Photo credit: The Firth of Forth Lobster Hatchery
Coral is back off to explore the deep depths around Craigleith!
This year we gave a grant of £300 to the Firth of Forth Lobster Hatchery which ensures they can continue to hatch, rear and return lobsters back to sea!
The Firth of Forth Lobster Hatchery is based at the harbour in North Berwick each summer. They work towards the education and protection of the European Lobster.
Lobsters can take up to seven years to get to a legal catch size and are especially vulnerable to predators in their first months of life with barely 1% surviving to reach adulthood. Threats from marine pollution and overfishing leave Scottish lobster stocks at risk from collapse. Rearing from larvae to juvenile, before releasing thousands back into the Firth of Forth each season the Hatchery relies on local fishermen supplying mature female lobsters, known as a “Berried Hens”, for production.
Sea-Changers funding will help economic cycle and enhance breeding stocks by allowing the Hatchery to pay fishermen and release even more lobsters back to sea. Alongside a successful V-notch sponsorship public programme whereby mature lobsters can be named, V-notched, (cannot be legally caught until the notch moults out) and returned to sea, the Hatchery can continue to enhance and protect lobster populations for future generations.
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