A Length-Structured Model of the Western Rock Lobster Fishery of Western Australia

By monitoring the settlement of the 9 to 11 month old first post-larval (puerulus) stage of the rock lobsters on coastal reefs, estimates are made of the level of recruitment expected to enter the fishery four years later. These predictions are further improved by introducing into the predictive models the abundance of 4 year old juvenile rock lobsters caught in rock lobster pots.