COMPLETED Nicaragua Caribbean spiny lobster - trap

Nicaragua is the largest Caribbean spiny lobster fishery that supplies the United States. Thousands of Nicaraguans earn a livelihood through the fishery, from vessel owners and fishermen to packing plant employees. A critical issue challenging this fishery is the likelihood of illegal, unreported, and unregulated fishing (IUU) that weakens management of the resource and equitable access for local livelihoods. Concurrent issues are a lack of new or improved data from the artisanal sector to inform the stock status, bycatch, and habitat impacts from lobster traps. There are still some uncertainties relating to the structure of the stock population that need to be taken into account - even though Nicaraguan stock assessment methods are appropriate for the spiny lobster resource and for the implementation of harvest control rules, issues can arise due to the fact that this lobster fishery is also shared with Honduras. The evaluation needs to consider both countries in order to achieve an unconditional pass under the MSC standard.