spatial and temporal changes in egg production in the western rock lobster(Panulirus cygnus)fishery

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