Abstract

A basic principle of sustainable fisheries management has been to allow a significant proportion of individuals within exploited populations at least one opportunity to reproduce. In so doing, many individuals will contribute to genetic diversity and ecosystem functions of the species. The harvest of mature individuals will often be associated with increased productivity to fisheries livelihoods creating a real economic incentive to adhere to minimum size regulations. A maximum harvestable size may also be implemented in order to protect larger individuals with disproportionally high fecundity or survival of offspring. The presence of reproductive products and body parts that develop with maturity or are disproportionally sized in mature individuals may be used to make the determination of maturity with reasonable confidence. In Belize, the Caribbean spiny lobster is the primary target of small-scale fishers operating from skiffs, sailboats and canoes. In an effort to advice on improvements to the lobster fisheries management regime we examined several thousand lobsters captured using hooksticks as well as traps and artificial structures in central Belize to determine sex-specific sizes of maturity. External indicators of maturity examined included the length of setae on pleopods and the length of pleopods on females and the length of the second pair of walking legs and gonopore diameter on males. These features were compared to carapace length with the size at fifty percent maturity for both male and females being significantly greater than the present minimum size for Caribbean spiny lobster in Belize.

PDF Preview