There is a need to increase the percentage of rock lobsters arriving at the factory in a condition suitable for live export. This then provides industry with a greater choice in selling live or in some other form, according to market demand and prices. It is also now clear that by increasing the number suitable for export it provides lobsters with higher flesh recovery rates and hence increased profit levels.
A further development that has occurred in recent years is long term holding of the lobsters, prior to sale. Various lengths of time are involved from weeks to months in seeking the best price in the market or possibly changing the size of the lobsters to the best size/price for the market. Clearly a knowledge of the causes of stress and their eleviation is important as the lobsters held for these periods may no longer be in the best condition for export.
Other areas of concern to industry with post-harvest lobsters have also been identified. The major one is leg loss, which can occur both at time of capture, in holding tanks, or even during packing for export. It renders the lobsters unsuitable for live export and is a major loss of revenue to the industry. Other industry problems with post-harvest rock lobster will be discussed with industry and prioritised by the Steering Committee.
During the last three years considerable progress has been made in understanding the physiology of stress and the effests that post-harvest handling has on lobsters. This has not lead to instantaneous, straight forward, solutions. However, it has clarified the scientific problems which need to be solved, and when the final reports are received during the latter half of 2000, will lead to improvements to the Code of Conduct for handling lobsters after capture and during transport.
The three new projects supported by the Subprogram have arisen from preliminary discussion of the results of recent research conducted under this Subprogram, and are aimed at building on this research output.
Other areas of research in the Post-harvest area still need to be addressed. At the International Lobster Congress in Adelaide in 1999, an Industry speaker produced a list of 9 areas of Industry need in the Post-Harvest area. These included Best-practise Storage Techniques, reductions in leg loss, moult cycle and relationship to survivability in tanks, transport, investigation of "problem Periods' to determine causes of problems. These were all western rock lobster problems and we have yet to properly examine the Industry problems in the southern rock lobster. This will be a major focus of the new Subprogram. The conslusions will then be built into the Strategic Plan for the Subprogram.
There is some degree of overlap (at least in areas of interest) between this subprogram and the Enhancement and Aquaculture subprogram. In order to prevent duplication and to ensure maximum use of staff and facilities the two subprogram leaders will be members of each others Steering Committee.
