Hi, my name is Ruby and I have recently finished my six-month placement at the National Lobster Hatchery, and I am now heading into my final year at the University of Plymouth studying Ocean Science and Marine Conservation.
Looking back, my time spent at the hatchery has honestly been the best part of my degree so far. I chose to do a placement because I wanted hands-on experience in marine conservation before graduating, and I couldn’t have asked for a better place to do it.
I worked as a student technician at the hatchery, helping with the day-to-day running of the systems and caring for everything from berried hens to the lobster larvae. My daily jobs quickly became things like water chemistry, brood checks, feeding stocks, cleaning systems, transferring larvae between tanks and condensing the aquahives. Safe to say I now know far more about lobster eggs, filter socks and protein skimmers than I ever thought possible.
In the first few weeks, I learnt very quickly that no two days at the hatchery are ever the same. One day I would be checking in some of our lobster mums from one of our fishermen, the next I would be rock pooling for display animals or scraping paint off the hatchery floors for hours during winter maintenance.
One of my favourite parts of my placement was the public lobster releases. After spending weeks helping rear the larvae, it is amazing seeing children and families releasing them into rockpools around Cornwall. Seeing all the behind-the-scenes work come together made all the long days completely worth it. Winter maintenance was also a huge highlight for me; it gave me a chance to learn a completely different side of hatchery life. We rebuilt systems, painted floors, serviced pumps, redesigned displays and somehow spent what felt like months sanding and oiling woodwork.
On returning to university, I’ll be starting my final dissertation project, which I’m really excited to be doing alongside the hatchery. My project will focus on comparing larvae from overwintered lobster mums and new season broodstock, looking at how their survival rates and development times differ as they grow through the hatchery systems.
As this project will also mark the final part of my undergraduate degree, it feels really special to continue working with the hatchery after such an amazing six months. I honestly feel so lucky to have had this opportunity. Everyone at the hatchery has been incredibly supportive, hardworking and passionate about what they do, and being part of the team has taught me so much — not just about lobster conservation, but also about confidence, teamwork and myself.
Ruby x
