Owners of quota in the Southern CRA8 spiny rock lobster (crayfish) area are close to a catch level that would have the effect of raising the quota.
The CRA8 lobster fishery - the biggest in New Zealand - is considered to be in a very good state and catch rates are nearing the point that would trigger an automatic lifting of the total allowable catch.
Any increase would be applied, pro rata and at no cost, to all those who own quota in the CRA8 region.
The CRA8 region extends around the southern end of the South Island, including the Fiordland coast.
Under Ministry for Primary Industry regulations, the quota increases once 3.7kg of (greenweight) legal-sized lobster is caught ''per pot-lift''.
The catch rate was 3.38kg in the year to the end of September.
CRA8 management committee chief executive Malcolm Lawson met lobster fishers in Invercargill yesterday to present them with a report on the fishery by the Ministry for Primary Industries.
He told the Otago Daily Times the catch rate was ''fractionally better than the previous year but not enough to trigger any increase in the total allowable commercial catch''.
Mr Lawson said the catch rate was used as ''a proxy for abundance''.
''If the catch rate goes up then it's fair to assume abundance is increasing, and vice versa.''
The rock lobster fishery catch rate reached 1.9kg in 2007 - a level at which it was considered to be sustainable - after being at much lower levels.
The total allowable catch for CRA8 of 1053 tonnes was set that year and has not increased since.
It includes 962 tonnes for commercial fishers and the rest for recreational fishers and for customary use.
Mr Lawson said the catch in September of 243 tonnes was the best for that month in the 15 years he had been keeping records.
''We had never had a month like it. It's a pretty fair indication of where things are at.''
He was confident the upward trend in catch rate would continue.
''We are now seeing large amounts of juvenile, undersized lobsters growing past the minimum size and coming into the fishery, so there is no reason to be pessimistic at all.
''It all looks good for the future.''
Although there are plenty of lobsters to catch, many fishers are not working at the moment because demand from the main market, China, has slackened.
Lobster is in greater demand, and prices are higher, when the Chinese are celebrating important national events.
Mr Lawson said the lobster fishery was different from other fisheries in that it was ''not necessarily'' about catching more lobsters.
''It's about being able to catch the majority of it at the right time, so an increase in quota doesn't actually achieve as much as what you would intuitively think it does.
''But, having said that, when the numbers are high there is no reason as far as sustainability is concerned not to increase the numbers, or the quota.''
Total allowable catches
for spiny rock lobster (greenweight tonnes)
• Bay of Plenty, CRA2, 452.583
• Gisborne, CRA3, 354.5
• Wellington-Hawkes Bay, CRA4, 694.7
• Canterbury-Marlborough, CRA5, 467
• Chatham Islands, CRA6, 370
• Otago CRA7, 64
• Southern CRA8, 1053
