Sustainability
Caribbean Sustainable Fisheries is founded on sustainable principles, and many years of detailed research on Lobster populations. The basic premise is that we take many juvenile lobsters that have a very high mortality rate in the wild, and grow them on in a farm. At approximately one year from capture, enough reproductively viable lobsters will be returned to the wild to replace those taken out.
The actual numbers are stark. Juvenile Lobsters (puereli) have a mortality rate of somewhere close to 99%. Replacing 100 puereli can be achieved with one adult lobster.
For independent confirmation that our practices are sustainable, Caribbean Sustainable Fisheries aims to become an accredited sustainable seafood producer by the Marine Stewardship Council. Seafood with Marine Stewardship Council Accreditation usually achieves a significant premium price, and this is likely to increase as more consumers become
Biology and Biological Neutrality The sustainability and commercial potential of this initiative arises from the simple fact that less than 1 in 1000 lobster post larvae will survive their first year. Studies of spiny lobster population dynamics from around the world agree that between 85 to 98 % of lobster post larvae die within their first week of benthic life.
Based on these figures, it is very likely that pre-settlement harvest will have almost zero effect on natural population replenishment while dramatically increasing the number of lobsters that can be harvested from the fishery. This window of opportunity is the subject of research in many forward thinking fisheries departments throughout the world.
The fact that harvest of post larvae can be achieved with almost zero impact to the natural population dynamics is referred to as “biological neutrality”. This project is governed by a requirement to adhere to a biologically neutral system. This includes ecological foot print management to ensure that there are no deleterious environmental effects from any aspect of the operations.
Details of references for the scientific statements made on this web site can be obtained by emailing Caribbean Sustainable Fisheries.
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