Broodstock Management

At the heart of our hatchery process are berried lobsters—female lobsters carrying thousands of eggs beneath their tails, which resemble clusters of tiny berries. These broodstock are carefully housed in purpose-designed tanks equipped with advanced filtration systems that maintain optimal water quality and mimic natural conditions.

The development of lobster eggs is a slow process, often taking several months. Hatching typically occurs during late spring and summer when water temperatures rise. To ensure a steady and reliable supply of larvae, berried hens are collected from local fishermen in the spring and promptly transferred to our broodstock holding systems. Lobster larvae are planktonic and exhibit positive phototaxis—meaning they instinctively swim towards light. Most hatching occurs during the night, when the larvae emerge from the eggs and rise toward the surface in search of food and light.

We offer a variety of broodstock system configurations to suit different operational needs. These include traditional filtered tank setups as well as our innovative Lobster Pod system—a compact, modular solution designed for ease of use, excellent flow control, and scalable capacity. Depending on the number of berried females you intend to hold, we can tailor a broodstock system that maximises hatch success while supporting animal health and welfare.

Larval lobsters

After hatching, larval lobsters are placed in kreisel tanks where the tiny larvae are kept in gentle suspension and fed a diet of preserved or live plankton and the water is filtered and aerated to maintain water quality.
To grow lobsters moult their shell regularly and are soft and vulnerable while they expand in size and their shell hardens.

Between each moult is counted as an intermoult stage and after 3 moults (stage 4) the baby lobster is no longer a larva, looks like a tiny version of its parent and changes its behaviour so it can walk around the seabed and find shelter.

At this stage the baby lobster becomes negatively phototactic (moves away from light) and naturally wants to hide in the gravel and boulder cobble on the seabed where it can feed on worms and other creatures it finds. At a temperature of about 18oC in the hatchery larvae grow fast and reach stage 4 after about 28 days.

For the most cost-effective approach to lobster fishery enhancement we believe it is important that juveniles are released at stage 4 as it is the time in their development when the drive to seek a new habitat and the negatively phototactic instinct is strongest.

A number of European hatcheries hold juveniles and grow them to a larger size prior to release with the aim of increasing survival of the larger juveniles.

Research in the USA has proven a better return to the fishery when juveniles are released at stage 4 rather than holding the lobsters longer. You could release tens of thousands of lobsters every season at stage 4 from a space no larger than a shipping container or double garage.

Juvenile lobsters

Due to the cannibalistic nature of lobster it is important to keep juveniles in separate compartments.

We have a special tank for this stage which can hold nearly 1000 lobsters. It is a round tank with a floating carousel divided into small compartments for each lobster.

The filtered water is fed into the tank gently spinning the carousel to ensure all compartments get a fresh, filtered water supply.

The lobster juvenile stage requires lots of space and lots of manpower to feed and clean the lobsters.

We would recommend keeping some lobster past stage 4 for research or education purposes however if your main aim is fisheries enhancement then the space needed, cost of equipment and operation and especially manpower required outweigh the benefits of keeping all of the lobsters for longer.
 

Juvenile lobster release

It is very rare to find juvenile lobsters less than about a year old in the wild and it seems to be a bit of a mystery as scientific research is yet to come up with any answers.

This is one of the main reasons that European hatcheries grow juveniles larger than stage 4 prior to release. In comparison American lobster juveniles are easily sampled in the wild by divers and inhabit shallow boulder cobble and gravel below the low water mark.

We have found stage 4-6 juvenile lobsters in the wild on a couple of occasions on the East coast of Scotland and in the Firth of Forth.

At these sites they were found in the low intertidal zone buried 30cm deep in coarse gravel and cobble. This has led us to believe that the best sites for stage 4 lobster release is in coarse clean gravel at low water spring tides which can be done by foot on the shore.

Lobster juvenile releases from boats and by divers are often used but shore release may be more suitable and is much more cost effective.

Todd Fish Tech have developed lobster hatchery technology which can produce environmentally fit juveniles. Our technology includes larval kreisels, juvenile systems, broodstock tanks, filtration and live food production. Our systems are cost-effective and have minimum operating costs.