Multi-species assessment and management implications of lobster fisheries in Gunungkidul waters, Indonesia

Abstract

Three species of lobsters including Panulirus penicillatus, P. homarus and P. longipes are harvested simultaneously by traps in Gunungkidul waters, Indonesia. The management restriction for only one species of lobster can be dangerous for the other species. A multi-species assessment was conducted to investigate the stock status indicators and to develop the management tools. Time-series catch and effort data for the three aggregated lobsters were used to apply a surplus production model to forecast the stock rebuilding scenarios. The recent fishing effort was higher than the effort at maximum sustainable yield and the recent aggregated stock biomass was less than the optimal biomass. Growth overfishing and recruitment overfishing were detected based on the multi-species yield per recruit and the spawning potential ratio analysis. In this multi-species fishery, P. penicillatus has the lowest spawning stock biomass, thus it could be considered as the weakest stock to develop the lobster fishery management in Gunungkidul waters. For the sustainability of multi-species fishery in Gunungkidul waters, a 29% reduction of recent effort, applying the TAC (Total allowable catch) to be 26,145 kg and setting the optimal mesh size should be taken into consideration as rational fisheries management tools.