Rock lobster are caught commercially using baited pots. Once caught, most are held in temperature-controlled aquaria before being airfreighted “live” to export markets.
New Zealand's spiny rock lobster fishery is managed by strict quotas which allow only a set amount of spiny rock lobster to be taken commercially each year.
The fishery is also controlled by size restrictions: for a lobster to be of legal size, the width between the primary spines on the second segment of the tail must be greater than 54mm for a male lobster and 60mm for a female.
Author Hoyt Childers describes the New Zealand study tour in a 2.5 page feature article. Childers provides historical information about the New Zealand quota management system. Reactions of tour participants from the Pacific, Gulf of Mexico and New England regions are included. John Annala, former chief scientist for the New Zealand Ministry of Fisheries, also provides his insight.
| » Quotas Down Under National Fisherman, February 2007 |
| » Too Many Fisherman, Too Few Fish UC Davis Magazine Online, Fall 2006 |
| » What we told the Americans about the QMS Seafood New Zealand magazine, April 2006 |