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Panulirus argus in the St. Lucian fishery.
by
Peter A. Murray and Sarah JenningsClark
Department of Fisheries, Ministry of Agriculture, Lands, Fisheries,
Forestry and Cooperatives, Castries, St. Lucia, W.I..
ABSTRACT
This report presents preliminary analyses of data collected on landings
of the Spiny Lobster, Panulirus argus, on the southeast coast of St. Lucia.
The study was geared towards providing information pertinent to determining
management strategies. Carapace lengths were measured, at one of the major
lobster landing sites, during the lobster open season, arranged in 10 mm class
intervals and inputted into the Compleat ELEFAN (Gayanilo, Soriano and Pauly,
1988) program package. Von Bertalanffy growth parameters were obtained using
the method suggested by Murray and Nichols (1990). Estimates of current
exploitation rate (E), exploitation rate at maximum sustainable yield per
recruit (Emax), and exploitation rate at 10% of the slope (E0.1 ) were
obtained. It would appear that the existing close season has served to keep
the spiny lobster fishery on a stable footing notwithstanding the ever
increasing demand.
Murray, P.A. and S. JenningsClark, 1994. A preliminary look at exploitation of the Spiny Lobster, Panulirus argus, in the St. Lucian Fishery. Proc.
Gulf Caribb. Fish. Instit. 43: 685 689.
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INTRODUCTION
The Spiny Lobster, Panulirus argus, is an important resource in
St. Lucia, being in great demand in the Tourist Industry. Management of the
fishery is controlled by a close season having its basis in some unidentified
studies of the past. The fishery has managed to survive despite rapid
increases in demand since fishermen, in the main, adhere to the legal
restrictions while being convinced that the basis of these restrictions may
not be completely valid. The legally prescribed closed season runs from May
1st to August 31st in each year. There is a minimum legal carapace length of
95 mmCL coupled with a minimum legal total length of 250 mmTL. It is the
general feeling of fishermen that, since spawning can be observed throughout
the year and if in fact the closed season is based on the incidence of
spawning, there should be no closed season or, at least, the closed period
should be changed. While the Department of Fisheries has come to accept the
possibility that the closed season may not be at the time of peak spawning
activity, it is felt that some annual closure of the fishery is required.
Goodwin et al. (1986) derived a value for Loo of 188 mmCL, K of 0.246
1
y and to of 0.26 y, for lobsters landed in St. Kitts. Aiken (1983) observed
in Jamaica that from January to July most female lobsters were in spawning
condition, with another increased spawning period in November. Cavalcante
Soares and Lira Cavalcante (1985) observed similar major spawning periods in
Brazil, with a peak in February. They also noted greater presence of egg
bearing females between February and April coupled with a larger presence of
juveniles from May to August with peaks in June July. These studies,
conducted in other countries of the wider Western Central Atlantic region,
provide useful bases for comparison with any results obtained in this study,
which presents a preliminary analysis of data collected in a recent study of
landings of lobster on the southeast coast of St. Lucia aimed at giving local
information pertinent to determining management strategies.
METHODS
Carapace Length measurements were made on lobsters landed, on four days
between the first day of the open seasons of 1989 and 1990 inclusive, at
Savannes Bay to the southeast of St. Lucia. Measurements were taken from the
forward edge of the carapace to the maximum concavity of it's rear edge.
Data were arranged in 10mm class intervals and inputted into the
Compleat ELEFAN program package (Gayanilo, Soriano and Pauly, 1988). The
ELEFAN II routine was used to arrive at a first estimate of the von
Bertalanffy growth parameter Loo (asymptotic length). This estimate was then
used as the basis for another estimation of the parameters using the method
suggested by Murray and Nichols (1990): in small steps, a wide range of values
of the parameters K and Loo were scanned such as to identify the values
associated with the highest value of the goodness of fit index, Rn,
and any subpeaks. Combinations of the parameter estimates giving the highest
values of Rn, were used to calculate probabilities of capture. Recruitment
patterns were also derived with Pauly's empirical formula being used for
estimating to ("age at length zero"; Pauly, 1979).
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Sparre's version of the lengthconverted catch curve (pers. comm., cited
in Pauly, 1984) was also used to obtain estimates of total mortality
coefficient, Z, and exploitation rate, E. The latter were based on values of
natural mortality coefficient, M, calculated by Pauly's (1980) empirical
formula and assuming a mean annual environmental temperature of 27.5 o C. Yield
per recruit analyses were also done using the probabilities of selection
method (Pauly, 1984; Pauly and Soriano, 1986, cited in Gayanilo et al., 1988)
built into the ELEFAN II routine.
The Compleat ELEFAN package (Gayanilo et al., 1988) was used for all the
preceeding determinations except for the calculation of to.
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
Frequency distributions for the samples obtained are shown in Table 1.
Growth parameter estimates for Loo and k are shown in Table 2; the
combinations used and the values of to, Z, M and E derived, are shown in Table
3. The recruitment patterns obtained showed modes in September and December
with the latter explaining over 80% of the recruitment. Emax estimates, as
calculated, are also shown in table 3.
The patterns of recruitment derived in this study appear to be
consistent with both Aiken's (1983) and Cavalcante Soares and Lira
Cavalcante's (1985) observations.
Arellano (1989) notes values of the parameter Ø' (Pauly ad Munro, 1984)
for the genus Panulirus having a mean value of 3.596 + 0.123 (a = 0.05) The Ó'
values associated with the parameter combinations (see Table 4) are all
outside this range, the combination of Loo = 191.0 and K = 0.850 being the
farthest. The logic of ELEFAN I suggests that the value of K associated with
the highest value of Rn is the prefered one, assuming that this value is part
of a well defined, unique peak. The lack of small, fast growing lobsters in
the samples (see Table 1) led to multiple peaks. From this it can be suggested
that the actual magnitude of Rn may not be a reliable indicator of the value
of K to be used. We feel that in this instance, the closeness of derived
values of O' to the mean value for the genus (Arellano, 1989), is a more
useful indicator. With this in mind, therefore, and considering the fact that
the parameter combination having the Ø' value of 4.136 is reasonably close to
those of Goodwin et al. (1986) the corresponding exploitation rate, when
compared to the derived values of Emax and E0.1, suggest a reasonably healthy
fishery. It must, however, be remembered that the exploitation rates estimated
were calculated using values of natural mortality, M, derived from Pauly's
(1980) empirical formula. The value of environmental temperature used in this
formula was a mean yearly surface temperature. If one bears in mind the fact
that lobsters are demersal, and assuming, even in the extreme for sake of
argument, a 2.5 o C difference in temperature between the surface and (say) 30m
below the surface, the overall picture differs very little. It appears
therefore, is that the present exploitation rate is not posing a severe threat
to the fishery.
Within the context of the periodic closure of the fishery, it would
appear that the existing close season has served to keep the fishery on a
stable footing notwithstanding the everincreasing demand for lobster by St.
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Lucia's expanding tourism sector.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to thank Mr. Allan Smith of the Caribbean Natural
Resources Institute (formerly ECNAMP) for his assistance both in terms of data
collection and for his valuable comments on this paper.
REFERENCES
Aiken. K.A., 1983. Further investigation of the spiny
lobster fishery of Jamaica. Pp. 177191 IN
Western Central Atlantic Fishery
Commission (WECAFC), 1983. National
reports and selected papers presented at
the third session of the Working Party on
assessment of marine fishery resources.
Kingston, Jamaica, 1721 May 1982. FAO
Fish. Rep. 278 Suppl.
Arellano, R.V., 1989. Estimation of growth parameters in
Panulirus penicillatus using a Wetherall
plot and comparisons with other lobsters.
Fishbyte 7(2): 1315
Cavalcante Soares, C.N. and P.P. Lira Cavalcante, 1985. Caribbean
spiny lobster (Panulirus argus) and Smoothtail spiny
lobster (Panulirus laevicauda). Reproductive dynamics
on the Brazilian Northeastern coast. Pp. 200217 IN
Western Central Atlantic Fishery Commission (WECAFC),
1985. National reports and selected papers presented
at the fourth session of the Working Party on
assessment of marine fishery resources. Paipa,
Department of Boyaca
', Colombia, 29 October 2
November 1983. FAO Fish. Rep. 327 Suppl.
Gayanilo, F.C. Jr., M. Soriano and D. Pauly, 1988. A draft guide
to the Compleat ELEFAN. ICLARM Software 2.
International Center for Living Aquatic Resources
Management, Manila, Philippines. 65pp.
Goodwin, M.H., S.J. Heyliger and R.M. Wilkins, 1986.
Progress report on the development of a
management plan for the St. Kitts/Nevis
Spiny lobster fishery. Manuscript report
Fisheries Division, Ministry of
Agriculture, Lands and Development. St.
Kitts/Nevis. 19pp.
Murray, P.A. and K.E. Nichols, 1990. Problems in
estimating growth parameters
of the Wahoo Acanthocybium
solandri (Scombridae) using
the ELEFAN I program. Fishbyte
August 1990, pp.6 7 (in
press).
5
Pauly, D., 1979. Gill size and temperature as governing factors in
fish growth: a generalization of von Bertalanffy's
growth formula. Ber. Inst. Meer. ChristianAlbrechts
Univ., Kiel. 63: 156pp.
Pauly, D., 1980. On the interrelationships between
natural mortality, growth
parameters and mean
environmental temterature in
175 fish stocks. J. Cons. CIEM
39(3): 175192.
Pauly, D., 1984. Lengthconverted catch curves: a powerful
tool for fisheries research in the tropics
(Part II). Fishbyte 2(1): 1719
Pauly, D. and J.L. Munro, 1984. Once more on growth
comparisons in fish and aquatic
invertebrates. Fishbyte 2(1):21
6
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1. Frequency distribution of carapace lengths of
Panulirus argus landed at Savannes Bay,
Vieux Fort.
Table 2.Growth parameter estimates for Panulirus argus
based on landings sampled.
Table 3. Growth parameter combinations used and
parameters derived for Panulirus argus.
Table 4.Growth parameter combinations and the
coresponding values of Rn and Ø'.
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Table 1.Frequency distribution of carapace lengths of
Panulirus argus landed at Savannes Bay,
Vieux Fort.
┌─────────────────┬────────────────────┬──────────────────────┐
│ Year │ 1989 │ 1990 │
├─────────────────┼──────────┬─────────┼───────────┬──────────┤
│ Month/Day │ 09/01 │ 12/15 │ 01/04 │ 09/03 │
├─────────────────┼──────────┼─────────┼───────────┼──────────┤
│ Midlength │ Number │ Number │ Number │ Number │
├─────────────────┼──────────┼─────────┼───────────┼──────────┤
│ 75 │ 1 │ 0 │ 0 │ 1 │
│ │ │ │ │ │
│ 85 │ 31 │ 0 │ 0 │ 29 │
│ │ │ │ │ │
│ 95 │ 104 │ 5 │ 3 │ 57 │
│ │ │ │ │ │
│ 105 │ 79 │ 5 │ 0 │ 47 │
│ │ │ │ │ │
│ 115 │ 48 │ 6 │ 10 │ 29 │
│ │ │ │ │ │
│ 125 │ 17 │ 4 │ 9 │ 12 │
│ │ │ │ │ │
│ 135 │ 8 │ 3 │ 5 │ 3 │
│ │ │ │ │ │
│ 145 │ 4 │ 1 │ 1 │ 0 │
│ │ │ │ │ │
│ 155 │ 1 │ 0 │ 1 │ 1 │
│ │ │ │ │ │
│ 165 │ 0 │ 0 │ 1 │ 0 │
└─────────────────┴──────────┴─────────┴───────────┴──────────┘
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Table 2Growth parameter estimates for Panulirus
argus based on landings sampled.
╔══════════════════╦════════════════════╗
║ Loo ║ K ║
╟──────────────────╫────────────────────╢
║ ║ ║
║ 173.0 ║ 1.020 ║
║ ║ ║
║ 170.0 ║ 0.375 ║
║ ║ ║
║ 191.0 ║ 0.850 ║
║ ║ ║
║ ║ 0.540 ║
║ ║ ║
╚══════════════════╩════════════════════╝
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Table 3.Growth parameter combinations used and
parameters derived for Panulirus argus.
╔═════════════════╤══════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║ Loo K │ too Z M E Emax E0.1 ║
╟─────────────────┼──────────────────────────────────────────────────────╢
║ │ ║
║ 173.0 0.540 │ 0.186 2.219 1.380 0.378 0.676 0.651 ║
║ │ ║
║ 170.0 1.020 │ 0.097 4.476 2.102 0.530 0.662 0.604 ║
║ │ ║
║ 191.0 0.375 │ 0.264 2.141 1.057 0.506 0.656 0.615 ║
║ │ ║
║ 191.0 0.850 │ 0.113 4.853 1.806 0.628 0.639 0.605 ║
║ │ ║
╚═════════════════╧══════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝
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Table 4.Growth parameter combinations and the
corresponding values of Rn and Ø'.
╔═════════════════╤═════════════════╗
║ Loo K │ Rn Ø' ║
╟─────────────────┼─────────────────╢
║ │ ║
║ 173.0 0.540 │ 0.396 4.208 ║
║ │ ║
║ 170.0 1.020 │ 0.781 4.469 ║
║ │ ║
║ 191.0 0.375 │ 0.396 4.136 ║
║ │ ║
║ 191.0 0.850 │ 0.891 4.491 ║
║ │ ║
╚═════════════════╧═════════════════╝