Australia: what’s causing lobsters’ decline?

An analysis of South Australia’s northern zone rock lobster catches from 1970 to 2007 reveals that population declines during the 80’s and 90’s were masked by the expansion of the fishery brought on by new technologies. Fishermen were travelling further, using faster, planing-hulled vessels and global positioning systems to return to lobster grounds. Advances in hydro-acoustic equipment and radar were also increasingly employed.