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BABY LOBSTERS MAKE A NEW HOME IN ISLES OF SCILLY
30
Jun
2010
On Friday 9 July Padstow�s National Lobster Hatchery will be taking around one thousand baby lobsters to the Isles of Scilly to be released into the islands� clear blue waters.
The release by the charity is being supported by two Penzance and Scilly-based organisations: The Isles of Scilly Steamship Company and Bryher�s Hell Bay Hotel.
The Isles of Scilly Steamship Company has offered free transport on the Scillonian III for all of the lobsters, the releasing equipment and two members of staff from the Hatchery. Without this support, the charity would simply not be able to afford to release in the Scilly Isles.
Jeff Marston, Chief Executive of the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company, said: �This is another really great example of where the Scillonian III is supporting the local economies of Penzance and the Isles of Scilly. The Scillonian has been serving the route for 33 years and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. We are delighted to be supporting the lobster release programme and hope the initiative is hugely successful, helping to contribute to the unique natural habitat of such a beautiful part of the world.�
Philip Callan from the Hell Bay Hotel has offered to assist the hatchery release juvenile lobsters into the waters around Bryher and Tresco using one of the Hotel�s boats. The release represents the start of a long-term collaboration between the Hotel and the charity.
Philip added: �Hell Bay Hotel is very excited to be taking part in its first juvenile lobster release. Our 3-rosette restaurant is known for serving the best lobster on the islands. This project is an exciting new step towards a more sustainable future and one that the hotel and all our customers can be very proud of.�
The lobsters will be released down a long tube directly onto the seabed. As the boat drifts along, the little lobsters are slowly loaded into the releasing box and then the water current within the box pushes the babies down a large diameter pipe, leading to the sea bed and their new homes.
Dominic Boothroyd, General Manager of the National Lobster Hatchery, commented: �This is the first time that we have released large numbers of juveniles in the Isles of Scilly � we have released smaller batches in the islands a few times with the aid of local divers, but this is the first big one. The seabed down here is perfect, there are lots of areas of mixed sediment with small boulders, cobbles and rocky substrate that makes up what we think is the perfect habitat for juvenile lobsters in their early benthic stages. The support offered by the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company and the Hell Bay Hotel, Will make the whole process possible by providing the assistance, transportation and local knowledge that we require.�
NOTES FOR EDITORS
- The NLH is a far sighted project established in 2000 by the Cornwall Sea Fisheries Committee. We became a charity in 2004 and operate as a Social Enterprise. We exist primarily to help conserve the vulnerable lobster populations and preserve the coastal marine bio-diversity of Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. We have three charitable outputs:
1 To educate the general public about the fishing industry, its sustainability problems (and potential solutions) and also to deliver these messages at the primary, secondary and tertiary education levels.
2 To operate a stock enhancement programme for the European Lobster in order to stabilise stocks and promote biodiversity. In the event of catastrophic stock collapse the NLH could scale up its operations to undertake re-stocking work for this region or other regions of the UK.
3 To operate research programmes that will further our ability to undertake stock enhancement work and to examine sustainability issues associated with the industry.
- Local fishermen and shellfish wholesalers donate egg-carrying female lobsters to the hatchery, after the eggs hatch the lobster larvae are reared under artificial conditions until they metamorphose to juvenile lobsters, at which point they are further grown until they are released with the assistance of local fishermen and divers to suitable habitats.
- Around one in ten thousand lobster larvae are likely to survive to become juvenile lobsters in the wild, under hatchery conditions these survival rates are dramatically improved enabling young lobsters to be given a head-start protected from predators and starvation.
- The National Lobster Hatchery provides unique research, educational and conference facilities and houses a visitor centre where visitors can gain an insight into Cornish marine life and the work carried out at the hatchery.
- The NLH has developed a solid reputation for research with it�s academic partners over the past few years and regularly hosts groundbreaking research projects.
For media enquiries, call General Manager Dominic Boothroyd on 01841 533877, also see www.nationallobsterhatchery.co.uk
For more information about the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company, contact Ryan Martinez at Deborah Clark Associates on 01208 77900 or email [email protected]
ENDS
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