Settlement patterns, biology and collection of pueruli and early juveniles of the West Coast rock lobster Jasus lalandii

Exploitation of J. lalandii in South Africa and Namibia is currently limited to harvesting adults from the wild. On growing (farming) of postlarval lobsters to a marketable size could increase production, and potentially relieve fishing pressure and enhance natural populations through reseeding areas with cultured lobsters. Postlarval lobsters are, however, not yet available in sufficient quantities through culture from egg to puerulus, so postlarvae for ongrowing need to be harvested from the wild. Finding a good source of wild postlarvae has hindered the development of lobster farming in South Africa. My study was designed to locate a site of high postlarval settlement and to (1) investigate numbers available for collection (standing-stock), temporal patterns of settlement and their relationships with environmental conditions, postlarval size-distributions and growth, (2) test the relative efficacy of various collector designs for effective collection of postlarvae, and (3) make recommendations for postlarval collection in the future. An oyster farm in Saldanha Bay was chosen as the study site.

Grantor dc:publisher.institution

Department of Biological Sciences

Year dc:date.issued

2007

Author dc:creator

• Greengrass, Catherine Lyn

Advisors dc:contributor.advisor

• Branch, George M
• Groeneveld, J C

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/11427/6259

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/6259