Thank you to our amazing visitors who helped crown us best Family Attraction Cornwall in the 2024 Muddy Stiletto awards read more hot of the press! “The National Lobster Hatchery, a Cornish marine conservation charity, has been named the Best Family Attraction in Cornwall in the 2024 Muddy Stilettos Awards. Situated in picturesque Padstow on the waterfront, the Hatchery and its lobsters have captured the love of locals and visitors alike. A unique attraction, the Hatchery gives visitors the chance to delve into the world of lobsters and learn more about conservation and marine life in Cornwall ..read more

It’s that exciting time of year at the NLH as we reach peak hatching season! From April onwards we start to welcome thousands of tiny lobster babies on a daily basis usually around 4,000.   If you have not seen a baby lobster before, the next few months are the busiest time in our lobster nursery and a great time to see our conservation work in action. Lobsters start life as an egg attached to the underside of a hen (female) lobster, with about 20,000-40,000 lobster brothers and sisters. At the hatchery you will find the hen lobsters in our maternity ward, where they will look after their ..read more

The National Lobster Hatchery’s never ending quest to improve juvenile lobster production. At the National Lobster Hatchery, we are always looking for ways to improve our marine conservation methods, in particular our lobster stock enhancement programme. One way in which we are doing this is to improve our lobster culture techniques through research and innovation. Believe it or not, much of the technology for rearing baby lobsters has not changed since the 1970’s and 80’s when methods for culturing American lobsters were transferred to the European lobster. However, much of the production pro ..read more

As a small, but mighty charity for over twenty years, our local community here in Cornwall has been and is vital to our success. Without the support of our fisher network, the lovely visitors to our Padstow based centre, and supportive businesses that partner with our organisation we simply couldn’t carry out our work. As we begin another exciting year we are delighted to welcome Aspects Holidays as a corporate sponsor of The National Lobster Hatchery. Aspects Holidays support will be vital in the release of hundreds of baby lobsters this year. Plus raising awareness of our work, and a unique ..read more

Our small but mighty charity and centre of excellence is looking to grow its board of trustees. Next year sees our 25th anniversary here in Padstow, and there has never been a more exciting time to join the organisation to support conservation here in Cornwall. For further information including deadlines, commitment and desired experience please see below pack. We look forward to hearing from you. Trustee-Recruitment-Pack-The-NLH-1Download The post We are recruiting Trustees! appeared first on National Lobster Hatchery ..read more

Over 10 years ago, Ben had an idea; to build a giant tank that would represent life in a Cornish reef and demonstrate the interactions between different species. Over a year ago the team put the wheels in motion and the project was fondly named ‘TankTopia’ from there, the hard work began. Spaces were measured, quotes were received and funding applications were submitted. With The NLH being a small charity we were aware that it was going to be a big challenge from the outset. Some of these challenges included fundraising in the current cost of living crisis, added to the mix the ever increasing ..read more

Christmas Crafts at The National Lobster Hatchery! On set weekends throughout November and December, come and get involved in festive craft activities at our visitor centre, and Christmassy fun! Weekends: 24th – 26th November – Christmas cards 1st – 3rd December – Christmas tree decorations 8th – 10th December – Christmas cards 15th – 17th – Christmas paper chains and snowflakes 22nd – 23rd – Design your own Christmas eve plate 29th – 31st – Design New Years party hats All included in existing and entry passes Guardian led Buy tickets The post Christmas Crafts appeared first on Nationa ..read more

Dr Carly Daniels put The National Lobster hatchery on the international lobster stage at the recent International Conference and Workshop on Lobster (and Crab) Biology and management, from 22nd – 27th October 2023. The conference returned to its roots in Perth, Western Australia for the first time since 1976, seeing 180 delegates from 20 countries around the world! The purpose of the conference, was to all come together to share and discuss current biology, fisheries, management and conservation across multiple commercially important crustacean species with Ecosystem based fisheries management ..read more

This winter we are excited to announce the introduction of our very first Winter Pass – giving families of 4, unlimited access to our visitor centre from November the end of February 2024.  During a difficult financial time, we wanted to create a cost-effective way for families to enjoy our visitor centre, without pinching the pennies, through the off-peak season. For just £10,  two adults and two children, can visit us through the months November – February. Enjoy entry to our award-winning centre in Padstow at a significantly reduced rate – get up close with rarely seen lobster bab ..read more

LENDING A CLAW TO LOBSTER CONSERVATION “Larval Culture Innovation – Lending a claw to lobster conservation” aims to improve the NLH’s ability to grow juvenile lobsters to enhancing our conservation outputs in terms of lobster stock enhancement. The aim is to improve larval survival rates in our lobster production systems. Funding, provided by Sea-Changers, will allow the NLH to realise designs that have been born in house from over two decades of experience in culturing lobster. These innovations we aim to increase existing larval survival by as much as 100%, which if rolled out across our hat ..read more