Lobster Drop Off Failure and Lesson in Lobster Anatomy

When I talked to Fran last night, he said that he would tell the fisherman that was going to use the yola to come back early, but that didn’t end up happening. Although I didn’t get the chance to drop off the remaining houses, I still was able to collect data on lobsters that were being brought in and made some interesting observations.

I showed up at los Mameyes around 7 once again by foot. I really need to get a moto. When I got there, I said hi to Juan, the CODOPESCA representative, and he beckoned me over to a cooler that was filled with lobsters! Over the course of an hour another pair of fishermen brought in even more. Over the course of two days, I’ve measured 128 lobsters! 22 spinys, 4 piedras, and 102 pintas. All of the pintas were of legal size, which is larger than 9 cm, but 10% of them had eggs and are therefore illegal to catch. Half of the spiny lobsters and all of the piedras were undersized. However, all of the lobsters that I measured are illegal because they use compressors and ganchos. Sadly I didn't see any lobsters of this size...

Here's a photo of how to measure the carapace length of the spiny lobsters. Here the carapace length needs to be 3 inches, which is the law in the US. That is actually the equivalent of 7.62 cm, which is slightly smaller than the size limit for the DR, which is 8 cm.

The laws regulating the size of lobsters in the Dominican Republic use total length, tail length, and abdominal length instead of the scientific measurement using the carapace length. For the lobsters I measured so far, I used the carapace length for the spinys, because other studies have already converted the total length measurement used by the DR to the carapace length and the total length for the painted and rock lobsters. However, I don't know from what points the total length is measured and it varies from country to country. Some start measurements from the base of the antennae; others from the base of the eye. Some include the telson, the end part of the tail that isn't fleshy. Here's a photo illustrating the anatomy of the lobster to give you an idea.

The fishermen were very interested in what I was doing and they gathered around while I was measuring. I wish my Spanish was better because I think there were some heated conversations going on. Most of the fishermen were positive and wanted to know what the legal size of the lobsters were. They said that no one tells them what the size is. I think that they don’t have the resources to know or the incentives to actually follow the laws. The laws are very difficult to find and are only found on the internet. I think that they should be posted on every beach and in every pescaderia. One of the fish buyers wanted to know what size lobster was legal and one of the fishermen marked his gancho with the legal size of spiny lobsters so that he could size up the lobsters before he hooks them. One of the fishermen said that the office of the ministry of the environment that got set up in El Asphalto is a sign that tourism is coming to the area, but another fishermen said that it was only another military presence. It was very interesting.

I also observed that the fishermen started drinking beer and rum after they had finished weighing their catch. It makes sense since they left los Mameyes around 4 in the afternoon and came back around 8 in the morning so they are unwinding after a hard night’s work. I found it interesting that it was also a Sunday and they still work. Also, around 9 in the morning people were already playing pool, mostly kids, and the bachata music was blaring. By the time those kids are teenagers, they are going to be pool sharks. While I was hanging out waiting for the yola to arrive, the five young boys that always follow me around that are around 7-10 years old tried to give me tattoos. The boys had at least 3 tattoos each that they get from packages of cookies. They put one on my leg but sadly only one half stuck.