There's very little difference - it all comes down to which side of the world you were born on! Northern hemisphere residents are more inclined to call them lobster while here on the Southern side of the world, we like to call them crayfish.
In reality, crayfish are usually the freshwater species while rock lobster or spiny lobsters are the marine variety we are accustomed to seeing downunder.
Both Lobsters and crayfish are decapod Crustacea - the words 'lobster' and 'crayfish' are used in various combinations to describe many different decapods. Both are aquatic animals with a hard skin or exoskeleton over a segmented body. They have five pairs of legs on their main body and five pairs of swimmerets on the abdomen or tail. It is the tail and sometimes the legs and claws which end up on your dinner plate as the tasty bits!
Approximately 100 people in our local area are employed by the Lobster Industry, with about 30 vessels fishing off the Fiordland coast. It is a seasonal industry with the bulk of lobster being caught between June and December.
Baited posts, which are hauled by machinery, are used to catch the lobster up to two kilometres off the coast of Fiordland and 90% of the catch is exported live, mainly to Japan and Hong Kong. The remaining 10% goes to the local market. Some of them may end up on your table if you dine at the MacKinnon Room!
The lobster industry is operated on a Sustainable Management Scheme to save the resource for future generations.