The Otago commercial catch limit will increase from 66 tonnes to almost 98 tonnes and boost boat numbers in the 2015-16 season.
Otago Rock Lobster Industry Association executive officer Simon Gilmour said the increase was expected after last season, which had been especially productive following ''a big influx'' of larvae in 2009.
Mr Gilmour was optimistic about the latest increase in the crayfish limit, which he predicted would bring ''somewhere in the vicinity of a $5 million lift to the local economy because of increased export earnings''. Most rock lobsters fished in Otago are for export, mostly to China.
Unlike elsewhere in the country, Otago crayfishermen are allowed to take ''shorts'' - rock lobsters that are smaller than average - because once rock lobsters reach a certain size, they head away from Otago into deeper waters.
Mr Gilmour expected the fleet to increase from 14 boats to 18 as a result of this limit increase.
The last time there was a big quota increase, in 2007, it was with similar conditions: high recruitment numbers and a large larval settlement several years before.
However, Mr Gilmour said the increased 180-tonne quota for 2007 was never caught because there was a significant migration south.
If recruitment levels stayed at the level of the past few season, ''then we have a good chance of maintaining [this quota]''. But there was always the possibility of a significant crayfish migration south, as in 2007, which would ''have an impact on what the catch will be in the future'', he said.
The Otago crayfish season begins in June.
