The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

VETERAN spearfisherman David Rose believes the Bahamas’ declining lobster population can be reversed if the country reverts to when live catch are brought to market.

“We need to re-gear and go back to the completely live product, and then bring the lobsters to GB, Abaco, and Nassau where there can be factories set up to deal with this very valuable product,” he said, estimating that some five million pounds of tails are caught annually in the Bahamas.

Mr Rose noted the lobster population had declined significantly due to the size of crawfish that are being brought to market now when compared with larger sized crawfish caught in the past.

“I have been in the crawfish business since I was a young boy. There is no question that there is a decrease. Today, we see a lot smaller crawfish and a lot of undersized tails are brought in accidentally because of our current system,” he said.

In the early 50s and 60s, Mr Rose stated all product from the ocean was brought to market alive due to lack of refrigeration. He said all that had changed with technology.

“We catch every year about 15 or 16 million lobsters, and we then throw away 10 million pounds of the lobster heads. These 10-million pounds of heads would not be thrown away in Florida because they have to catch their fish alive,” he explained.

Mr Rose believes that in most of the tropical countries in the world lobsters are caught alive.

“We are one of the only nations that throw away 5,000 tons of (lobster) heads which can be used to make soup or bisque in France. This kind of waste has to stop,” he said.

Mr Rose believes the lobsters are worth some $45 million on the US market if they were brought in with heads.

He said because buyers do not want to deal with hiring people to process the tails, they want only the tails brought in so that most of the work is already done.

If lobsters are brought in alive, Mr Rose thinks it would eliminate the problem of the undersize catch which are being sold on the black market.

He said fishermen with live catch would have to adhere to the catch size of an overall weight of one pound, 3 3⁄8 inches carapace length or six inches tail length.

“If the lobsters are alive and you measure it, if it is too small it goes back in the sea if not damaged or killed accidentally, so it does not have to go on the black market and sold cheaply, which is done over the country,” he explained.

“Vast amounts of undersized tails are caught. You make it alive caught product only; it is very simple for Fisheries to deal with it. If somebody got a crawfish tail in their boat, they are in trouble. If somebody got undersized crawfish, they could be advised to release them,” he said.

Mr Rose strongly suggests the country looks at putting a grandfather clause in place to protect those lobsters that have reached the 20 pounds range or are about seven feet long.

“If lobster has a minimum size limit, then it should be like in the US where many of their species, especially their Snook is a perfect example; if it is 20 inches it is protected, but at 20-28 inches it can be caught legally and used for food,” he explained.

He noted that once the Snook exceeds 28 inches, it is now a part of the grandfather clause where the law protects them, and they become broodstock.

“If our lobsters have a maximum size limit say up to the 20lb range, or once a lobster gets to be five pounds it becomes a professional broodstock individual. The female lobster at this size carries more eggs and males can fertilize way more females,” he said.

Mr Rose said that most people would follow the law. “If the law says no lobster over five pounds generally the majority of people will say it is a correct law that increases the broodstock immediately - no more trophy lobster. So, if you put the minimum and maximum catch size, now the lobster has a window. If they get through they are safe, and our broodstock increase and our egg mass increase and The Bahamas has an increase of lobster population as opposed to the decrease we are having now,” he said.