Movements and breeding of the ornate rock lobster, Panulirus ornatus, in Torres Strait and on the north-east coast of Queensland

Abstract

The principal biological question examined by the investigation was whether the resource of P. ornatus fished in Papua New Guinean waters was the same as that fished in Australian waters. In all, 11 932 specimens of Panulirus ornatus were tagged in Torres Strait and on the north-east coast of Queensland over a 3-year period from February 1980 to March 1983. By June 1984, 300 tagged P. ornatus had been recaptured. Of the 9632 P. ornatus tagged on the east coast of Queensland, none was recaptured in Torres Strait, while most of the 24 recaptures showing movements occurred to the south of the tagging sites. Of the 2300 P. ornatus tagged in Torres Strait, 8 were recaptured at sites to the north-east of the tagging sites in September and October 1980, coincident with the annual breeding emigration of P. ornatus from reefs in Papua New Guinean waters in northern Torres Strait, across the Gulf of Papua to breeding grounds near Yule Island. Results of this tagging study showed that P. ornatus from western Torres Strait also emigrate into Papuan New Guinean waters, where they are fished by both Australian and Papua New Guinean fishermen. However, recapture data also indicated that the population of P. ornatus in south-east Torres Strait and on the east coast of Queensland does not take part in this breeding emigration and may be a separate resource. During the study, 39 berried female P. ornatus were found on the north-east coast of Queensland but none in Torres Strait. The breeding stock near Yule Island may be the source of recruitment to both the Torres Strait and north-east coastal Queensland fisheries.