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Concern over an unexplained slump in WA’s rock lobster stocks will take Department of Fisheries scientist Simon de Lestang on a three-month journey around the world looking for answers.

   

Dr de Lestang is one of 13 West Australians to be awarded a prestigious Churchill Fellowship this week. The award, presented by the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust, allows recipients to travel overseas and make contacts with the best in their field and build Australia’s knowledge pool.

   

The 36-year-old scientist said he was inspired to apply for a share of the $2.6 million fellowship after Fisheries’ annual sampling program found that the rock lobster juvenile settlement for 2007-08 was unusually
low, despite predictions that all the environmental factors affecting breeding stock were on target for a good year.

   

Factors such as the strength of the Leeuwin current and water temperatures played an important role in determining the survival and settlement of larval lobsters.

   

Dr de Lestang said it was too early to tell if the poor settlement was an anomaly but it was important to make sure the fishery was being managed appropriately.

   

He will visit universities and research institutes in the US, Mexico and Cuba.

   

“If we cannot do anything about it and it does continue along the same lines of recruitment, then we may have to rejig the whole industry,” Dr de Lestang said

TIFFANY FOX