European lobster

This stock is data limited. There is concern for fishing pressure as fishing is above FMSY, and no concern for biomass, as landings per unit effort are above the average.Route 2 (data limited) scoring has been applied to this rating owing to a lack of reference points for biomass and fishing pressure. European lobster has a vulnerability score of 46 out of 100.The main stock indicator for assessing stock status against reference points is landings per unit effort (LPUE) which is considered to be an index of stock abundance. LPUE increased steadily from 2013 to 2017, before declining in 2018 and 2019. This could be due to the return to lower levels of recrutiment, after increased recruitment that was observed in 2007-2017. In 2020 and 2021, LPUE have began to increase again and remain well above the mean at 8.8kg/100 creels. Therefore, there is no concern for the biomass.The most recent assessment of fishing pressure (F) in 2019 indicated that F was above FMSY for both males and females and there is a lack of evidence that it has subsequently decreased to sustainable levels. Therefore, there is concern for fishing pressure.Scottish creel fishing grounds are divided into 12 assessment areas. A key issue is that there is no straightforward way of ageing lobsters and regional assessment of lobster stocks around Scotland are currently based on length cohort analyses (LCA) and use reported landings data and market sampling length frequencies collected by Marine Scotland Science.

There are pot limits in place for Shetland creel fisheries but more management is needed to improve the stock of European lobster.As European lobster and brown crab are fished together in a mixed fishery, European lobster benefits from management measures introduced in the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certified brown crab fishery in Shetland.The European lobster fishery is managed by the Shetland Shellfish Management Organisation (SSMO). SSMO has the powers to enforce submission of catch and specific areas for landings; minimum conservation reference size (MCRS), real time closures of areas, marking of gear and maximum vessel size.The SSMO also requires log sheets to be filled in by all vessels in the European lobster fishery. Fishing area, soak time, the type of gear used, the species targeted, the number of pots hauled and the numbers or weight of landed catch must be recorded. In addition, the numbers discarded and the reasons for discarding (e.g. undersized, soft-shelled etc.) and interactions with endangered, threatened and protected (ETP) species must also be recorded. In addition the SSMO log sheets, vessels over 10m length are required under Scottish legislation to complete EU logbooks and vessels under 10m are required to complete FISH1 forms.Harvest control rules are not in place for the European lobster fishery, however they are used in the brown crab including the introduction of pot limits and a ban on new licenses which were triggered in 2012. There is currently an overall pot limit in place of 600 pots, of which only 240 may target velvet crabs, and an MCRS of 90mm carapace length and a maximum landing size for females of 155mm. It is also prohibited to fish for or land a lobster that bears a v-notch, or that has been mutilated to obscure a v notch. In Shetland, the landing of berried (egg-berring) lobster was prohibited in September 2022. This measure helps protect larger breeding females. It is the first place in Scotland to bring in a ban.The UK Fisheries Act came into force in January 2021 and requires the development of Fisheries Management Plans (FMPs). There are no details yet on how and when these will be developed. FMPs have the potential to be very important tools for managing UK fisheries, although data limitations may delay them for some stocks. MCS is keen to see FMPs for all commercially exploited stocks, especially where stocks are depleted, that include:Targets for fishing pressure and biomass, and additional management when those targets are not being metTimeframes for stock recoveryTechnologies such as Remote Electronic Monitoring (REM) to support data collection and improve transparency and accountabilityConsideration of wider environmental impacts of the fishery

Potting, or creeling, European lobster, has minimal impact on the surrounding environment but may result in the entanglement of whales in this area.Brown crab and European lobster are fished together in a mixed fishery with seasonal and regional variation in target species taking place. The key fishing season for European lobster in the UK takes place from May to December. Crabs are caught in pots, also known as creels, and can be fished individually or as part of a fleet of up to 100 pots, depending on the size of the boat and crew. Pots are portable traps made of wood or steel wire and plastic. The crab is baited into the initial part (the chamber) and moves into the secondary part (the parlour) where it becomes trapped.In European lobster fisheries, there is no legislation or regulation to standardise the type of pot used. They tend to be highly selective as undersized animals can be returned to the sea alive and survival rates for non-target organisms are thought to be high. More than half of the bycatch caught are predicted to survive, although there is little available research to prove this. Measures to further reduce bycatch include the use of escape panels to allow undersize animals and bycatch to escape pots. North Sea cod may be caught as bycatch in this fishery, and they will generally be undersized. There is a legal obligation to release undersized cod.In creel fisheries, there is potential for entanglement of endangered, threatened or protected (ETP) species from the ropes attached to the pots. A report in 2010 estimated that around 7.5km of creel lines would be in Scottish waters throughout most of the year. These creels are targeting crab, lobster and Norway lobster. Whales become entangled in groundline because the rope used is buoyant and floats in loops between pots, rather than lying on the seabed.The main species at risk are minke and humpback whales. A 2022 study has estimated that in Shetland, 27 minke whales and 18 humpback whales have been entangled from 2009-2019 (out of a total of 302 minke whales and 64 humpback whales in Scotland overall). Minke whales entanglements are likely to be acutely fatal, with 84% of entangled minke whales found by fishers being already dead.Marine mammal bycatch reporting requirements were only introduced in the UK in November 2021, so monitoring to date has been poor. From 2021, new conditions introduced for fishing licenses require all bycatch of marine mammals to be reported within 48 hours of the end of the fishing trip. However, whale entanglements will still be underreported if whales break free or animals are caught in abandoned, lost or otherwise discarded fishing gear.Habitat impacts from potting are low but can occur during deployment, soak time or hauling of the pot, impacting the benthic habitat and associated species through contact with the pot or end weight, or by scouring from ropes. Research that has taken place suggests that while some damage does occur, it is unlikely to be significant unless potting intensity is high (defined as approximately 30 pots per 500 square metres). Most damage occurs where traps are set in rocky habitats that are home to corals, sponges, sea whips and other large emergent species. These habitats and species provide nursery areas, refuges from predators and habitat for the settlement of invertebrate spat.In some circumstances, there can be instances of ghost fishing, when lost fishing gear continues to fish and can entangle a variety of species, but this can be minimised by using appropriate gear and release devices.

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