Limit continues on lobsters to protect fishery
A cap on recreational lobster diving licences, set last year to 175, is to continue for the coming season, which starts on September 1.
Licences will be issued on a first-come, first-served basis from August 21 at the Department of Environment and Natural Resources headquarters in the Botanical Gardens, Paget.
The number of recreational lobster diver licences available each season has been reduced from a cap of 500 in 2017 to 340 in 2022 before tighter restrictions last year.
In 2023, the Ministry of Home Affairs tightened limits on both commercial and recreational catches of spiny lobster to help rebuild a population it said had shown “a significant decline“.
The DENR is to continue monitoring and collecting data from commercial and recreational fishers to guide fishery management.
A statement reminded recreational fishers that the deadline to report catch data, including zero catches, for the 2023-24 season was last April 30.
Divers licensed last season will only be eligible for relicensing if they submitted their catch statistics to the DENR by that deadline.
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