The lobster population in local waters looks to be in the best shape it has been for years, according to figures released by Government.

Senior Fisheries Officer Dr. Brian Luckhurst said the offshore lobster fishing season, which ended last month, had yielded a substantially higher number of lobsters than in previous years.

There were more than 10,000 lobsters caught between September and December, a figure that contrasts with the 8,500 caught in the same period the year before and 8,000 in the year 2000.

?It?s a substantial increase,? said Dr. Luckhurst. He said the jump in figures could, in part, be explained by an increase in the number of traps fishermen were issued with this season.

But he added that the overall number of lobsters per trap had gone up in comparison, while the actual number of trap hauls had gone down.

Dr. Luckhurst declined to speculate on reasons for the increase, saying it could be a number of ?mitigating factors?.

But he said the overall number of lobsters caught throughout entire season has risen from 17,400 in 2000 to 23,400 at the end of last season.

The high figures come despite setbacks wrought by Hurricane Fabian, when a number of lobster traps were destroyed because some fishermen decided not to remove them from vulnerable offshore areas during the approach of the storm.

Dr. Luckhurst declined to say how many of this year?s 22 lobster license holders had decided not to bring their traps into inshore areas but he said, as a result, a large number of them were ?crumpled? beyond repair.

?When there is a hurricane we strongly advise licence holders to remove their gear from vulnerable areas. We strongly encourage those whose traps were damaged to pay for them.?

He said the fishermen were given new traps to replace the ones that were damaged.

Each licence holder was given 15 traps at the beginning of this season, on September 1, which they were then allowed to use in deeper waters offshore. After December 1, however, they are only allowed to use ten of them if they choose to move the traps inshore.

Environment Minister Neletha Butterfield said last year Government had tightened up the issuing of lobster licences as a result of a ?disastrous? season in 2000-2001, when 29 licences were issued and the number of fish landed dropped by half.

Veteran lobster fisherman Linwood Outerbridge told the season was going well in contrast to last year, partly as the fishermen?s limit of pots during the inshore season had been raised by one, from nine pots to ten.

?It?s going pretty good,? he said. ?The lobsters are good but we?re still not catching enough to sustain us.?

Mr. Outerbridge said lobster fishermen needed more traps during the inshore season in order to make the practice profitable. On average, he explained, fishermen were able to get out once or twice a week, and the average haul out of ten pots is about 25 lobsters.

?The lobsters are big and juicy right now. And there are a lot of them around.?

He added Government should allow lobster fishermen to fish in both inshore and offshore waters during the three months between September and December.

?That?s how it was before they brought in the fish pot ban in 1990.

?The way we did it then didn?t harm lobsters. I?ve been fishing for around 53 years and I guess around the end of the 1980s lobsters were at their very best.?

Another fisherman, Sinclair Lambe, said he thought the number of pots and licences being issued was ?sufficient?.

Speaking after arriving back from picking up his pots, he said: ?Today was pretty good.

?I?ve been up and down though. It?s unpredictable, partly because of the weather. It?s also because the lobsters just move around.

?There are a lot out there, along the South Shore especially, that just haven?t been touched.?

He said the lobsters caught at this time of year tend to be bigger and also that it was easier to sell lobsters on the street, which go for higher prices, as opposed to restaurants, which buy them in bulk but which have less business out of tourist season.

But Mr. Lambe said a lot of lobster fishermen found it difficult to make ends meet and find themselves working additional jobs in their spare time.

Meanwhile, it emerged that Government is aiming to put its reporting system for recreational lobster divers online in time for the start of the next season.

An e-mail from the Department of Environmental Protection to the 485 licensed lobster divers said the internet-based system would be accessed by a user ID and password.

It said Government was currently trying to find out how many divers, who are allowed to catch two lobsters per person per day but are not allowed to sell them, would use the service.

Plans to put the reporting of commercial fishermen?s figures online were not ruled out either. However, Dr. Luckhurst said the process is much more complex and would require more time to devise.

Recreational lobster diver Steven Antonition said he thought it was a good idea to put the system online.

?It?ll be a lot easier than trying to mail it in.

?One time I did that. I arrived and I almost didn?t get my licence because they happened to have misfiled my figures.

?At least this way I know if they?ve received my figures or not. It?s a good idea, providing they do it right.?