Conservation, research and education charity the National Lobster Hatchery (NLH), based in Padstow, has been crowned the winner of the Stewardship and Sustainability Award at the inaugural 2018 Scottish Marine Aquaculture Awards.

Aquaculture involves the cultivating of fish, crustaceans or molluscs under controlled conditions. 

Organisers said the 2018 Scottish Marine Aquaculture Awards “celebrated the achievements of a sector that is vitally important to the national economy as well as coastal communities that are economically fragile”.

The Stewardship and Sustainability Award recognised an initiative that had contributed significantly to the sustainability of an organisation, and considered predator management and wild stock interactions; collaborative resource management with other marine businesses; and engagement with local stakeholders. 

The NLH won for its pioneering Lobster Grower 2 project, a three-year collaborative research programme that aims to investigate the potential of rearing juvenile European lobsters to even larger sizes in sea-based container culture systems at St Austell Bay.