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The maintenance of long‐term associations with particular reef sites is likely to have contributed to the rebuilding of the spiny lobster population (Jasus edwardsii (Hutton) (Decapoda: Palinuridae)) in the Leigh Marine Reserve, in northeast New Zealand. Between 1983 and 1985, 429 lobsters were tagged underwater with western rock lobster tags and antennae tags. Underwater tagging and commercial traps were used to tag a further 737 lobsters with T‐bar tags and antennae tags between 1994 and 1996. Twenty‐one percent of lobsters resighted (n = 323) between 1983 and 1985 maintained their association with a 15 ha reef inside the reserve for 1–8 years. Site association tended to increase with female size, whereas site association in males was relatively constant until 130 mm carapace length, and then markedly increased. Legal‐sized lobster abundance fluctuated seasonally, suggesting that a …