Rock Lobster Translocation

• ​The Rock Lobster Translocation Program moves small lobsters from slow growing areas of Tasmania to faster growing areas.

• Lobsters are taken from deeper waters in South West Tasmania, where they are plentiful and slow-growing, and moved to shallower and warmer inshore waters, where they grow faster and boost the productivity of these areas.

• From 2014 to 2022, lobsters were moved inshore on the South and West Coasts, to the North West, and to inshore areas of the East Coast to boost fishery productivity in those areas.

• Since 2022, translocation efforts have focused solely on the East Coast to support stock rebuilding in that area.
  

• Over one million lobsters have been translocated since 2014.
  

Rock lobsters from the south west are translocated to East Coast release sites.

How translocation works

Lobsters have different growth rates and size at maturity around Tasmania depending on water temperature, lobster density and food availability.

Stock biomass and fishery productivity are increased by translocating undersize lobster from slow growing, deep-water areas of Tasmania to faster growing, inshore areas.

They increase growth rates quickly when moved to warmer waters. Translocated lobsters take around two years to reach the legal minimum size limit. They also start turning darker red in one to two moults. Darker red fish are generally more valuable to consumers.

Under the West and South Coast program, translocation was primarily focused on moving ‘white’ deep-water West Coast lobster closer inshore to increase commercial fishery productivity. The current translocation program is focused on moving lobster to the East Coast.

On the East Coast, translocation directly benefits all fishers. Fish moved to warmer East Coast waters increase in yield and value, support biomass rebuilding, and improve fisher’s experience.​

Translocation has no known sustainability risks. Research by the Institute of Marine and Antarctic Studies (IMAS) has found translocated lobsters have a high rate of survival and there are no significant impacts on lobster populations in the areas lobsters are translocated from.

History and funding

Since 2014, the Program has translocated around 800,000 lobsters to the South and West Coasts, and more than 500,000 to the East Coast.

Translocation to the Northwest, West Coast and South Coast began in 2014 under a program funded by the commercial rock lobster industry which ran until 2022.  Since 2022, all translocation has been focused on the East Coast and is jointly funded by the Government and the rock lobster industry.

The Rock Lobster Translocation Program is overseen by a governance committee with representatives from the Department, IMAS, the Tasmanian Association for Recreational Fishing (TARFish) and the Tasmanian Rock Lobster Fishermen's Association (TRLFA).

On-water translocation is undertaken by commercial rock lobster fishers and is coordinated by the TRLFA.