Puerto Rico to temporarily close federal waters to lobster fishing - Virgin Islands Daily News

Federal waters around Puerto Rico will close to lobster recreational and commercial lobster harvest for almost three months in an effort to keep the fishery sustainable, but the U.S. Virgin Islands lobster harvest is still within allowable catch limits, according to Nicole Angeli, director of the division of Fish and Wildlife for the Department of Planning and Natural Resources.

Federal regulators with the National Marine Fisheries Service of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration averaged the reported weight of lobster landed over the last three years, and determined that the annual catch limit for spiny lobster in Puerto Rico was exceeded, according to a news release issued on June 27.

The annual catch limit for spiny lobster in Puerto Rico is 327,920 pounds.

"As a result, an accountability measure is applied that reduces the length of the 2022 fishing season (commercial and recreational) for spiny lobster in federal waters off Puerto Rico," according to the news release. "This closure is necessary to protect the spiny lobster resource in federal waters off Puerto Rico."

The closure will begin on July 12 and the fishery will reopen on Oct. 1.

"During the closure, spiny lobster in or from federal waters off Puerto Rico may not be harvested, possessed, purchased, or sold, and the recreational bag and possession limit for spiny lobster in or from federal waters off Puerto Rico is zero," according to the news release.

In Puerto Rico, federal waters begin 9 nautical miles from shore and extend up to 200 nautical miles from shore. In the Virgin Islands, federal waters begin three nautical miles from shore and extend to 200 nautical miles from shore.

Angeli explained that the territory's annual catch limits were set by the National Marine Fisheries Service Southeast Regional Office, and the federal Caribbean Fisheries Management Council, and NMFS issues the accountability measure declaration.

The annual catch limit, "is calculated using the landings from fishers reported on each commercial catch report. The commercial catch report is submitted after each trip and the data is entered into a federal database by DFW staff. The numbers are checked and then if the average catch for three consecutive years exceeds the limits, the NMFS will issue an accountability measure. To change an ACL, the USVI would request a revision by asking NOAA to reconsider," Angeli said in an email Friday.

While Puerto Rico must pause lobster fishing in federal waters, Angeli said the Virgin Islands isn't currently at risk of a similar closure.

The annual catch limit for spiny lobster in the St. Thomas-St. John district is 104,199 pounds, and the annual catch limit for lobster in the St. Croix district is 107,307 pounds.

Landings of spiny lobster in the St. Thomas-St. John District did exceed catch limits in 2015 and 2016, "but we haven't gone over those limits in either District since. The 2020 landings were ~93,268 lbs in St. Thomas/St. John and ~16,445 lbs in St. Croix — far below the ACLs set," Angeli said.