A ten-year assessment of lobster mini-season trends in Biscayne National Park, 2002-2011
McDonough V. 2012. A ten-year assessment of lobster mini-season trends in Biscayne National Park, 2002-2011. Natural Resource Technical Report. NPS/BISC/NRTR—2012/560. National Park Service. Fort Collins, Colorado
This report presents findings based on ten years of lobster harvest data in and around Biscayne National Park during the two-day lobster sport season, familiarly called “Lobster Mini-Season”. Park staff members interviewed park visitors upon their return to one of the local county marinas. Demographic data and data on the quantity, species, and gender of the lobster harvest were collected. A declining trend in catch-per-unit-effort was observed over the study period, suggesting that the local lobster population could possibly be declining. Male lobsters tended to be harvested in higher abundance and had larger average sizes than their female counterparts. Observed size differences among the genders may be explained by male lobsters growing faster and achieving larger maximum sizes than females. Additionally, the harvest of egg-bearing females is illegal and it is likely that egg-bearing females are larger in size than the younger females that are not egg-bearing; this could also contribute to the observed size differences among the genders. The increased occurrence of male lobsters compared to female lobsters may be indicative of a variety of factors, including: true population demographics, gender-specific differences in behavior and/or habitat selection which may make males more susceptible to capture, and/or restrictions on harvesting egg-bearing females. Compliance with lobster harvest regulations was observed to be very high for all ten years analyzed. Such high compliance may be attributed to increased outreach and education during the highly publicized Lobster Mini-Season event, a healthy supply of lobsters which made it possible for most harvesters to find plentiful harvest in compliance with the regulations, and/or the increased presence of law enforcement during this highly-attended event that may have served to deter regulation violations.
- Type
- Published Report
- Authors
- McDonough, Vanessa
- Date of Issue
- 2012-03
- Publisher
- National Park Service
- Units
- BISC , NRSS , SFCN
- Keywords
- Caribbean spiny lobster, Lobster, lobster assessment, Lobster mini-season, lobster monitoring, lobster monitoring report, lobster trends, Marine Exploited Invertebrates Monitoring, recreational fishing, spiny lobster