ABSTRACT
Adult lobsters of the families Palinuridae, Nephropidae, and Scyllaridae are important ‚sheries resources in all world oceans. All benthic stages are nocturnally active and shelter during the day when residing in structured environments, presumably to avoid predation. Recent concerns about habitat destruction and/or degradation through anthropogenic and natural occurrences, as well as previous interest in enhancement of local populations for exploitation purposes, has led to the investigation of providing additional sheltering opportunities for lobsters in shelter-limited habitats. Although various man-made structures (e.g., ship wrecks, sunken aircraft) are known to attract adult lobsters, modern development of arti‚cial reefs currently focuses on imitating natural
CONTENTS
Abstract ............................................................................................................................................77 Introduction ...................................................................................................................................... 78
Trends in Commercially Exploited Lobster Species ................................................................... 79 Arti‚cial Reefs as a Solution to Population Declines ................................................................. 81
Life History Features of Lobsters Relevant for Arti‚cial Reefs ...................................................... 82 Arti‚cial Structures for Postlarvae of Lobsters ............................................................................... 83
Clawed Lobsters .......................................................................................................................... 83 Spiny Lobsters .............................................................................................................................85 Slipper Lobsters ..........................................................................................................................87
Arti‚cial Structures for Juvenile and Adult Lobsters ......................................................................88 Clawed Lobsters ..........................................................................................................................88 Spiny Lobsters .............................................................................................................................93 Slipper Lobsters ..........................................................................................................................97
Lobster Enhancement, Marine-Protected Arti‚cial Reefs, and Ownership Issues .........................98 Summary, Conclusions, and Recommendations ..............................................................................99 References ...................................................................................................................................... 100
shelters (particularly those in hard substrates) and are designed according to the spatial preferences of a given species and its ontogenetic phases.
