The Andaman and Nicobar (A&N) Islands is the largest archipelago in the Bay of Bengal. In spite of availability of diverse lobster resources, there is no organised lobster fishing in the Islands.
The main objective of the study was to collect baseline data on the lobster resources of the Andaman Island. Periodic field surveys were carried out at 33 landing centres in the Andaman and data were collected by direct observation and questionnaires. Mechanised and non-mechanised fishing crafts are engaged in lobster fishing in the Island. Lobsters are manually caught by spears, gillnet, shoreseine and handpicking. Six commercially important species of spiny lobsters, Panulirus penicillatus, P. versicolor, P. homarus, P. ornatus, P. polyphagus and P. longipes are present in the island. Among them, P. penicillatus dominated the landings throughout the study period (1999-2000), with maximum catch in January,followed by P. versicolor . The total lobster landings in Andaman during the study period were estimated as 3.16 tonnes with maximum landings in south Andaman (Port Blair).

Spiny lobster, lobster resources, lobster fishing, lobster landings, Andaman Island