Newlyn Lobster Hatchery back in action.

 

After several years out of commission the Newlyn lobster hatchery is back up and running with enough funding to keep it re-stocking the waters around Penwith with juvenile lobsters...

Here, Dr Carly Daniel checks over thousands of newly hatched lobsters some of which have only hatched in the last 24 hours...

at this stage (Stage 1) the tiny fish, just 10mm long are kept in tubs along with their siblings, aerated seawater and fed a diet that is constantly being modified as ongoing research determines the most effective to promote healthy growth...

at stage 4, after several moults, the lobsters have to be kept separated as by now they are capable of determining in which direction they can swim - and lobsters are most definitely cannibalistic - given the chance eventually there would only be one very well fed lobster left in the tank if left to their own devices...

once stage 5 has been reached the lobsters are now said to be truly benthic and able to survive in close proximity to the bottom of the sea where they able to protect themselves by burying in the sand...

it is at this stage that they are released into various suitable locations around the Penwith coast in order to best distribute the young and help grow the local lobster population and enable sustainable fishing for the future......

the second of the two converted shipping containers on the Stone Quay are home to the hatchery itself where the 'buried' female lobsters with a belly full of eggs...

each have their won tank in which to reach the hatching stage - each tank identifies the date and fisherman who provided the lobster, in this case, Andrew Stevens who fishes from Newlyn with his boat, Benediction...

this gallery of images captures a day in the life of an inshore lobsterman.