Marine biologist Gary Davis at Ft. Jefferson points out in "Fishery 

 Harvest in an Underwater Park": 



"Community structure, and therefore species richness, is 

 determined by species interactions as well as environmental 

 conditions and will reflect alterations in the abundance of 

 individual species, particularly abundant high-level predators. 

 P. argus is such a predator. The pre-harvest, natural standing 

 crop of P. argus was conservatively estimated from visual sightings 

 at 58.3 kg per hectare of diurnal lobster habitat at Dry Tortugas. 

 Mark and recapture efforts indicated that this figure may represent 

 only 30 to 40 percent of the actual biomass in the massive coral 

 reef complexes where there were numerous hidden caves and narrow 

 crevasses in which lobsters were probably undetected during diver 

 surveys. The total standing crop of coral reef carnivores at 

 Eniwetok was estimated at 470 kg per hectare, and total reef 

 fish standing crop from the Caribbean range from 273 to 1,590 

 kg per hectare. From this it can be seen that spiny lobsters 

 are abundant and may represent over 10 percent of the predator 

 biomass even in an extremely complex and diverse coral reef 

 ecosystem. Furthermore, P. argus is a secondary predator, 

 preferring other carnivores as food. Removal of a significant 

 proportion of the spiny lobsters from a reef system could be 

 expected to cause a shift toward simplicity, with a reduction 

 in species richness." 



Continued unrestricted lobster fishing in the Looe Key Sanctuary boundary 

 areas could possibly deplete the resident population to a level that could 

 disrupt the reef ecosystem by reducing the numbers of those important 

 predators. 



In addition to the significant changes in the lobster population 

 which could eventually occur within the Looe Key system, lobster traps 

 themselves, weighing about 80 pounds can physically damage coral. Careful 

 setting and retrieving of pots in sandy bottom channels can prevent most 

 damage; however, wave action from storms can drag pots into and over 

 coral causing damage beyond the control of fishermen. Unrestricted 

 lobster fishing will enable sp1r\y lobster fishermen to continue to take 

 a significant portion of their landings from the Looe Key area. The 

 value of the 1978 catch was about $466,320 or about 62% of the total 

 revenue from commercial fishing (see Table 2). Regulations under the 

 SpiiTy Lobster and joint Coral and Coral Reef Resources FMPs will not 

 likely be in place for at least 6 to 8 months and as plans are currently 

 only proposed the ultimate level of protection Is unpredictable. 



112 



