Youghal fisherman Kevin Murphy, had an unusual find while out fishing recently. When fishing for Monkfish in his boat ‘The Sea Lion’ 11 miles South East of Youghal Harbour he found this Lobster (Homarus gammarus) caught up in the nets. The lobster is not only very big at 10lbs but was white in colour when first taken out of the water.
Report/Photo: Michael Hussey www.youghalonline.com Email: news@youghalonline.com

 

Kevin said the female lobster was approx. 20 years old and would have laid millions of eggs in that period of time. Kevin kept the lobster in a suitable container for a week to show his wife Stephanie, daughter Emily and sons Jason and Stephen. Emily decided that the crustacean should be called CLAW-DIA on account of her huge claws and soon she had a new pet!. Rather than ending up in a fashionable sea food restaurant lady luck Claw-dia will be set free back to where the fisherman first caught her.

 

Kevin explained that Claw-dia was a protected species and he will make a special cut on her tail, a V shape, so that if in the future Claw-dia  may be caught again, she will immediately be placed back at sea. Kevin didn’t have to prise Claw-dia away from Emily as she was delighted her new found pet was going back home. ” The crustacean needs a vacation “.

In post celtic tiger Ireland it’s heartening  to know the Youghal Fisherman will rightfully put Claw-dia back to sea instead of selling her for some euros. The Lobster is liberated thanks to the Murphy family from Youghal. Free Claw-dia!

Lobster v-notching

‘V-notching’ is one of the most important technical conservation measures for the Irish lobster stock. The practice was introduced to Ireland in the early 1990’s from Maine in the USA, where it is used in the American Lobster fishery. The technique was perfected by BIM in co-operation with the Shellfish Research Laboratory Carna, Udaras na Gaeltachta, and with the inshore fishing industry. It involves cutting a small notch in one of the flaps on the tail of a female lobster to create an easily recognised mark that remains for up to two moults

When a lobster is marked in this way, it is illegal to land, possess or sell it and it must be returned live to the sea. This ensures the lobster has an opportunity to breed at least once before the notch grows out, as female lobsters generally breed and moult in alternate years. The aim is to boost egg production and thus recruitment to the stock, by protecting a proportion of the female lobster population from fishing pressure.