HATCHING NEWS

Welcome from General Manager, Dom Boothroyd

The Lobster Grower 2 project has kicked off  and we are delighted to welcome 3 recruits to the  team.  Dr Charlie Ellis having completed his PhD  with University of Exeter  on lobster genetics.  Prior to leaving the NLH for his PhD Charlie worked in the hatchery as a technician and even started out with the NLH as a researcher in 2007.  We also welcome back Jake Scolding who undertook a research project at the NLH from 2008-2010.  Jake has been working with Swansea University for the last 5 years, working on lump suckers, Norway lobsters (Langoustine) and others.  Hilary Wingrove has taken on the Lobster Grower 2 accounts role, so we have recruited Sue Retallick to support the accounts team. 

We are very grateful to Driveline for their continued support, who have donated a replacement van so we can continue to release lobsters in style.

Education Officer, Cat Wilding is circulating around the county visiting schools, special interest groups and events  delivering workshops on lobsters, fisheries, lifecycles and sustainability.

Two of the charity’s Trustees have been presented with an MBE for their work in the new years honours list.  The NLH was also nominated for a Governance Award (see feature article).

A massive thank you to Sarah Coates and Big Run Team of Volunteers who put on a fantastic event.  On the 6th March this year, over 300 runners took to the sunny Camel Trail and raised an incredible £3,234 for the charity.

Another 3,000 lobsters have been delivered to the Ile de Re as part of their marine action plan to restock their lobster population (see feature article).

We are embarking on some exciting fine scale lobster genetic  studies in collaboration with the University of Exeter.  Our in house geneticist Dr Charlie Ellis is providing samples from the Ile de Re and around Cornwall to examine if there is a difference between the European lobster in our shores and further afield.

Don’t forget to sign up to Give as you Live.  Raise free donations for a charity of your choice when you shop online with 4,100 top stores.  It doesn’t cost you anything!  We have 30 supporters to date who have donated £255.   Thank you to all our supporters.

www.giveasyoulive.com/join/nationallobsterhatchery

Padstow Seafood & Beer Festival

Buy one, Set one Free is going down a storm

The concept of ‘buy one, set one free’ is that anyone buying a lobster pays for costs to release a baby lobster back into the sea.  This creates a feel good aspect to the customer experience, enables the restaurant owner to communicate their responsible ethics in a tangible way and ultimately provides us with vital funds to help support our work.

BOSOF members collect a donation from the customer that is matched by the restaurant.  Other members prefer an annual Lobster Festival.

Prawn on the Lawn and Sankey’s are well into the double figures now.  The staff are extremely passionate about the scheme and their customers have the satisfaction that they are putting something back.  Sankey’s from Tunbridge Wells have donated £22,256 since 2008 and Prawn on the Lawn are up to £10,510 since 2014.  We can’t thank the staff and customers enough for their ongoing support.    The photograph to the right is Sankey’s restaurant proudly displaying our Buy One, Set One Free logo.

Thank you to all our BOSOF supporters who have shown their commitment to the charity’s work.   We are really happy to be working with such lovely people.

If you are interested in joining the scheme we would love to hear from you.  You can email clare@nationallobsterhatchery.co.uk or check out our website for more information

Isles of Scilly Lobster Tagging Project, a perspective by Dr Charlie Ellis

Except for the day I skipped breakfast and felt seasick, I had a great time going to sea with commercial fishermen, collecting data on their catch and tagging adult lobsters and crawfish for release. While my contribution was tiny overall, this project has been ongoing for the past 3 years and thanks to the efforts of IFCA staff, Scillonian fishers and willing volunteers, Scilly IFCA has generated vital data to monitor the growth, movement and abundance of their local lobster populations. They have now released a report outlining their findings (available at https://secure.toolkitfiles.co.uk/clients/19937/sitedata/pdfs/IOSIFCA-Tagging-Report.pdf).
 
Static gear fisheries for lobsters (caught in baited pots) and crawfish (caught in stationary nets) are hugely important to the prosperity of the islanders, and the report shows that lobsters appear to be sustainably fished. The recapture of hundreds of tagged lobsters showed that the majority of animals are resident within a particular area, with 62% recaptured within 500m of where they were released.  Although the odd nomad undertook a considerable journey, with 3 individuals caught in mainland Cornwall, including one female who had come 100 miles to Padstow! Perhaps she was hatchery-reared, and missed the good life in our tanks…?! Around half of the lobster catch was undersized and returned, and there was an even number of males and females; indications that lobster recruitment appears healthy.
 
The picture was not so positive for crawfish, the increasingly valuable but rare European spiny lobster, whose stock was found to be deficient in females and undersized individuals. Of 283 individuals that were tagged and released (including one by me, pictured), only 1 crawfish was recaptured (having moved 6 miles and moulted once, a year later). This suggests that survival following capture is low, or that the species is largely migratory, factors which present a significant challenge to the sustainable management of their fisheries.
 
As a result, Scilly IFCA are now arguing for tougher regulations for crawfish, with proposals to ban landing egg-bearing females and a raised minimum size. Such measures have been perceived a success for clawed lobsters, so it seems an obvious route to take for crawfish. Fortunately, the data gathered by this report provides a baseline by which changes to the status of lobster and crawfish stocks can be assessed by future monitoring. One thing is for sure; I’ll be first on the ferry when I next get the chance to visit the beautiful Scillies and their resident lobsters!

Secrets of the Sea 3

This article is part of a series on lobsters and lobster fishing by Dr Colin Bannister, a retired emeritus scientist at CEFAS Lowestoft, Chairman of the Shellfish Association, and a former advisor on fisheries and shellfisheries management.

My two previous articles in Hatching News touched on aspects of lobster growth and survival. I showed that lobsters take 4 to 8 years to reach the legal size that allows a reasonable proportion to mature and breed once before capture. I also reasoned that because lobsters have evolved to produce relatively few eggs per female (a few tens of thousands) lifetime survival in nature must generally be good. I linked this to the shelter-seeking behaviour that is observed when baby lobsters first burrow into the sea bed, or when moulting lobsters hide in a rock crevice until the new soft shell hardens, or when lobsters rest between feeding excursions. As described below, complex behaviours also explain why lobster fishers actually catch their target species.

I see a lobster fishery from two viewpoints. One is picturesque -- a vibrant mix of harbours, potting boats, diesel fumes, and  oil-skinned ‘characters’, all supported by the capture and sale of lithe blue-purple bodies with waving claws, that adorn the diner’s plate. The other viewpoint is a kaleidoscope of questions about the underwater events that occur when thousands of baited pots are scattered over the seabed among hungry lobsters. These viewpoints are entwined because the picturesque fishery depends entirely on the biology that links the lobster catch to the stock on the seabed.

Typically, a local harbour may have a dozen or more coastal lobster boats working up to 10 miles from home, each using 300 to 1500 baited pots. From spring to late autumn these are laid on the seabed in strings of varying length but generally of 30 to 60 pots, set in lines that straggle over patchworks of hard ground (reef, cobble), softer ground (shell-sand or mud), and sometimes close to wrecked ships. Some newer potters may fish further afield, and use up to 4,000 pots that are left at sea all year. In the main summer season, when seawater is warm and lobsters start to feed after spawning and moulting, pots are usually hauled, emptied, re-baited, and re-set every one, two or three days (the ‘soak time’). Pots are hauled less frequently when the weather is poor, or in the cool early or late season when lobsters are less active. To be successful the patchwork of fishing in space and time must overlap those areas of seabed where the most lobsters find shelter, but from which they emerge periodically to hunt for food. Compared to fish, the natural density of lobsters is very low, and they do not herd, so unlike a mid-water trawl, which sweeps through shoals of herring or pilchard, or a bottom trawl which attempts to overtake and surround bottom living fish as they comb the seabed, baited pots are passive. They simply lie in wait, anticipating that hungry lobsters will eventually come by.

Now imagine the factors that could determine what a pot fishery catches and removes from the stock. These include the number and density of lobsters on the seabed (stock abundance), the number and density of pots set, how often they are hauled, and the behaviours that determine how many lobsters find a pot and then become trapped. The stock depends on how many baby lobsters settle each year to hide, feed and survive the years needed to reach fishable size in each segment of habitat in a relevant geographical area. What could then be caught depends on the proportion of the stock within reach of the gear, and what is actually caught depends on the following behavioural sequences.
 
On any given day, what proportion of the lobster stock is mobile, and for how long, and over what distance do lobsters travel? Given the number of pots in the fishing area, what is the chance of any mobile hungry lobster coming within reach of any pot, and then sensing and reacting to the smell of bait?  When it does, what is the chance that this lobster will (or will not) approach and climb through a spout into the pot, where it may (or may not) fight with a competitor, and from which it may (or may not) escape? The chances of escape are much reduced when the pot has an inner chamber (‘parlour’). This is now commonplace in most of our pot fisheries, allowing lobster fishers to leave their pots for longer soak times. 

Quantifying this complexity requires special methods to study what happens underwater. Options include the use of acoustic imaging to map habitats; electronic tracking devices to record how often and how far lobsters forage within or between habitats; and the deployment of divers, time-lapse cameras, or remote TV to record how lobsters behave when approaching a pot. Experimental fishing can be used to show how the number and size of lobsters in the catch is affected by pot size and design, spacing between traps, and frequency of hauling. Fishing experiments have studied the use of escape gaps in the netting of a pot to release undersized animals, and the use of pots pre-baited with a live lobster or crab to show that the catch can be affected by mutual attraction or conflict. Finally, tagging methods have been developed to estimate local density, dispersion, and migration.
 
Off and on, these tools are being applied in several typical lobster fisheries in Europe and North America, gradually accumulating tantalising snapshots of lobster behaviour and the capture process. Although an excellent basis for further detailed work, results are still far from giving a fully quantitative picture, and because these methods are painstaking, expensive, and confined to small areas for short periods, they are unsuitable for routine stock assessment of whole fisheries. Lobster management must therefore fall back on applying simpler monitoring and modelling tools, as will be explained in the next article.

Trustees recognised on New Year’s Honour List

Two of our Trustees have been appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2016 New Year’s Honour list, which recognises the achievements of a wide range of extraordinary people across the UK.

Edwin Derriman received his MBE for services to Marine Conservation at the Palace in May and Jean Taylor was awarded her MBE in June for services to Higher Education and Economic Development in Cornwall.

As the Founding Chairman of the Hatchery, Edwin’s tireless support and input has proved invaluable to the charity’s work.  He spearheaded the initial concept and devotes significant time and effort to the ongoing success of the Hatchery.  “Edwin is an inspiration to everyone here” said General Manager Dom Boothroyd.  Edwin received his MBE at Buckingham Palace from Prince Charles, he had this to say “The offer letter was an absolute surprise that came out of the blue, and I feel very humbled that someone has seen fit to put my name forward for this immense honour”. 

Jean has been fundamental in the progression of many initiatives within the Hatchery, particularly in the development of educational links and the formation of the Lobster Grower 2 Project (LG2) which is the biggest lobster research project taking place in Europe at the moment. Dr Carly Daniels commented that “Jean’s input on the contractual and collaborative aspects of LG2 has been instrumental in the preliminary stages of this important project.”

Jean Taylor had this to say: "The award highlighted the link between higher education and economic development in Cornwall.  The NLH is an excellent example of how working closely with universities and investing in research and development leads to improved products, an enhanced reputation and creates high quality jobs.  Helping the NLH to achieve this has been very rewarding.  It is a real honour".

“I'm delighted that Edwin and Jean have received these prestigious honours” said Dominic Boothroyd.  “The dedication and support of our Board of Trustees is instrumental to the success of the Hatchery and recognition at this level serves to underline the deep respect and appreciation we hold for their dedication and hard work”.

New clothing range for 2016

We are very fortunate to enjoy a wealth of talent from volunteers with skills from all walks of life.  When Simon Thomas let on that he was quite good at drawing!!!, we set him on designing a lobster mosaic for our 2016 clothing range.  New in stock last week we have aprons, hoodies and T-shirts for men and women.  We are yet to organise a photo shoot! but they are available to buy now. Little Shop of Lobsters

NLH nominated in National Governance Awards

The NLH was one of just three shortlisted Charities who were nominated for the improving impact (4-25 staff) category of these inaugural awards.  Over 100 Charities entered from all over the UK and the event was attended by some of the most important names from the UK’s third sector.  The NLH were sadly pipped to the post in the end by Sport for Life UK, a Birmingham based charity working with disadvantaged young people.

Bryan Coode - Chairman, Edwin Derriman - Trustee, Dom Boothroyd - General Manager

Bryan Coode, Chairman of the NLH had this to say: “The selection of the National Lobster Hatchery as one of the three finalists for our size category in the national Governance Awards, reflects well on all of the team. The award implies that our continued expansion and growth has been achieved with proper commercial prudence and diligence, which is so vital in the charitable sector. It is a tribute to all the employees, the Trustees and the vital team of volunteers.”

The Charity Governance awards 2016 were organised and funded by the Clothworkers Company, a livery company that supports trusteeship initiatives and was supported by New Philanthropy Capital, Reach and Prospectus held in the Clothworkers Company Hall in London. The awards aimed to shine a light on the best of the Charity sector and raise the bar of governance, to ensure higher standards of quality, outputs and outcomes.

Edwin Derriman, Trustee of the NLH said: “Although the NLH’s application did not win on the night, it was a wonderful experience being at the Clothworkers Hall with so many other shortlisted charities, all of which were outstanding in their various fields.  The Governance Awards is a fantastic competition that annually will highlight the examples of good practice that the board of trustees of top performing charities observe to move their organisations forward”.

Join our Patrons’ Club

We now have 16 Patrons on board and we are looking forward to our first exclusive dinner at the prestigious St Michael’s Mount Castle on September 6th.  Lord St Leven was the first to sign up to the Patrons’ Club and we are very excited that he has offered to host our inaugural dinner at this iconic destination in Cornwall.
 
“The NLH has already achieved a great deal and has the drive and opportunity to expand and develop its work much further.  With the right support, this pioneering venture will go from strength to strength and accomplish so much more.  Please join me in becoming a part of this exciting project where dedication and passion for a more sustainable future for our fisheries, unite with the innovation of cutting edge science.  We could really help make a difference to the future of our vulnerable marine resources and the coastal communities they support. The world is our lobster ……” Lord St Levan

To become a Patron please get in touch with Clare Stanley, our Development Officer either by phone 01841 533877 or email clare@nationallobsterhatchery.co.uk   Or read more on our website

DPS UK, based in Hampshire have designed an Adopt a Lobster releases database for our website FOR FREE!

It is an all singing and dancing search engine, you just type in your name or the lobster name and the database will short list all related lobster releases for you so you can look up where your lobster was released within seconds.  We are incredibly grateful to Matthew Augier and his team for their time and support.  Make sure you check where your lobster was released.  Click on the Adopt a Lobster button to check releases now.

Who’s up for lobster school dinners?

The education and outreach programme is putting lobsters firmly on the educational menu!

Across Cornwall, school children have been getting involved with the National Lobster Hatchery’s educational workshops. Linking into the National Curriculum, the lessons create a marine focus for traditional school topics, bringing awareness of fisheries sustainability issues into the classroom through fun, interactive learning.

Topics covered include lobster lifecycles, fish identification and classification, weird and wonderful marine adaptations, fishing methods and sustainable fishing. We bring these topics alive with hands-on activities, play, drama, art and craft, as well as an exciting live lobster exhibit and an array of unusual marine artefacts not normally available to schools.

Coast to coast across Cornwall

We have recently delivered lessons in Newquay, Wadebridge, Truro, Helston and the Lizard. Soon we will be casting the net further afield to reach the far corners of the County, so if you know of a school who would like to receive a visit with a fully funded lobster lesson, then urge them to BOOK in with us SOON!

Nursery to University and beyond!

The majority of students to receive lessons so far have been primary school pupils. However, as the education project gains momentum we have been engaging with people across the educational spectrum, from pre-schoolers to pensioners! Adapting the level of detail to suit the audience, we have inspired nursery children with the fascinating diversity of marine creatures. Secondary pupils have engaged with sustainable fisheries and natural resource management as preparation for GCSE exam questions, while university students learned about our pioneering aquaculture techniques. Local interest groups including the U3A and church fellowships have learned about the Charity’s work, and how forward thinking approach can help to strengthen the resilience of wild stocks against increasing human pressure.

Resource Packs free to schools!

Our Educational Resource Pack ‘lobster lessons’ include lesson plans, teachers notes, activities, worksheets and artefacts to enable teachers to include marine themes in their classrooms on a daily basis. Currently in the final stages of review, these packs will be available free to 150 lucky Cornish primary schools – request yours now to avoid disappointment.

Contact Cat Wilding, Education Officer Email: education@nationallobsterhatchery.co.uk  
See our EDUCATION webpage for more detail

Are you concerned about the effects of fishing and aquaculture on the environment? Written by Matt Slater, Cornwall Wildlife Trust

Choosing Seafood can be confusing and even in Cornwall, fresh local seafood can be difficult to find.

Cornwall Good Seafood Guide is here to help. The guide is a fantastic new website produced by leading local wildlife charity, Cornwall Wildlife Trust, that aims to provide us all with the information we need so that we can make good seafood choices.

Did you know that over 60 different species of fish and shell fish are landed by Cornish Fishermen and 13 different methods are currently being used to catch fish? Not all fishing is bad for the environment, in fact many methods are not harmful at all and vast improvements have been made in designs of fishing gear and in fishery management.

To make it easy for the public to understand, we rate seafood on a scale of 1-5 with 1 being the most sustainable and 5 being the least. Look out for our ‘recommended’ logo when you are buying fish.

It is quick and easy to visit the website and find out what seafood is currently in season and recommended.  You can also search our ‘where to buy’ section to find fishmongers, restaurants and fishermen who will sell direct to you wherever you live in the country! 

There are also recipes and cookery tips and great articles all aimed to get us to appreciate and support our local fishing industry better.

The National Lobster Hatchery has been involved in the project since it first started as a member of the Cornwall Good Seafood Guides independent advisory board which also includes, fishermen, fisheries managers and fisheries and social scientists. This group have overseen the project ensuring that all relevant local information is taken into consideration when rating fisheries and aquaculture on sustainability.

www.cornwallgoodseafoodguide.org.uk

• · Pot caught brown crab
• · Pot caught spider crab
• · Pot caught lobster
• · Handline caught cornish mackerel
• · Cornish net caught hake
• · Ring net caught Cornish sardines
• · Rope grown mussels
• · Trawl caught megrim soles
• · Farmed oysters
• · Trawl or net caught Dover sole

How good is your fish ID?
                                                     

NEW EXHIBIT FOR 2016

If you have visited the National Lobster Hatchery’s Visitor Centre you will already appreciate that our mission is to educate about fisheries, promote the importance of sustainable fisheries and support those fishermen that fish responsibly so that our oceans remain healthy for future generations.  We welcome the work of the Cornwall Good Seafood Guide as a vital tool for us all to make better choices when we are selecting seafood.  Last winter we installed a new exhibit specifically for the Cornwall Good Seafood Guide  with an interactive i-pad so that people can explore the website.  I have to say, it’s a very easy and well presented guide to navigate, well worth a look.  Little Elodie in the photo was happily swiping away on the i-pad!


Our children’s cupboards have had a makeover too.  As Walt Disney said ‘We keep moving forward, opening new doors, and doing new things, because we’re curious and curiosity keeps leading us down new paths’.  Even adults can’t resist having a peek.

Lobsters say ‘Bon Voyage’ as the National Lobster Hatchery helps to re-stock French lobster populations

Three thousand baby lobsters waved their claws to Padstow, when they took the ferry from Plymouth to Roscoff on their way to the Ile-De-Ré, which is halfway down the Atlantic coast of France.  This is the fourth year the National Lobster Hatchery has worked in collaboration with the Communaute de Communes de Ile-De-Ré in France and so far over 11,000 juvenile lobsters have been delivered to be released into the area.

       

The delivery is part of a larger collaboration between the two organisations: the programme is not just about re-stocking the areas lobster populations, but also involves public engagement and research.  Last year over 10 schools came to see the baby lobsters before they were released into the seas off the tip of the Ile-De-Ré and the Communaute de Communes de Ile-De-Ré are using all sorts of interactive ways of telling the lobster lifecycle story. On the research front: French Fishermen have been collecting tissue samples for a collaborative research project between Exeter University and the National Lobster Hatchery that is investigating lobster genetics across Europe and last summer the authorities undertook dive surveys of the area to examine emerging stage lobster abundance, following the last three years’ releases.

“Working with our partners in France has been a great opportunity for the charity.  It allows us to show what can be done when two small organisations in two culturally different areas work together and it’s great to see the different approach to education and public engagement that is taken on the other side of the channel”, said Dominic Boothroyd General Manager of the National Lobster Hatchery. “Stocks of lobster in the seas around Ile–De-Ré are not as healthy as they are in Cornwall, and the stocking initiative there is really a re-stocking programme unlike the work to enhance stocks that we are undertaking in Cornwall.  We feel really privileged that the authorities in France decided that the National Lobster Hatchery was the best organisation in Europe to work with in this venture, and we are really enjoying the collaboration”.

If you are fluent in French there is a video you could watch from last years release  https://vimeo.com/69078995

   

Adopt a Lobster WEDDING FAVOURS

SUMMER EVENTS DIARY 2016