The global spiny lobster catch in 2022 was down 18.4 percent, leading several members of a Global Seafood Market Conference shellfish panel on 17 January to question the sustainability of the fishery.
Between 2018 and 2021, the global catch of spiny lobster – primarily generated by Honduras, Bahamas, Brazil, and Nicaragua – fell between 9 million and 10 million pounds. However, in 2022, the catch will be just above 8 million pounds, led by a 43 percent drop in Brazil’s haul and a 31 percent drop in Nicaragua’s total.
Regarding the Bahamas and Honduras, where catches were up, Rob Kragh, the vice president of category management at Chicken of the Sea Frozen Foods, said the biomass seems solid in both countries.
But Brazil and Nicaragua could be having issues with the sustainability of their collective fishing efforts, Kragh said, including bycatch and human rights issues.
“It could be some rougher weather for warm-water lobster,” he said.
Kragh said there’s also potential more warm-water lobster heads to countries other than the United States.
“If the U.S. isn't giving them their best return, then if I’m Brazil, I'm going be shipping into China or shipping to Europe,” Kragh said.
Photo courtesy of Elizaveta Galitckaia/Shutterstock
