Professional lobster pots are understood to have dipped in price and recently changed hands for $82,000 each.

If correct, it values a Southern Zone licence at over $3m as a licence holder needs a minimum of 40 pots to enter the fishery.

In effect, there have been no entrants for many years as pot entitlements are taken up by existing licence holders. Industry insiders believe the lower supposed price has fallen by 25% from a high of $110,000 per pot.

It is said to be a reflection on the poor 2020/21 season, with its low returns due to the closing of the Chinese market in November.

China had previously accounted for 95% of the catch from the local Southern Zone

There are almost 12,000 registered professional pots and 181 licences in the Southern Zone and the 2021/22 season opens in a month’s time on October 1.

The highest price paid in the last season exceeded $100-per-kilogram.

The new season’s quota is set by Fisheries Minister David Basham and this figure has not changed for several seasons.