Total Catch of a Red-Listed Marine Species Is an Order of Magnitude Higher than Official Data

Abstract

Accurate information on total catch and effort is essential for successful fisheries management. Officially reported landings, however, may be underestimates of total catch in many fisheries. We investigated the fishery for the nationally red-listed European lobster (Homarus gammarus) in south-eastern Norway. Probability-based strip transect surveys were used to count buoys in the study area in combination with catch per unit effort data obtained independently from volunteer catch diaries, phone interviews, and questionnaires. We estimate that recreational catch accounts for 65% of total catch in the study area. Moreover, our results indicate that only a small proportion (24%) of lobsters landed commercially were sold through the legal market and documented. Total estimated lobster catch was nearly 14 times higher than reported officially. Our study highlights the need for adequate catch monitoring and data collection efforts in coastal areas, presents a clear warning to resource managers that illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fisheries in coastal areas should not be ignored, and shows the potential impact of recreational fisheries.

Conservation, Spillover and Gene Flow within a Network of Northern European Marine Protected Areas

“…However given the relatively homogenous benthic habitat in coastal Skagerrak and the representativeness of the habitat included within the reserves, we do not expect lobsters to behave differently because of habitat differences inside compared to outside the reserves; but we do not preclude that density dependence affects movement patterns outside compared to inside reserves [38]. As a further matter, the low recovery rate of tagged lobsters outside reserves compared to the recapture rate inside is not likely to arise from lower sampling effort outside the reserves; on the contrary, fishing effort within each reserve was limited to 100 trap days per year (our scientific fishing program), whereas the fishing season outside reserves lasts for two months with intense fishing pressure during the first few weeks [14]. …”

“…The reserves were established in 2006, and already in 2010 abundances of lobsters within the reserves had more than tripled and mean size had increased significantly [13]. This in contrast to a precarious fishery in Skagerrak were official catch-per-unit-effort (CPUE) data provided by fishers operating along the Norwegian Skagerrak coast shows a clear decline since the early to mid 1900s (Figure S1); a decline correlated with the ever-increasing fishing pressure exerted by recreational participants in the popular fishery [14]. CPUE of lobsters has also drastically decreased along the Swedish part of the Skagerrak coast in recent years (1950-2010) compared to earlier years (1875-1950); and in addition, during this period (1875-2010) the lobster population have changed from a naturally regulated state, characterised by periodic fluctuations, into a heavily exploited fisheries controlled stock with less variability [15].…”

Spatially structured interactions between lobsters and lobster fishers in a coastal habitat: fine-scale behaviour and survival estimated from acoustic telemetry

“…However, acoustic telemetry allows individuals to be monitored continuously over time in the wild Knip et al 2012). Here, we use acoustic telemetry to investigate the spatial ecology of European lobster (Homarus gammarus), a prized catch in commercial and recreational coastal fisheries (Kleiven et al 2012). We also quantify fisher behaviour as the fine-scale spatial and temporal distribution of effort within the study area.…”

SNP discovery in European lobster (Homarus gammarus) using RAD sequencing

“…However, current and historical over-exploitation has led to stock declines, some of which have been quite profound in several regions (e.g. Scandinavia, Mediterranean) and from which recovery has been slow or stagnant (Kleiven et al 2012). This has led to the rearing of H. gammarus larvae in lobster hatcheries to produce juveniles which are released into the wild to supplement productive stocks where the risk of over-exploitation is high (Ellis et al 2015).…”