Whitby Lobster Hatchery

19/06/2026

🦞 YOU WON’T BELIEVE WHAT WE FOUND ROCKPOOLING!🦞

🌊 Whilst rockpooling in Runswick Bay, we found a very cool little guy — a juvenile European lobster, around a year old! What makes this even more exciting is that it could be one of the babies we raised here at the hatchery! 🥹

🏖️ We’ve released a number of juveniles at Runswick Bay thanks to its excellent rockpools and algae cover, so it’s just incredible to see them thriving in their natural habitat! 💙

Thanks for watching, and

🦞STAY CLAWSOME🦞

18/06/2026

🦞 RELEASING OUR 50,000th BABY LOBSTER! 🦞

🌊 Here at the Whitby Lobster Hatchery we’ve reached a major milestone — 50,000 baby lobsters released back into the North Sea to date! This is our 4th season and we’re already off to a cracking start! 👏

💙 Watch along for a behind-the-scenes look at how we prep for a release, plus some very cute footage of our baby lobsters! A huge thank you to our volunteers and supporters who helped out on the day — we hope you enjoyed it ☺️. Most of our releases are open to the public, so check out our Facebook events to find out when the next one is!

🏖️ Around 1,000 baby lobsters were released at Runswick Bay, taking our running total to over 50,000!

🦞 STAY CLAWSOME 🦞

16/06/2026

☄️I AM YOUR FATHER 👨🏻

This Father’s Day, give Dad a gift from a galaxy not so far away - adopt a lobster at The Whitby Lobster Hatchery! 🦞

Every adoption helps support our work in releasing lobsters back into the North Sea 🌊 The force is is strong with these little ones!

🎁This is the way to treat your Dad this Father’s Day. Head over to our website to order online or to Marine Discovery Whitby CIC to adopt in person.

🦞STAY CLAWSOME🦞

12/06/2026

🦞 ANOTHER HEN TO NAME 🦞

🧜‍♀️ The winner of our last competition was (maybe unsurprisingly) Ariel, and the name fits her perfectly! 🐠

✏️ Leave your suggestions in the comments for our next hen beginning with B. Remember, the theme is Disney Characters. Whichever character gets the most votes across our socials wins! 👑

⛵ The season is picking up and we're getting lots of lobsters from our fishermen, so there will be lots of hens to name in the coming days! Keep your eyes on our socials to help us name our hens. 🫧

🦞 STAY CLAWSOME 🦞

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11/06/2026

🦞POV YOU ARE SYPHONING LOBSTER POO FROM A TANK🦞

🌊What does being an aquaculturist actually entail? Yes we get to look after these beautiful creatures but I bet you didn’t think about us having to syphon out lobster poo! 💩 Making sure these ladies have a safe and clean environment to hatch their babies is a priority here at the hatchery. Once they have finished, they are returned back into the North Sea with a protective v-notch. 💙

🦞You may have noticed her claws are bound. This is to protect other lobsters (and our fingers!) for her short stay here. These will be removed before releasing her back out ☺️

⁉️Comment below if you want to see more weird and wonderful hatchery tasks✍️

🦞STAY CLAWSOME🦞

10/06/2026

🦞 WE’VE BEEN NOMINATED FOR A BBC RADIO TEES MAKE A DIFFERENCE AWARD 2026! 🦞

We are absolutely over the moon to share that the Whitby Lobster Hatchery has been nominated for a BBC Radio Tees Make a Difference Award — recognising individuals and groups who make life better for communities across Teesside, County Durham, and North Yorkshire.

We are so proud of what this team has built. From hatching and releasing juvenile lobsters along the North Yorkshire coast and into new offshore wind farm environments, to educating the next generation of marine conservationists — every part of this work is a team effort 💙

That team includes our brilliant staff, our incredible volunteers, and our wonderful placement students. But it also includes the fishing community, our partners, and every single person who has supported us. We genuinely could not do this without you 🙏🏻
Nearly 50,000 juvenile lobsters released to date — and there is so much more to come 🦞

Thank you to whoever nominated us. It means so much 💙

10/06/2026

⏰TIME TO NAME THAT HEN🦞

🧜‍♀️We asked you a while ago what our next category should be when naming our lobster Mums in the hatchery and you answered! We will be going going through the alphabet as normal but with the category of DISNEY CHARACTERS! 👑

🧚🏽We can’t believe we are on hen 27 of the season and we need your help naming her! Any Disney character beginning with the letter 🅰️ please! Leave your suggestions in the comments 🏰

🔔Get your creative ideas ready as Mrs B is already in the building…

🦞STAY CLAWSOME🦞

08/06/2026

🌊 Meet two very special guests this World Ocean Day! 🦀

🐣Today we welcomed a berried crab (egg-bearing female) in the hope of boosting the survival rate of her babies and releasing them back to the North Sea! Her thousands of eggs are a reminder of how incredible crustaceans are and how important it is to protect and conserve our seas.💙

🌺We are also very proud to introduce Molly, who has joined us all the way from the University of Hawai’i for a placement at the hatchery! Proof that the ocean brings people together from all over the globe with a passion for marine life. Keep your eyes peeled on our website for an update on Molly’s project soon! 👀🦞

🌊Happy World Ocean Day from the whole hatchery team!💙

🦞 Stay Clawsome! 🦞

03/06/2026

🎨Less than 2 months to go but still plenty of time to get your entry in! We have already had some incredible work submitted but we are looking for more! 🫟

🎨 Our Calendar Competition is BACK!

We're looking for artists, photographers, sculptors and creative minds of ALL ages to help us create our 2027 Whitby Lobster Hatchery Calendar!

Whether you want to capture the beauty of our lobsters, the magic of Whitby's coastline, or get really creative with a Halloween lobster or a Regatta-themed crab — we want to see it! 🦞🌊

Winners will receive WLH merchandise AND have their artwork featured in the 2027 calendar. Every calendar sold goes directly towards our juvenile lobster conservation work right here in Whitby.

✏️ Free to enter
📐 A4 landscape format
1️⃣ One entry per person
📅 Deadline: 31 July 2026

Submit your entry via the link below — good luck, we cannot WAIT to see what you create!

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc9lYtQ7mDKgYbW8BPoWyZ6lFfY0XGLWWrc-EjQswJWkY9ejQ/viewform?usp=dialog

26/05/2026

🦞 WE NEED YOUR HELP! 🦞

☀️ We're finally seeing some sun in Whitby, and you know what that means... MORE LOBSTERS! And these lobsters need a name. 📝

🌻 Our last 26 lobsters were named after flowers and plants, but we would like some suggestions on what the next naming theme should be. 🫧

✏️ Leave a comment with your best naming suggestions, and have your say in what we name our next 26 lobsters! The WLH team will choose our favourites when the next hen comes in!🦞

💙 STAY CLAWSOME 🩵

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