A glorious day for a trip up to Riversdale and Castle Point
today with Jeff Forman and Dean Stotter. They were checking on some Rock
Lobster (Crayfish) traps they have there and didn’t mind me tagging along with
them.
Back in February, Dean had shown me some baby lobsters (puerulus)
they had collected. These little guys get around that’s for sure! Quite
staggering really. They hatch from under their mother’s tail and then spend the
next 18 months as larvae far out at sea. They then find their way to shore and
into sheltered nooks and cracks (and lobster traps) metamorphosing into a
transparent, miniature lobster (puerulus). They then grow and moult until they
are mature (about 6 years old)
The purpose of having these Lobster Traps is to keep an
average count of Rock Lobster at the puerulus stage so a quota can be set for fishing
in 5 years time. NZ exports a lot of lobster to Japan and China.
Jeff has other people checking traps around the coast of NZ
in places like Jacksons Bay, Moeraki and Kaikoura in the South Island and up
north near Napier.
Jeff and Dean have been doing this once a month for the last
20 years! Certainly work well together!
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