R130: Detecting berried lobsters
Updated 19 February 2020
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First Created 6 June 2018
1. Requirement overview
1.1 Requirement detail
To review and develop methodologies for establishing whether caught European lobsters (Homarus gammarus) had been carrying eggs prior to capture and had the trace removed. The Lobsters and Crawfish (Prohibition of Fishing and Landing) (Amendment) (England) Order 2017 bans the landing of lobster or crawfish which is carrying eggs attached. As part of the MMO’s ongoing compliance work we are keen to investigate new methods of confirming whether eggs have been removed to support and verify other systems for managing compliance and enforcement.
1.2 MMO use
Compliance and Control: An increased level of assurance of lobster catches would increase the range of tools available to the MMO for the management of fish stocks including evaluation of current enforcement strategies.
1.3 External interest
Environment Agency, Inshore Fisheries Conservation Authorities
2. Aims and objectives
2.1 Aim
To review and develop methodologies for establishing whether caught European lobsters had been carrying eggs prior to capture.
2.2 Objectives
The objectives to deliver this requirement include to:
- Investigate methods of removing eggs likely to be in use in lobster fishing
- Investigate scientific methodologies to establish whether eggs have been removed
- Create protocols for identifying the illegal removal of eggs from a landed lobster
3. Existing evidence
3.1 Academic
The problem of illicit removal of eggs from the American lobsters (Homarus americanus) is a long-standing problem which has been referred to as “washing” or “scrubbing”. Templeman (1940) and Hughes (1965) describe several methods for scrubbing egg bearing lobsters including using a stiff brush, a high pressure hose, and compressed air. Hughes (1965), building on the work of Templeman (1940) described a method for detecting the scrubbed lobster based on specific physiological and biological characteristics. The most common approach taken is the Sisson-Karlsson test, created in the 1970s which involves staining the lobster pleopods in haematoxylin and looking for signs of the presence of egg cement and damage from scrubbing.
More recently work has been undertaken in North America to investigate methods of detection of chlorine bleach to remove eggs on American lobsters such as Cogger & Bayer, 1996 which looked at the physiological and biological characteristics of the lobster and Heckman et al 2011 which looked at a Starch–Iodide Swab Technique for Detecting Bleach‐Dipped Female Lobsters.
Little academic work has been done on the European lobster.
4. Further details
For more information or to add further research to the existing evidence list please email evidence@marinemanagement.org.uk