Large-scale patterns in puerulus settlement and links to fishery recruitment in the southern rock lobster (Jasus edwardsii), across south-eastern Australia

Monthly monitoring of puerulus settlement across South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania has been undertaken since the early 1990s. Firstly, annual trends in settlement were spatially analysed across the three States. In South Australian and Victorian settlement patterns were closely related. In Tasmania, settlement sites along the northeast coast were positively correlated, but showed no relationship with areas further south or in any other State. Secondly, annual settlement indices were correlated with lagged estimates of fishery recruitment. In South Australia, the strongest correlations between settlement and recruitment to legal size were observed using a 4-5- year time-lag. Within Victoria and Tasmania, the period from settlement to recruitment at 60 mm carapace length (CL) was 2 and 3 years, respectively. The period from 60 mm to legal size was another 2-3 years, suggesting that the total time from settlement to the fishery ranges from 4-6 years in these regions. The correlation between settlement and recruitment was used to forecast future estimates of exploitable biomass in one region of South Australia. The results indicate that puerulus monitoring is a relatively robust indicator of future fishery performance and should be regarded as an important data source for rock lobster resources within south-eastern Australia.