| Summary: | ENVIRONMENT Tasmania's spokes-woman Rebecca Hubbard made claims about the Tasmanian lobster fishery (Letters, September 24) that conflict with research by the University of Tasmania's Institute for Marine and Antarctic Studies. We have tracked a stock decline since 2006. This followed unusually low juvenile recruitment caused by ocean conditions, not levels of egg production. This decline is not a threat to the species but is a problem for recreational and commercial fishing. Contrary to Hubbard's claims, research shows that a maximum size limit would not increase egg production by lobsters, would reduce the stock of lobsters statewide and would do little for increasing the abundance of large lobsters. Hubbard proposes an expansion of marine parks, yet this would harm stock rebuilding across the broader coast, as demonstrated by population modelling for Tasmania and field data from Victoria after parks were implemented. The problem with maximum size limits and marine parks is that they don't reduce catch, they just shift effort to smaller lobsters or other parts of the coast It's a truism that he best way to increase lobster abundance is to catch fewer. The Government's actions in reducing bag limits and commercial catch quota is consistent with this.
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