Plan hatched to help lobsters claw their way back to Forth

Published on Monday 15 September 2008 10:10

A PLAN has been hatched to create the first lobster farm in mainland Scotland to boost supplies in the Forth.

The Scottish Seabird Centre wants to set up a hatchery at North Berwick harbour in order to create sustainable lobster fishing for the future.

It is hoped local fishermen will sell female lobsters to the hatchery allowing their offspring to be reared to a stage where they are strong enough to be returned to the sea.

Initial discussions are underway for the scheme, which as well as boosting the local lobster population, would include a new research and education centre opened to visitors.

Charlie Marshall, fundraising and development manager at the Scottish Seabird Centre, said: "We plan to get the hen lobsters off local fishermen and keep them in tanks until the eggs hatch. We would then return the hens and keep the fry in tanks."

In the wild, fewer than one per cent of lobsters survive beyond two weeks, but around 40 per cent of the young can be expected to survive in the hatchery.

After around three months of being reared in tanks to boost their strength, the lobsters would be taken by boat and released back into the Firth of Forth by scuba divers.

Tom Brock, chief executive of the Seabird Centre, said: "This is an excellent idea which has come from the local community.

"A lot of work and fundraising needs to be done to turn the idea into a reality.

"However the benefits, which are closely linked to the centre's charitable objectives, would be significant.

"They would include supporting communities, boosting tourism, creating jobs and further revitalising North Berwick's historic harbour."

Mr Brock and Mr Marshall are due to travel to Cornwall next week to visit the National Lobster Hatchery at Padstow.

Run as a successful commercial venture, with an education and research centre, the centre releases around 12,000 lobsters in the later juvenile stages along the Cornish coastline each year.

The UK's only other lobster hatchery – Europe's biggest – is in Orkney which releases 65,000 juvenile lobsters annually.

It is estimated the cost of setting up the hatchery in North Berwick will be between 200,000 and 300,000.

Once the centre is up and running, it will be another five to seven years before the lobsters will be ready to be caught by Forth fishermen.

But it is hoped the centre will begin to draw in visitors much sooner.

Mr Marshall added: "We hope this can provide a research facility for schools and agriculture professionals.

"We think it will benefit the local fishermen and are keen to push forward as soon as we can.

"There has been a lot of interest from the community."