Elsevier

Aquaculture

Volume 479, 1 October 2017, Pages 321-332
Aquaculture

Improved collector design for the capture of tropical spiny lobster, Panulirus homarus and P. ornatus (Decapoda: Palinuridae), pueruli in Lombok, Indonesia

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.aquaculture.2017.05.033Get rights and content

Highlights

  • The effect of collector material and design on the settlement of pueruli was examined in tank and field experiments

  • In tank experiments puerulus settlement of P. homarus was highest on cement bag paper, and a crevice angle of 10o or 20o had significantly higher settlement than 30o

  • The greatest puerulus catch in the field experiment was on cement bag paper

  • Catch of both P. homarus and P. ornatus was found to be higher at the time of the new moon

Abstract

The literature on late-stage larval and puerulus settlement of tropical spiny lobsters suggests that a broad range of visually-assessed variables may play a role in the selection of settlement substrates. These variables include light level, luminosity, degree of exposure, and the availability of edges, crevices and clefts. A fishery has developed in Indonesia, that captures pueruli for grow-out purposes, along the entire southern coastline from Java to Sumbawa. The present study builds on knowledge gained on the behaviour and substrate preferences of settling pueruli by examining aspects of collector design and substrate surface characteristics in regard to catch rates. A series of tank-based experiments were used to examine preferences for various attributes of collector materials, and preferred material characteristics were then tested in a field experiment to verify the laboratory results. In the tank experiment the most preferred substrate was cement bag paper, followed by insect mesh, weed netting, PVC rubber and cement bag plastic. Crevice angles of 10° and 20° were significantly preferred over 30°. The substrate level and other substrates had less influence on settlement. However, both the lunar phase and type of materials tested in the field had a significant effect on settlement. Significantly greater numbers of pueruli were caught at the time of the new moon than at other moon phases. Cement bag paper was the most preferred material in the field, followed by cement bag plastic, insect mesh, weed fabric, and PVC rubber.

Introduction

With the recent development of puerulus fisheries to supply seed lobster for aquaculture purposes (Booth and Kittaka, 2000, Jones, 2010, Phillips et al., 2005b), there is growing interest to improve fishing techniques and maximise the catch through a better understanding of puerulus settlement preferences. Manufactured puerulus collectors are intended to simulate ‘natural’ substrates, and maximise settlement rates (Phillips et al., 2001, Phillips et al., 2005a). Studies on the settlement behaviour of spiny lobster pueruli have examined the natural marine environment and the variety of natural habitats and substrates that are available to guide decisions on the design of artificial substrates (Butler and Herrnkind, 1991, Hayakawa and Nishida, 2002). Further, there have been many studies on lobster recruitment that have employed various collectors which simulate natural habitat and provide a scientific tool to measure abundance, and to describe the spatial and temporal patterns of settlement (Phillips and Booth, 1994, Booth, 2001, Phillips and Olsen, 1975, Phillips et al., 2001, Ewing et al., 2013). A considerable body of knowledge exists for these research-focussed collectors (e.g. Ewing et al., 2013, Mills and Crear, 2004).

As an extension to such research, there have been various proposals to collect significant numbers of pueruli for aquaculture, although most have not been realised due to concerns about impact on recruitment (Gardner et al., 2006). In Vietnam, where a substantial lobster aquaculture industry is now established (Petersen and Phuong, 2010), 1.5 to 4 million pueruli are caught each year and then used for grow-out to market size (Jones et al., 2010, Tuan and Jones, 2015). The impact of puerulus removal on the wild fishery for market-sized lobsters is estimated to be slight because of the high natural mortality of pueruli. Phillips et al. (2003) suggested that the removal of 20 million pueruli of P. cygnus in Western Australia in one year, in which the puerulus settlement size was 600 million, would result in only a 0.62% reduction in catch of adult lobsters. Therefore, the capture of pueruli for the purpose of farming represents an insignificant impact on the environment and a significant net gain to the volume of marketable size lobsters (Jones, 2015).

A variety of techniques and materials are used in Vietnam to fish for pueruli. Collectors, sometimes called traps (Priyambodo et al., 2015), are placed in areas of known high abundance (Long and Dao, 2009). Similarly, in Indonesia, particularly in Lombok (Priyambodo and Sarifin, 2009, Jones, 2010), a significant source of naturally-settling lobster pueruli has been identified, and the associated industry supplies around 3–5 million pueruli each year (Bahrawi et al., 2015). Over the last decade, through trial and error, the puerulus fishers in Lombok achieved consistent catch rates to support their livelihoods using limited resources (Petersen et al., 2013). A recent study assessing the effectiveness of the most common puerulus fishing equipment used in Lombok (Priyambodo et al., 2015) revealed that collectors made from cement bag paper were the most effective among those examined, in particular those based on the shape of a concertina bowtie. Further assessment of the bowtie style collector, made with different materials and angles, may lead to greater catch rates.

In Lombok, significant numbers of pueruli of P. homarus and P. ornatus settle in the inshore waters of Ekas Bay and nearby embayments (Priyambodo and Bahrawi, 2012, Priyambodo et al., 2015). The physico-chemical cues that attract pueruli from oceanic water to these near shore estuarine waters are not fully understood. The settlement areas are characterised by lower salinity, high turbidity, high nutrients, and low- energy tidal currents and coastal eddies, and it may be a complex of stimuli that results in pueruli settlement. Although a better understanding of these cues may be useful to increase catch rates, the current research focused on structures that the swimming pueruli settle upon, and specifically the materials, depth level and surface characteristics of the collectors (Pardo et al., 2010, Hinojosa et al., 2015, Priyambodo et al., 2015). In addition to the materials that maximise settlement and catch rate, little is yet known on the effects of lunar periodicity on the settlement of spiny lobster, particularly for P. ornatus and P. homarus.

The literature on the late-stage larval and puerulus settlement of spiny lobsters suggests a broad range of visually-assessed variables influence the preference for settlement substrates. These variables include light level, luminosity, degree of exposure, availability of edges, crevices and clefts (Radford et al., 2007, Lecchini et al., 2010, Jeffs and Holland, 2000). Furthermore, tactile properties of substrates that that may influence settlement include texture, smoothness, porosity, grip, hardness, rugosity, and availability of corrugations, ridges and furrows (Phillips et al., 2001, Stevens, 2003, Herrnkind and Butler, 1994). To maximise catch rates of pueruli, habitat enhancement can be used to increase the suitable settlement substrate thereby increasing the overall catch rate when compared to natural settlement rates. Such habitat can provide protection from predation and mitigate the effects of environmental perturbations; enhanced habitats have been shown to increase survival of settled pueruli (Johns and Mann, 1987, Herrnkind and Butler, 1994).

The present study aims to build on knowledge gained on the behaviour and material preferences of settling pueruli of tropical spiny lobster species by examining aspects of collector design and material surface characteristics to enhance catch rates. A series of tank-based experiments were used to examine the pueruli's preferences for various aspects of collector materials, and preferred material characteristics were then tested in a field experiment to verify the laboratory results. This study also provided opportunity to examine lunar periodicity in relation to the settlement pattern of pueruli during the peak settlement season. Better understanding of settlement patterns in relation to lunar phase may improve utilisation of this resource to enhance tropical spiny lobster production from aquaculture.

Section snippets

Substrate surface

The experience of fishers and findings from a scientific study recommend cement bag paper bowties as the most effective collector type for capture of P. homarus and P. ornatus pueruli in Indonesia (Priyambodo et al., 2015). These bowties are so named because they are folded to fashion a concertina-like, multiple-creviced structure that resembles a bowtie. In Indonesia they are made using recycled paper bags originally used for cement powder, as this is a cheap and readily available material and

Results

The series of laboratory-based tank experiments demonstrated that pueruli of the spiny lobster P. homarus settled on the cement bag paper in significantly greater numbers than on the other offered materials (Table 3). The second most preferred material was the insect mesh, followed by weed fabric, PVC rubber and cement bag plastic. Of the three crevice angles tested (10°, 20° and 30°), the results showed that the angles of 10° and 20° were most preferred compared with 30°. Examination of

Comparison of materials

Identifying the best collector design is crucial to maximise catch rate of puerulus for grow-out and scientific purposes. For shallow-water palinurids, such as P. argus and P. cygnus, settlement occurs in inshore waters a few metres deep, and settled pueruli are found on hard substrates, small crevices or in objects on the substrate that provide shelter (Booth, 2001). In aquarium-based substrate preference research of puerulus, Ewing and Frusher (2015) found that pueruli prefer habitats with

Conclusion

The experiments reported here provide valuable insights into the settlement of tropical rock lobster pueruli. The species examined, P. homarus and P. ornatus, are able to distinguish between different substrates in regard to their physical characteristics, particularly surface texture and crevice angle, and their abundance varies significantly according to lunar phase. Further research at finer levels of resolution could help to better understand their preferences and settlement behaviour, but

Acknowledgements

We acknowledge the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research (ACIAR) under the spiny lobster project FIS/2014/059 “Expanding spiny lobster farming in Indonesia” which is managed by James Cook University. We thank the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, the University of New South Wales Australia for additional support. We are grateful to Ir. Ujang Komarudin, M.Sc, the Director of Lombok Marine Aquaculture Development Center (MADC), for providing tank

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