Abstract

We examined the contents of 21,309 lobster traps while aboard commercial fishing vessels during the 1993-94 spiny lobster (Panulirus argus) fishing season and found 6,972 of these traps contained species other than spiny lobster. We observed 15,536 individual fish and invertebrates comprising 172 species. Stone crabs, grunts, spider crabs, and sea urchins represented 65% of the bycatch. Legal-sized snapper and grouper were observed in approximately 0.5% of traps. Lobster catch rates were consistently lower and dead lobsters were more common in traps containing bycatch. Wood-slat traps were the predominate type of trap used in the fishery (90%). The remaining 10% of the traps were wire-reinforced wood (8%), wire (1%), or plastic (1%). Lobster catch rates from wood and wire-reinforced traps were not significantly different when fished in the same area, but wire-reinforced traps caught significantly more legal-sized fish and often caught more ornamental and unregulated species. Wire traps caught an average of 10 times more fish than other types of traps, but these traps were used exclusively in deep water. This precluded the direct comparison of the amount of bycatch caught in wire traps with other types of traps that were fished exclusively in shallow water. The number of plastic traps observed was too low to compare bycatch or lobster catch rates with other types of traps. In general, wood lobster traps usually do not contain bycatch and those animals that are captured were usually unharmed. There appears to be some potential to misuse or modify wire lobster traps to target commercially valuable fish, but using lobster traps in this way would likely reduce lobster catch rates.

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