Publication Abstract

Lobster (Homarus gammarus) stock enhancement in the United Kingdom: hatchery-reared juvenile lobsters do survive in the wild, but can they contribute significantly to ranching, enhancement, and management of lobster stocks ?

Lobster Homarus gammarus stock enhancement in the United Kingdom: Hatchery-reared juvenile do survive in the wild, but can they contribute significantly to ranching, enhancement, and management?

R.C.A. Bannister

Hatchery-reared juvenile European lobster (Homarus gammarus) can potentially be used in several different types of operation. The first, rearing directly to adult size, is technically possible but definitely uneconomic at current market prices. A second similar option is the concept of ranching i.e., putting out juveniles and recapturing them later in sufficient numbers to make a profit. Present indications are that such a commercial approach is unlikely to be profitable. If a lobster stock has already collapsed through overfishing, so that there is little or no spawning stock, and few natural juveniles in the available habitat, then seeding hatchery juveniles could be the only way forward. The concept of profit would be set aside, there might be no natural competitors, and juveniles could be expected to augment the stock directly. If political and social circumstances increase the risk of stock collapse by making traditional management difficult to achieve, then enhancement is an option which may become necessary or attractive. In that case fishers need to commit themselves to a large and very long term operation, and the costs of the operation comes into consideration. They need to be aware of just how many lobsters need to be caught, and hence produced, if they are to add a significant percentage to, say, the catch of every local fisherman. The target objective, the resulting hatchery costs, the ecological uncertainties of the juvenile habitat phase, and the long life of the operation, all must be considered, particularly if funding is to be raised by the
fishers themselves.

Reference:

R.C.A. Bannister, 1998. Lobster Homarus gammarus stock enhancement in the United Kingdom: Hatchery-reared juvenile do survive in the wild, but can they contribute significantly to ranching, enhancement, and management? Canadian Industrial Report on Fiseries and Aquatic Sciences, 244: 23-32.

R.C.A. Bannister*

Canadian Industrial Report on Fiseries and Aquatic Sciences, 244: 23-32