In Reply to: Vanishing Bug Populations posted by Bug Hugger on February 19, 2009 at 05:07:38:

The following is a series of excerpts on the subject gleaned from the "Blue Ocean Institute website".

"Male Spiny Lobsters typically reach sexual maturity between 3 and 6 years, while females reach maturity between 5 and 6 years. In California waters, male Spiny Lobsters reach a maximum age of 30 years, while females typically survive to 20 years (CDFG 2001a). The abundance of California Spiny Lobster fluctuates with broad-scale environmental changes caused by El Nino and La Nina events. Commercial catches of California Spiny Lobster peaked in the mid-1900s and declined to an all-time low in 1975, following years of unregulated fishing (USFWS 1988; CDFG 2001). The population has since recovered, likely due to regulations mandating the use of escape ports on Spiny Lobster traps that allow juveniles to escape (CDFG 2001b; Barsky, pers. comm., 2006). Today, the abundance of California Spiny Lobster fluctuates annually in concert with cyclic changes in environmental conditions (CDFG 2001b), and managers believe the population is healthy (Barsky, pers. comm., 2006).The U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service does not list California Spiny Lobster as overfished. Since 1976, commercial catches of California Spiny Lobster have increased."