The spatial configuration of marine reserves should reflect management objectives. If reserves are intended to conserve 'natural' biological communities, then reserve boundaries should follow barriers to species movement, but if cross-boundary movement of harvestable individuals associated with certain habitat is desired for fisheries purposes, then boundaries should intersect that habitat. We relate movement patterns of the reef-associated spiny lobster Jasus edwardsii (Palinuridae) to the relative positions of habitat and reserve boundaries in a 24.5 km 2 marine reserve on the temperate northeast coast of New Zealand by tagging > 5000 individuals and recapturing a subset over 3 yr using pots. Lobster movement patterns were sex-and size-dependent, but nearly all recaptured individuals were found on the same rocky reef on which they were tagged, indicating that lobsters were reluctant to cross the muddy sediments between reefs. Lobsters became increasingly likely to migrate from the reserve into the heavily fished adjacent coast as the proportion of their reef that was unprotected increased. Corresponding changes in average catch per unit effort (CPUE) and size of all lobsters (tagged and untagged) occurred within the protected parts of the reefs, with lobster densities on a fully protected reef being 8-fold higher than densities on the protected part of a reef that was 91% unprotected. KEY WORDS: Exploited species · Habitat boundary · Tag-recapture · Marine protected areas Resale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisherMar Ecol Prog Ser 388: [159][160][161][162][163][164][165][166][167] 2009 relates to the proportion of habitat patches exposed to fishing has not been documented for any species.The spiny lobster Jasus edwardsii (Hutton, 1875) (Palinuridae) is common on temperate rocky reefs around New Zealand and southern Australia. It is heavily fished in most regions and typically increases in size and abundance when protected within no-take marine reserves (Edgar & Barrett 1999, Kelly et al. 2000. In northeastern New Zealand, its recovery in marine reserves appears to have contributed to shifts in rocky reef community structure , Shears & Babcock 2002. J. edwardsii undertake seasonal inshore-offshore movements that can exceed 5 km and are associated with moulting and reproduction (MacDiarmid 1991, Booth 1997, Kelly 2001, Gardner et al. 2003, Kelly & MacDiarmid 2003. Smaller lobsters tend to move further than larger lobsters , Kelly & MacDiarmid 2003.We determined how the spatial relationship between habitat patches and reserve boundaries affects the spiny lobster Jasus edwardsii within and adjacent to the fully-protected Te Tapuwae o Rongokako Marine Reserve in temperate northeastern New Zealand. This 24.5 km 2 reserve was established in November 1999 and average densities of legal-sized (≥54 mm tail width for males, ≥60 mm tail width for females) lobsters within it have since increased from 20 ind. ha -1 in 2000 to 180 ind. ha -1 in 2005, while densities outside ha...

Comparison of the health of spiny lobsters (Jasus edwardsii) within and adjacent to a New Zealand marine reserve revealed marked differences in the incidence of a handling-related bacterial infection. Lobsters outside the reserve were significantly more affected by tail fan necrosis than lobsters within the reserve, with up to 17% of the males caught outside the reserve over a 3-year period showing signs of tail fan necrosis, compared with less than 2% within the reserve. The incidence of tail fan necrosis changed abruptly at the marine reserve boundaries, strongly implying repeated handling as the causal agent. The incidence of tail fan necrosis in males increased up to the minimum legal size, consistent with a handling effect. Female lobsters, which comprise only a small proportion of the catch in this area, were comparatively unaffected by tail fan necrosis. There was no significant difference in the recapture rates of individuals tagged either with or without tail fan necrosis, but tagged individuals outside the reserve were more likely to develop tail fan necrosis than tagged individuals within the reserve. These findings have implications for both the dynamics of the lobster populations and their management, and highlight the role of marine protected areas in providing a baseline against which such effects of fishing can be assessed.

We review the contributions from research conducted through the Leigh Marine Laboratory (LML) since its establishment in 1962, to the understanding of the biology and ecology of the rock lobster, Jasus edwardsii. The number of publications (103 since 1978), their breadth of subject matter, and their frequency of citation indicate the influence of this research effort. The development of an underwater population sampling tool at the LML has been key to the research on lobster distribution, abundance, size structure and sex ratios. These, in turn, allowed significant insights into the impact of fishing on lobster populations, population recovery in marine reserves, the mating system of lobsters, and the cascading effects of lobster removal on reef communities. Other key research has focused on the planktonic larval and post-larval stages. It is likely that J. edwardsii has received a greater level of ecological research effort through the LML than any other species. The location of the LML on a stretch of rocky coastline with year-round easy access to the field, and the availability of a rebuilding population of J. edwardsii in an adjacent marine reserve, allowed coupled laboratory and field research to rapidly develop without the confounding effects of fishing. The LML is well placed to address outstanding questions about lobster biology and ecology, and to further contribute to the conservation and management of this important resource.