Overfishing

 

The Tasmanian Giant Freshwater Lobster is considered to be a major delicacy in many parts of Australia and Tasmania (McClain, 2000), and sadly because of this over the past century we have seen a tragic decline in its population. At one point in time the fishing of this creature reached a national level and was being fished in numbers upwards of 10,000 individuals caught annually (Hamilton, 2014.). With this much of the lobsters population disappearing every year, It was impossible for the creatures population to grow, so it shrunk, and by the end of 1990’s the population had seen a dramatic decrease in abundance by 80 percent (Walsh, 2010).

 

Fishing Ban is Placed

 

Luckily, by 1998 the Tasmanian Giant Freshwater Lobster was recognized

by the Threatened Species Unit due to the lobsters radically declining

numbers, and a ban was promptly placed on the fishing and sale of it

(Walsh, 2010). Without this act in place, it is possible that the lobster

would already be extinct and gone from the world as we know it, but

with that said, the lobster is still endangered and the scars of decades

of overfishing are still visible in the populations of this creature.

 

Why are they Still Struggling?

 

If they are no longer being fished, then one might wonder, why the fishing is still heavily affecting the decline in the lobsters population, The reason why is quite simple, and is also quite sad. Due to the amount of lobsters caught during the time when fishing was legal and the extremely long amount of time it takes for the lobsters to reach reproductive maturity, an astounding 14 years for females (McClain, 2000), in many regions that the lobsters live the proportion of mature species is only 5 percent (Walsh, 2010).

 

That means that only 5 percent of the lobsters present can 

reproduce, leading to what is scientifically referred to

as low genetic variability, with a population like this it is

just not possible for a species to make a recovery effort.

But there is still hope, in areas that human interaction with the

habitat was and still is low, the percentage of mature species is at

40 percent, a still low number but better than 5 (Walsh, 2010).

 

Lastly, even though the fishing of these giant creatures is illegal, poachers still are able to do great harm to the population. Due to the lobster’s massive size a small habitat, a few poachers are able to do a large amount of damage to a region's population (Walsh, 2010).

 

 

Habitat Destruction

 

The Tasmanian Giant Freshwater Lobster enjoys a habitat that has clean, fresh, and oxygen rich water (Wildscreen, 2004). It likes to live in a habitat with lots of shade and deep pools that in can relax in during the hot days and logs to rest under with its young to stay safe from predators. (Walsh, 2010). For the longest time, this creature had access to habitat that featured all of these things, but in recent decades, the availability of those habitats has been in a steep decline.

 

In the regions where the Tasmanian Giant Freshwater lobster lives there is a large amount of habitat destruction that occurs. In their native habitat they have seen extensive siltation of their water supply, loss of riparian habitat and stream channel damage (Walsh, 2006). Another major threat to the Tasmanian Lobster is deforestation, due to large amounts of logging; the habitat that the lobster lives in is damage and changed (Walsh, 2010). Due to their preference for pristine habitat, it come as no surprise that once the habitat they live in became heavily altered by development and other economic activity, that the population began to suffer .

 

Deforestation

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Siltation

 

The second major threat is the siltation of the water supply in the lobster’s habitat. With the introduction of mining and gravel extraction into the region, the runoff from these procedures has caused a large amount of siltation to the water supply (Walsh, 2006). Sadly, the lobster is not evolved to deal with this, since there habitats have stayed pristine for the majority of their evolution, so they are having a large amount of trouble living in it (Walsh 2010).

 

Destruction of Riparian Habitat

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Government Agencies to the Rescue

 

All of these threats have caused a serious drop in the population of the lobster, yet it has managed to hang in there and is still alive in the wild today. Luckily, for the lobster, some of the threats mentioned above have had regulations put on them in order to protect the wildlife in the region. If you want to learn about the laws and regulations, click here.