Northwest Dive Club

My buddy KIMO and me dove at T-Dock Wed. 8/22. KIMO was waiting while I took some pictures things. He looked and found a (non-cooked) big American Lobster claw about 7-8 inches. We checked around if any Lobster body (live or dead). No find. We took it out from water. I know about somebody found a live lobster at Redondo around 2008 and Jan found another at Possession Point Fingers in March.

Bob: Neat find. We found a live lobster at the old Edmonds oil dock a few years ago. Some Buddhists purchased live lobster from the local seafood store and turned them loose. My guess is that it is something similar. Jan Kocian posted some pictures of one off Whidbey.
-Curt

Yum! That would have been a good eatin size! Ay one time they tried to grow Main lobster in the northwest but it didn't work out. Looks like there might be some that survived. Then again There are allot of restaurants on the waterfront selling live lobsters so it could be an escapee.

I found a piece of its carapace on Monday night but was too distracted by other things to post about it.

My son found a claw there about a week ago on the beach. Wonder if someone "saved" some lobsters from a local market or something.

I know... the whole "Invasive Species" thing... but how awesome would it be...

Dusty2 wrote:Yum! That would have been a good eatin size! Ay one time they tried to grow Main lobster in the northwest but it didn't work out. Looks like there might be some that survived. Then again There are allot of restaurants on the waterfront selling live lobsters so it could be an escapee.

A lobster would be an awesome and tasty find. I would be more apprehensive about grabbing though than crabs. I think they are more agile like a big shrimp and those claws are no joke. Medical insurance needed for sure.

Yes, they are horrible creatures. If found, please contact me immediately and I will rid them for you!

this was just brought to my attention:



so head out to Mukilteo and get your free lobster dinner

Greg Jensen wrote:this was just brought to my attention:



so head out to Mukilteo and get your free lobster dinner

I am suddenly much more interested in diving the Muck!

It's too bad that Nutty McBonkers the misguided lady can't devote such considerable sums to something more productive.

When I took my first marine biology class - a lot of years ago - someone in the class asked about transplanting lobsters in Puget Sound. The instructor said he had been part of an aquaculture experiment in San Francisco Bay and that the lobsters could survive o.k., since New England waters are similarly cold. The problem came in their reproduction. The Gulf Stream pushes in close the the shore giving northeast waters a warm period. He said that the lobster used this warming period as a cue to reproduce. In a quick search online, I couldn't confirm this, but thought it interesting.
-Curt

It's probably a cue, but that's not the reason they can't reproduce here. For reasons that aren't entirely clear, the females need a period of very cold temperatures for successsful reproduction; without it their eggs don't properly attach to their pleopods. Back east water temperatures vary tremendously throughout the year- for example, in Delaware bay you get tropical fish showing up in the summer, yet it can freeze over in the winter. Around here water temps change very little year-round. So adult lobsters set loose here can do very well, but they don't reproduce successfully.

During the last century there were repeated attempts to introduce lobsters to British Columbia, with freight car loads of them dumped in at various times. Rumor has it on one occasion they were released without taking the pegs out of their claws, so that batch probably didn't fare too well.

When I was a young lad living on Bainbridge Island in the 1960's a good friends father had a grant from the US Gov. to plant lobster in Puget Sound. I was young so the details are scetchy but I remember his father spending years doing research and then they brought in several thousand Lobster and released them in 4 or 5 locations. what happened next was odd as about two weeks after releasing them they all vanished. They put out rewards to all the dive clubs and still no one found any of these lobster. I remember them looking for the entire year and nothing. A real mystery, that they never solved, now perhaps some of these survived and are wondering Puget Sound looking for mates? The guy's N ame was McCandless, and he was a Marine Biologist, I do not know what happened to him or his lobsters over the years, but this just could be your tax dollars at work!

My guess is some VERY happy GPO'S!!

Anybody who thinks this is a good idea needs to spend a few moments pondering what's happened in the Caribbean since some genius decided to introduce lionfish there.

Almost without exception, human introduction of non-native species has done more harm than good. Imagine if the imbalance wiped out some native species ... which is the usual result with invasive species.

Fortunately, in this case it appears that they won't reproduce here. I also have to wonder if water salinity has anything to do with it ... Puget Sound has a lot of rivers dumping into it, and isn't as salty as the oceans where these creatures normally live.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

I hate to re-open an old thread, but thought I might share this. H20doctor and I dove EUP on Sunday (4/21/2013) and found a lobster claw... We found it odd and I decided to seek out some information that I was clearly not finding on the internet and decided to call the Department of Fish & Wildlife and see what they knew and I left a message with their shellfish department.

SO I got a call back from Don at Department of Fish and Wildlife, who was very nice and was glad that I had called and made a report of our lobster findings, and this is what he said about the lobster: He said that they are coming to understand that there are ( http://www.conbio.org/images/content_po ... auto,0,800 ) religious practices of releasing captive wildlife. and the lobster are being released into our local waters. There are also people like that woman who bought live lobster and released them. They found a live one at Mukilteo and now have it on display at their lab. He said they cannot take here and seems to be an Atlantic waters thing so they cannot breed, BUT they still pose a threat since lobster can potentially live up to 100+yrs old and they seem to do well (other than reproducing) in our waters. He did say also, that if you find one, bag it up, and take it with you (.. with garlic and butta! yum ). No license or tagging is required but to report your finding to DFW.

Looking for more. This one tasted great....

Ok, so THAT is a religious service I want to attend! Folks can do whatever they do over the lobster, release them to fly free, then I do a follow up five to make sure everyone is OK!

Update report. My dive buddy KIMO and I captured alive lobster at T-Dock, Mukilteo today 11/04/13. It's about 20 inches. I reported to the DFW. I took it home

wonder if the lady is still setting them free from the grocery stores

H20doctor wrote:wonder if the lady is still setting them free from the grocery stores

DFW told me that They (DFW) caught a lady releasing lobster a little over a year ago.

I guess I know where I'm diving this weekend now.