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The highly regarded Tasmanian lobster is under threat of extinction and fishermen are putting up their hands and telling the State Government to cut commercial quotas.

They have voted to push for a 20 per cent reduction in the catch, in the hope it will help secure the long-term sustainability of their industry.

John Sansom has been a rock lobster fisherman for more than 30 years and is the president of the Tasmanian Rock Lobster Fisherman's Association.

Each trip out costs Mr Sansom about $3,000 and he says fishermen are working harder for less.

"You just notice a decrease in the number of fish in the pots, that's basically it," he said.

"And ... there's not as many keepers in each pot as there was."

The vote by the association's members could involve massive self sacrifice in the hope of a brighter future.

They are asking the Tasmanian Government to cut their annual quota by 20 per cent over the next three years.

"It's an extremely large sacrifice," Mr Sansom said.

"I don't know whether most people would realise it [but a] 20 per cent cut in your pay is a big slice of it so you've got to either work harder to try and make up the shortfall or do without.

"It's all about the sustainability of the fishery. If we don't have a fishery, we've got nothing."

Neville Perryman has been a lobster fisherman for three decades. He says the association's response reflects changing attitudes in the industry.

"Going from that change of there'll always be fish because it's a big ocean, to realising that there's only a certain amount that you can take out sustainably," he said.

"It helps being a bit mad when you're a fisherman I think. The lifestyle, it takes a toll on your body and your sanity at times, but it's in the interest of the industry in the long term.

"You've invested in the industry and you want to have that confidence that when you get out that you're leaving something behind. It probably comes down to the old adage that you're only borrowing it from your children really."

Unsurprisingly, not every member of the Rock Lobster Fisherman's Association is keen on giving up a fifth of the industry's fishing rights.

John Hammond does not believe the scientific modelling which predicts a further decline in lobster numbers.

"Catchability is something that's pretty much impossible to measure," he said.

"Where we fish, at Flinders Island, we're the only ones that fish that bottom. Nobody else knows where the grounds are so the fish haven't caught the last 747 and gone somewhere else, the fish are still there."

Mr Hammond says cuts in the lobster quota will hit small operators the hardest.

"All this will do is play into the hand of the big operators of the factories," he said.

"At the end of the day all it adds up to now is who's got the longest pockets and our fishery will get knocked off, out the door, finished. And you know, I think it's bloody terrible."

The State Government is due to announce the new quota in December.

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