Wake up to Wogan Lobster Release

We’re not just sad that Terry is retiring but concerned for our baby lobsters that have grown up with his dulcet tones.  In honour of the ‘Wake up to Wogan’ team we decided to adopt 4 lobsters TOGmeister, Splotty, Boggy and Deadly and release them back into the wild.  The team will live on, on the seabed.

International Lobster Science Meeting

Lobster scientists meet to discuss stock enhancement programmes on both sides of the Atlantic.  Dom Boothroyd, General Manager of the National Lobster Hatchery said ‘It was a really productive meeting, amazing work coming out of Canada with a great deal of potential for collaboration.  It was like looking in a mirror’'.  Carly Daniels, PhD researcher and Jake Scolding, Researcher of the NLH presented their work to the group.

In attendance, Martin Mallet, General Director of Homarus Inc. from Canada, Dounia Daoud Postdoctoral Fellow of Crustaceans, Coastal Zones Research Institute, Canada and Craig Burton, Seafood Scotland.  On the second day, scientists from the National Oceanography Centre of Southampton Dr Ken Collins and Anthony Jensen and President of the SAGB Jeremy Simmonds join the talks. 

Researcher Carly Daniels receives award for outstanding research

  Carly Daniels, PhD researcher at the National Lobster Hatchery presented her research at the Burntwood Lecture at the Royal Society in London on the 11th November 2009.  She was presented the John Rose Award 2009 by the Institution of Environmental Science for outstanding research.  The £1,000 award is to help exceptional research fulfill its potential by communicating it beyond the scientific community.

Carly would like to use the money to produce a 3 minute video about her research that will be shown in the visitor centre at the hatchery in Padstow.  The film will uncover the three years work into the use of pre and pro-biotics in lobster nutrition.

Herman the Giant new resident lobster

Check out our new resident lobster, Herman.  He weights a massive 5.1kg (11.25lb), not the biggest lobster ever caught in Britain but certainly a monster!  The largest British lobster,according to the British Marine Life Study Society (BMLSS) measured 1.26m from the end of its tail to the tip of its claws and weighed 9.3kg (20lb 8oz).  It was caught during repair work on a jetty off Fowey in Cornwall as long ago as 1931.  (Reference from Phil Lockley’s article, Fishing News 30/10/09)

Larry entertains the crowds at Newlyn Fish Festival

Another busy fish festival at Newlyn, adopt a lobster was as popular as ever and people always like to see our baby lobsters.  This year Larry entertained the crowds, giving all the children high fives.

The hatchery needs your vote to win a cash donation

This week The National Lobster Hatchery  has been invited to participate in the Charity of the Year Competition on www.optimistworld.com, which if we are successful could bring in a very welcome cash donation.

To ensure that we move on into the second round of the competition, please go to the site: register here (takes only one minute) http://optimistworld.com/RegistrationHome.aspx and vote for us before Thursday 15^th October at 6pm here http://optimistworld.com/Charities.aspx on the left hand side of the page.

Optimist World is all about the good things that are happening – good news, charities, corporate social responsibility, the environment, eco travel, sports and you can even add your own uplifting stories.

This is the link to the feature about the hatchery: http://optimistworld.com/UK-Charity-The-National-Lobster-Hatchery-Marine-Conservation-Project-Promoting-Sustainability-Aquaculture/charities

Please forward this to all your friends and families and anyone who you think could spare a minute to vote for us – we need your and your friends’ votes and, if you have time, some nice comments too !!

Newquay Fish Festival 18th – 20th September 2009

Newquay’s Fish Festival, now in its 7th year is due to start tomorrow.  The Lobster Hatchery will be exhibiting on the 18th only and taking along some of our baby lobsters.  There’s lots going on, from cooking demonstrations from top Newquay chefs, live bands and entertainers, fish and produce stalls to a shark throwing competition – sounds intriguing!  We’ll see you there.  This is a link to their website for further information.

www.newquayfishfestival.co.uk

Prize winner releases baby lobsters!!

The National Lobster Hatchery ran a joke competition to celebrate World Oceans Day. The winner Haden Dawe received a VIP tour of the hatchery, a giant cuddly lobster and then had the opportunity to assist with the release of 200 baby lobsters at Trevone beach just 2 miles from Padstow.

“These 200 are just a small sample of the 5,000 that we have released so far this season” said Dom. “Yesterday we released 800 from fishing boat Peter John II, owned by Ivor and Cameron Henry out of Mylor on the South Coast using the tube system and we still should have several months left of production still to go this season”.

I am sure that Haden enjoyed his afternoon with us and his joke is now on display at the visitor centre. When we received his joke it made us all laugh – we like a good fishy joke.

“Why did the lobster cross the beach – to get to the other tide”

World Oceans Day was created in 2008 by the United Nations General Assembly.

‘Jet-boost’ aids walking lobsters (Article from Earth News)

 

American lobsters use "jet-assisted" walking to travel faster across the ocean floor, scientists have found.  Click link below for full article.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/earth/hi/earth_news/newsid_8214000/8214150.stm

Clovelly Lobster & Crab Feast 6th Sept 09

Join us at the Clovelly Lobster & Crab Feast on the 6th September 2009.  The event starts at 10am, if you haven’t already been to Clovelly this is a must.  Just the walk down the cobbled paths to the harbour is unique with a breathtaking view when you reach the beach.

The event pays tribute to Clovelly's famous lobsters and crabs with a day of live folk music, street performers, lobster hypnotist, quay kitchen, wine tasting, local stalls, lobster and crab exhibition and entertainment for the children.

The Lobster Hatchery has been nominated to receive the proceeds from the event.  Come and see us and our baby lobsters.

www.clovelly.co.uk/events.php

LOBSTER LOVE – BBC Wildlife Magazine Feature

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BBC Wildlife’s Summer 2009 magazine is now on the shelves, and the Lobster Hatchery has a four page spread with some amazing photographs of this majestic creature.  Thomas Peschak and Dan Beecham from Save our Seas Foundation spent a few days with us last year filming and photographing the lobsters and this is the first of many incredible photographs to be published.    Cheryl Samantha-Owen, the ocean correspondent for Save our Seas Foundation has written the article revealing the fascinating world of the king of shellfish.

http://www.bbcwildlifemagazine.com/currentissue.asp

Lobster Hats in the USA

Being lobster obsessed we seek out lobsters wherever we go, we found these crazy lobster hats in San Francisco.  We hope to get some made ourselves for our little shop of lobsters – watch this space!

 

Sarah the new Rock Blogster

Sarah will soon be taking over full blogging rights for this site... I thought it would be nice to put a face to the name… here she is…

Sarah Boothroyd…

New Website

We will soon be launching our new website for the National Lobster Hatchery. The site has been designed and created by our local North Cornwall web design company The Drawing Board.
The site includes a shop and allows donations to be made on line... so if you haven't adopted a lobster yet, we hope this new website will make it even easier and more fun...