Autumn Watch 11th Nov 2011

It was nice to have the Autumn Watch film crew with us last week with presenter Martin Hughes-Games.  We were very lucky to have a berried hen (an egg bearing female lobster) delivered to us the week before, probably the last for the season so we had a beautiful mother lobster to show for Friday’s Autumn Watch.

It really is a wonder of nature when you turn a lobster over to see 3,000 to 20,000 eggs attached to her pleopods.  I think really, they should come back with Spring Watch when the hatchery is a hive of activity.

We gave Martin one of our Santa CLAWS fluffy lobster to hold for the photo that are now available on our on-line shop with their very own handmade Santa hat’s.  http://www.nationallobsterhatchery.co.uk/shop/

3,156 baby lobsters released on the Isles of Scilly

Following the success of last years’ release of 1,000 lobsters between Bryher and Tresco we jumped at the chance of doing another  release; only this time, our biggest release on record with 3,156 beautiful little lobsters.  The interesting thing is that these baby lobsters have spent the last few months growing in our new Aquahive (our state-of-the-art lobster housing) and the colouration and vigour of these lobsters was really striking.

At 5.30 this morning, the lobsters were packed up (still in their individual cells so they don’t eat each other!) and transported to Penzance; loaded onto the Scillonian and shipped across to the Isles of Scilly.  Steve Watt, the Maritime Officer for the Isles of Scilly Inshore Fisheries & Conservation Authority (IFCA) met Charlie, Carly and the lobsters to take them over to meet the divers. Dave McBride and Tim Alsop organised the dive for us and delivered the lobsters by hand to the seabed on the east side of St Mary’s.

I have just spoken with Carly and she says the release was very successful; it’s just the team that were recovering from hyperthermia, the early start, the radio interviews and TV appearances!

Thank you once again to the Isles of Scilly Steamship Company and Hell Bay Hotel who have sponsored the release and helped organise the trip. They have also offered a raffle prize for our summer raffle of

A LUXURY TWO NIGHT BREAK ON THE ISLES OF SCILLY FOR TWO ADULTS

WITH SKYBUS FLIGHTS FROM EITHER LANDS END OR NEWQUAY AIRPORTS

STAYING FOR TWO NIGHTS DINNER BED & BREAKFAST

AT THE MAGNIFICENT HELL BAY HOTEL, BRYER, ISLES OF SCILLY

You can purchase raffle tickets over the phone on 01841 533877

Baby lobsters galore and record releases

 

Another 10,000 larvae hatched last night. We have released 7,400 juvenile lobsters to date. We’re releasing another 1,500 tomorrow and 3,000 next week at the Isles of Scilly! How good is that! These baby lobsters were born last night (photo on left), I asked them to stop moving for the photo shoot but they weren’t having any of it!

The photo on the right is what they look like close up.

Cage Culture Research Project underway

Emily Miles, from the University of Exeter, has started preparations for her Masters Project looking at cage culture for juvenile lobsters. This involves growing the lobsters from stage IV onwards in submerged cages in the sea as opposed to in the hatchery. Once in the water, they will be self-sufficient feeding from the biofouling on the cages, requiring no maintenance/cleaning of the cages and will be better equipped to deal with the environment once they are released.

The post-larval lobsters are currently growing in the hatchery and will undergo an intermediate phase to acclimatise them to lower sea water temperatures. The cages are already in place at two sites in the Fal estuary and at sea, fouling up (this means the cages will start to get encrusted with algae, barnacles and other organisms that will provide a source of food for the lobsters) before the lobsters are put into individual compartments to prevent them fighting.

This project is going to be really important for us at the hatchery, because the lobsters that are grown on in the sea cages will be compared in terms of diet, health, growth and survival rates, to the control lobsters that will remain in the hatchery for the same period of time and fed by us. If the cage culture is successful it could be the way forward for us long term and it would mean that we could grow on lobsters up to a year old thus to a more suitable release size for little economic and maintenance costs, compared to 3 months old that we tend to release at now.

The new broodtank arrives

We had thought about the dimensions and whether we could fit it through the door, honestly!!  But to be fair it would have been difficult to get round corners, so our lovely kindly neighbours agreed to crane it into the back door, at low tide from the slipway.

The white side that you can see is the acrylic window so that visitors can see into the lobster maternity ward.

Building works start tomorrow…..

View from the Visitor Centre                      View from within the Hatchery

We’re busy preparing for the big knock through tomorrow, from the Visitor Centre into the Hatchery.  The idea is to give the visitor a more ‘up close and personal’ experience with the baby lobsters. 

The viewing area will allow you to look directly into the holding trays where the juvenile lobsters are grown on.  We are also expecting a new broodstock tank for our maternity ward, which will have an acrylic side panel, allowing you to see the eggs on the underside of our mummy lobsters.

The visitor centre should only be closed for one day (19th January 2011), while they knock through the hole and after that, we can remain open while the rest of the work is completed.  Watch this space……..

Future Jobs Fund success

Matt Lumb, joined the hatchery in July as a result of our successful bid to the Future Jobs Fund.   Matt’s position of Junior Hatchery Technician is a fully funded post for six months, giving him the opportunity to learn new skills and a step onto the employment ladder.

Matt has already proved a valuable member of the team and we are hoping to secure funding elsewhere in order to keep him and his new found ‘lobster skills’ on board.

Lobster season

It’s slow and steady in the hatchery at the moment.  With the cold winter and to be honest, a cold spring, broodstock has been slow to come in.  The last few years we’ve had such mild winters that the lobster season started as early as February and we were in full swing early on.

We’re still getting 600 larvae through a day so it’s all good.