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| Basil, Tom & Alana with the Lobsters |
Releasing lobsters is a surprisingly slippery process. They
squirm, wiggle, and slide from the grasp of the hand. But before the lobsters
can be released onto
TRACC’s House Reef, the lobsters must make it to Pom Pom
Island – wrapped in newspaper, placed on ice, and snuggled into a cooler.
When the body temperature of a lobster drops the metabolism
and heart rate slows, allowing lobsters to survive for 2-3 hours in a significantly
cooled state and induces a kind of hibernation, which reduces the stress caused
by transportation. When they arrive on Pom Pom we unload the cooler from the
boat and wade into the shallows to unwrap the newspaper parcels of lobsters.
They emerge from they cold in an unexpectedly alert state and flail in our
grasp, legs and antennae gesticulating rapidly. As quickly as possible we place
them in the wicker baskets to be taken deeper. Yet, the
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| Lark & Tom Prepped to Release |
especially fidgety ones
escape from our grasp and Tom must mission to retrieve them from the shallows.
Next, we don our scuba gear and form buddy pairs to bring
the basket’s full of lobsters to what we hope will be their new home, carefully
we place the baskets on the ocean floor near our newly crafted and placed artificial
reef of a “lobster house” and tires. Lobster baskets safely placed we wait and
watch. The lobsters test their new environment, peeking over the edge and
testing the water with their antennae before clambering out of their baskets to
explore the crevices of the tires and lobster houses as their new home.
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| Lobster Basket |
Over the next few days the lobsters disperse across the
reef, sometimes spotted by eager
TRACC divers. And sometimes, to entice the
lobsters to make a permanent home, Tom goes back down to lay little sausages
down by the tires and houses.
TRACC hopes that by releasing the lobsters into our house reef,
we not only add biodiversity and beauty to the reef, but also balance our
ecosystem. In addition to hunting for urchins and clams, the lobsters scavenge
and feast on detritus. Playing as essential role in cleaning the reef and
keeping it disease free.
Reef conservation would not be possible without generous financial support from
GEF /SGP for Malaysia who are helping our community activities and coralreefcare.com who generously provided materials to build the new reefs.
If visits to TRACC are not possible then please help with financial support and follow their projects on Facebook.
