Demand for the delicacy wanes in the dominant export market during the month-long Ghost Festival when it is said the gates of the afterlife open, releasing wandering spirits.
The event encourages people to stay home at night in fear of attracting negative spirits, which ultimately decreases the demand for New Zealand lobster.
Otago Rock Lobster Industry Association executive officer Chanel Gardner said they had "just come out of the ghost month, which means they start to get back to the their normal levels of celebrations and such which they enjoy crayfish for".
Before the Covid lockdowns, China was the biggest customer of rock lobster exports.
During the lockdowns, China had stopped imports which shut down the company’s external market.
They had since made a comeback with a record export price of $139 per kg in the year to March 31.
Ms Gardner said things had been "going very well".
"Our rock lobster is incredibly special to us and also in bringing export dollars into our region.
"The fisheries have been very abundant with a healthy population, so that’s really good for the commercial, customary and recreational users."
The boxes were unloaded from the company’s new ship Elodie, which has been on the water for a couple of months.
She described the boat as a "beautiful machine".
"It’s exciting to see Elodie in action and she’s ticking all the boxes and making the fishers happy, so we’re thrilled."
She said the fishery had been "especially amazing" in the past five years.
"Our guys have worked really hard to rebuild it when it ran into some problems."
Dunedin’s relatively small population makes keeping track of stock a lot easier than other places in New Zealand.
Although recreational catch reporting is not a legal requirement, Otago’s fishers understood the importance of reporting and created the app Mainland Catch.
Ms Gardner said the app helped to determine the healthy levels of crayfish they could take "without impacting the health of the population".
