Economic feasibility of aquaculture of spiny lobsters Jasus edwardsii in temperate waters

Around the world there is strong interest in the aquaculture of spiny lobsters (family Palinuridae). However, there is little published information about the economic feasibility of spiny lobster aquaculture. For more than 20 yr there has been experimental grow out of the spiny lobster Jasus edwardsii in New Zealand in land-based systems using seed animals (puerulus) taken from the mild. These studies provide sufficient information on growth, mortality, food conversion, handling and capital costs to enable an assessment of the economic feasibility of the commercial culture of spiny lobsters in temperate waters. This assessment suggests that profitable spiny lobster aquaculture will rely on greatly reducing the infrastructure and operating costs of land-based farming operational as well as lowering feed and labor costs. Financial simulations suggest that increasing productivity through faster growth rates and lowered culture mortalities will only have a minor effect on profitability unless infrastructure and operating costs can be reduced significantly. Seacage culture or sea ranching of spiny lobsters may offer a means of avoiding high infrastructure costs associated with land-based farming operations. The development of a cost-effective artificial feed would also appear to be a priority for improving the economic outlook for culturing spiny lobsters. The results of this study are relevant to the economics of spiny lobster culture developments in other temperate regions of the world.