An Assessment of the Spiny Lobster Panulirus homarus Fishery in Oman — Another Decline in the Western Indian Ocean?

Abstract

The scalloped spiny lobster Panulirus homarus supports numerous traditional diving,trap and trammel net fisheries in the Western Indian Ocean. Commercial catches made in 2003to 2005 in the Arabian Sea region of Oman (a coastline of ~1100 km, comprising Dhofar andAl-Wusta) were sampled for length and sex composition, and female reproductive condition.On average, lobsters caught in Dhofar were larger than in Al-Wusta, and length-based estimatesof growth parameters, size at maturity and natural mortality were consistent with fast-growingtropical lobsters. Compared to historical data from Oman dating from the late-1980’s (with peakcatches of >2000 t/yr) and mid-1990’s, recent landings, average lobster size and size at maturitywere considerably lower. A length-based cohort analysis suggested that fishing mortality does notimpact on lobsters 80 mm. The spawningbiomass ratio (Bsp/B) of