Application of TOPEX-POSEIDON satellite altimetry to simulate transport dynamics of larvae of spiny lobster, Panulirus marginatus, in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, 1993–1996

The spiny lobster, Panulirus marginatus, is endemic to the Hawaiian Archipelago and Johnston Atoll. The species is found throughout the archipelago and is the target of a trap fishery in the northwestern portion of the archipelago known as the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI). From the early 1980s to 1990, the majority of fishery catches came from two banks, Necker Island and Maro Reef, located 670 km northwest of Necker Island (Fig. 1). Catches during this period averaged about 60% from Maro Reef, 40% from Necker Island. However, in 1990 there was a dramatic collapse in recruitment of 3-year-old lobsters to the fishery at Maro Reef, and other banks north of Maro; this collapse has been attributed to climate-induced change in productivity that has impacted various other trophic levels, such as sea birds, monk seals, and reef fishes (Polovina et al., 1994). After the recruitment collapse, the fishery reduced the spawning biomass to very low levels at Maro and at other northern banks, and then fishing ceased in these areas. Even with the absence of fishing at Maro for at least six years, there is still no evidence of a recovery in recruitment as indicated from a time series of the Application of TOPEX-POSEIDON satellite altimetry to simulate transport dynamics of larvae of spiny lobster, Panulirus marginatus, in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, 1993–1996