They are nurtured through their most vulnerable stage in their life cycle (when they are part of the plankton) where there are a lot of predators. When released, they are still only 1cm in length but they stand a very high chance of survival because they become demersal at this stage in their life cycle. This means living on or near the bottom of the sea. There are very few sightings of juvenile lobsters in the wild and researchers believe they spend their first two years of life buried in the gravel. Research undertaken in Norway showed survival rates for hatchery reared juvenile lobsters were 30-80%.
Edwin Derriman, head of the lobster hatchery research programme is assisted by Ruth Cacharron and Chris Weston from the lobster hatchery at Newlyn.