Fisheries Department on Alert as Lobster Season Closes

Contact: Julita Peter

Monday May 07,2001- The Department of Fisheries of the Ministry of Agriculture is presently undertaking an extensive exercise throughout the island, as part of efforts to sensitise all owners of major hotels and restaurants to the closed season on lobsters, which runs from May1 through to August 31 each year.

Acting Deputy Chief Fisheries Officer, Sarah George says the strict observation of the Lobster Closed Season is essential if local lobster populations are to continue to sustain the present level of fishing. “Lobsters are known to breed throughout the year, but there are in fact some peak periods during which they do most of their breeding activities and the closed season covers at least one of those peaks.  So it is important that we don’t fish species like lobsters throughout the year in order to give them a chance to reproduce and replenish the population,” George said.

The increasing demand for lobster as a result of the expanding tourism sector and the island’s limited reef resource is placing considerable pressure on the department to satisfy the demands for lobster.  George says that the department needs the support of fishermen, hotel and restaurant owners during the closed season.    “If we have the continued landing of lobsters illegally during this period it is likely to put too much pressure on the resource, which will eventually end up in a decline in the lobster fishery.”

The Department of Fisheries is also concerned about the importation of lobster during the closed season. In this regard all requests for the importation of lobsters during the closed season will first have to be endorsed by the Department of Fisheries, after the department is satisfied that the importation is taking place during the open season in the country of origin and that the local lobster supply has been exhausted.

All hotels and restaurants are to declare all lobster holdings as of May 1, on a prescribed form, which the department has begun to circulate. Completed forms must be submitted to the department by May 20, 2001.

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