Spiny Lobster Study Has Scientists Calling for the Creation of "Larval Credits"

Spiny lobsters rarely end up where they were born, with those harvested in the United States often originating from other countries, prompting a team of researchers to try to track the creature in its travels, which in turn has resulted in a number of discoveries that could change the way conservationists and fisheries managers try to protect the creatures at the base of a $1 billion industry.

In particular, the scientists focused on the Carribean spiny lobster because, as co-author and marine biologist Mark Butler explains in a press release, it is "the most important fishery in the Caribbean and its larvae disburse for many months in the plankton, thus moving among the 30-plus countries of the region."

The report, published in the journal PLOS ONE, argues that fisheries management strategies imposed country-by-country lack the geographic scope to be effective.

Furthermore, the researchers identify nursery areas teeming with the larvae in certain open-sea areas, suggesting such areas should be offered special protection from pollution, such as from ships or coastal runoff.

The researchers, who hail from the University of Miami and Old Dominion University, use an international trade analogy to explain their findings.

"Large disparities between larval imports and exports among countries abound in our simulations," they write. "We identified imbalances in the international exchange of lobster larvae by removing model predictions of domestic connectivity from the total larval supply and then comparing the remaining difference in larval subsidies received and subsidies donated to the pan-Carribbean larval pool."

For example, the eastern Bahamas, southern Cuba, Dominican Republic and Venezuela all export far more lobster larvae than they receive from the international community. Meanwhile, the western Bahamas, Cayman Islands, northern Cuba, Columbia, Florida Keys, Jamaica and Panama receive more than they donate to the overall pool.

Based on this information, the scientists propose that Caribbean countries might want to employ a compensation plan similar to "carbon credits" called for in the Kyoto Protocol.

"Nations that absorb disproportionally more larvae from the international pool bear an ethical responsibility and financial incentive to assist in the preservation of spawning stocks in other areas best suited for exporting larvae," they write.

The suggestion, they admit, is non-traditional and is likely to be met with skepticism for that reason. Furthermore, implementation could be difficult considering the political and economic realities of international agreements as well as the needs of local communities.

"Yet scientific evidence suggests that population for many marine animals persist in an intricate web of metapopulations that are often linked across geopolitical boundaries by larval connectivity and should be managed accordingly," they argue.