In January 2011 Shellfish Hatchery Systems Ltd installed a three-cylinder Aquahive® at the National Lobster Hatchery, Padstow.

The National Lobster Hatchery is situated in the picturesque seaside town of Padstow in the South West of Britain. The hatchery was established in 2004 and is very much at the leading edge of lobster research as well as running a successful restocking programme around the Cornish coast and the Scilly Isles.

The National Lobster Hatchery also has an attractive and informative visitor centre, which is open to the public. During the early part of the year some redesign work was carried out in the hatchery and the public area to improve the public's view of the hatchery area. As part of this work one of the conventional tray systems used to raise lobsters was removed and the three -cylinder Aquahive® was installed. The tray system that the Aquahive® replaced had a capacity to hold 400 juvenile lobsters. The Aquahive® on the same footprint as the tray holds 12,000 juveniles. The Aquahives® were installed in the hatchery over two days and connected to the main filtration system, although the base-tank of the Aquahives® contain some bio-filtration.

This Aquahive® was designed specifically for the National Lobster Hatchery and differs from a standard six-cylinder Aquahive®. We would like to thank Dom Boothroyd, Carly Daniels and Charlie Ellis for their help and hospitality.

Update:

At the end of the 2011 production season the National Lobster Hatchery was proud to announce that the number of lobsters produced in 2011 had increased threefold on previous years, thanks to the installation of the Aquahives®!