Marine InVEST
Spiny Lobster
Model
Katie Arkema, Jodie Toft, Gregg Verutes, Spencer Wood
Photo credit: Julie Stockbridge
People benefit in many ways from fish
Food
Tourism and recreation
Jobs and livelihoods
Cultural heritage
Commercial fishing for Caribbean spiny
lobster (Panulirus argus)
In 2008
424,310 lbs exported
$14,808,642
CAPTURE FISHERIES EXPORT IN DOLLARS
FOR 2008
Lobster Tail
Lobster Head Meat
Market Clean Conch
Fish Fillet
Pink Shrimp (Marine)
Fish (Stone Bass)
Salted Shark
Coastal zone management questions
(examples)
• What areas are most important for catch of
spiny lobster?
• Where should mangroves and corals be
protected in order to maintain lobster catch?
Inputs
Fishing zone
Where do people
catch lobster?
Outputs
Catch of spiny lobster
(no./m2/yr)
Market value of catch
Habitat
($/m2/yr)
Where?
How much?
Value of habitats
that support lobster
Fishing pressure
How much do
people fish?
Age-structured matrix model (8 classes)
Habitat influences survival and recruitment
Regulations influence catch
Catch limits
Fisher limits
Seasonal closures
Age-structured matrix model (8 classes)
Beverton-Holt recruitment
Regulations influence catch
Habitats influence
survivorship
Running the model
• Fit model to catch and CPUE data to determine
historical and present adult biomass
• Allocate adult biomass to 9 planning regions
based on coral cover
Model fitting to determine historical
and present adult biomass
2 datasets for catch
1932-2008 Historical Lobster Production from 1935-2008 Ministry of Agriculture and
Fisheries, 2008 Annual Report
2008-2010 data from fisheries department to CZMAI
3 time series of catch per unit effort data (CPUE)
1965-84 and 1991-97 Carcamo, Jr, R.A. 2002. Report on the spiny lobster fisheries of Belize.
in: Second Workshop on the Management of Caribbean Spiny Lobster Fisheries in the
WECAFC Area. FAO Fisheries Report No. 715.
2004-2010, Long Term Atoll Monitoring Program (LAMP) fishery independent surveys at
SCMR, Glover’s, GSSCMR and LBCNP.
2005-2010, we used data from the Glover’s Reef Atoll Fisheries Catch Data Collection
Program, which is a fishery-dependent catch-monitoring program of fisher catch in
Glover’s Reef General Use Zone.
Coastal zone management questions
(examples)
• What areas are most important for catch of
spiny lobster?
• Where should mangroves and corals be
protected in order to maintain lobster catch?
What areas are important
for catch of spiny lobster?
What areas are important
for catch of spiny lobster?
What areas are important
for catch of spiny lobster?
Catch in year 2021 (lbs/km2)
Valuation?
• Gross export revenue
• Net revenue – we need better information on
fishing and processing costs
• NPV – need net revenue
• Do we want to value lobster exported, sold
locally, together, separately?
What habitat areas are important
for catch of spiny lobster?
Catch in year 2021 (lbs/km2)
Loss of habitats decreases catch
Current habitat
50% reduction in
habitat per planning region
Questions
• How should we divide up lobster population?
(by coral cover)
• How should we report catch? (by planning
region)
• What are the most pressing management
questions (scenarios in zoning plan)?
• Do you have feedback on fishing zone?
Acknowledgements
Marine Team of Natural
Capital Project
Mary Ruckelshaus, Anne Guerry,
CK Kim, Greg Guannel, Joey
Bernhardt, Jess Silver