Abstract

The Bahamas hosts one of the world’s largest spiny (or rock) lobster fisheries, with landings ranging from six to ten thousand tons per season. The industry is comprised of an industrial sector that utilizes most of the Bahamian banks and a small-scale sector that fishes closer to home ports; together, the sectors’ spiny lobster landings account for most of Baha-mas’ fishery exports, with frozen tails sold mainly to the US and France. Since 2009, from when the fishing industry applied to be certified under the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) to allow for greater access to the European Union fishery market, the spiny lobster fishery has undergone several changes as part of a fishery improvement project (to aid in certification). A key initiative to improve the strategic management of The Bahamas spiny lobster fishery was the finalization of a fishery management plan (FMP), developed in conjunction with stakeholders over an iterative and participatory process in 2016. The steps in the FMP process included a literature review and analysis, stakeholder interviews and working group discussions, and fishing community workshops. The information obtained from these steps was used to identify manage-ment deficiencies and opportunities. Presented as suite of management options across disciplinary boundaries, the FMP created 37 priority-based measures (activities) that would promote sustainability. The FMP listed three measures as paramount to the effective management of the spiny lobster fishery: A census of the fishery participants, vessels, and gear; a licensing system to account for fishery effort; and a reporting system to fishery landings. Each measure will greatly improve the information base required to evaluate and predict changes in fishery stocks and to best accommodate participation in the fishery sectors.

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