An island community has found a clever way to hold on to its lobsters till the lucrative Christmas market, writes Lorna Siggins, Marine Correspondent
Christmas is coming and the lobsters are getting fat . . . for there's been little talk of goose this month among the Aran community of Inis Oírr.
In a unique venture with Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology, island fishermen have been counting on the success of a new lobster storage unit which currently holds one tonne of shellfish ready for the seasonal export market.
France is a target market high on the agenda given fresh lobster is very popular there as the dish rather than turkey or ham for Christmas Day dinner.
"Mighty" is how Inis Oírr co-op manager Paddy Crowe describes a custom-built holding system, even as nails have been bitten to the quick out on the island over the past few weeks. Some five shellfish boats signed up to participate in the venture - whereby they would store all lobsters caught, rather than sell them on fresh.
To do this, the participants put their faith in a €40,000 stacking unit owned by Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology's (GMIT) Shelltec marine shell-fisheries research centre. The unit, which has been adapted by GMIT staff from a Canadian system, provides a clean and stable "marine" environment which is chilled to maintain animal health.
Shellfish subject to volatile market prices have often been kept in open ponds or holding cages at sea waiting for prices to firm. However, GMIT's system aims to increase survival rates over longer periods, taking some of the uncertainty out of the business. So, a number of the lobsters held out in Inis Oírr were caught as far back as May of this year, and have been surviving in water temperatures of about 4 degrees.
Dr Martin Robinson, principal investigator and project manager at Shelltec, explains that the metabolism of lobsters is so low that they don't require food when kept in a chilled environment. "We recirculate seawater, and there's very little [ lobster] waste to deal with," he says. "The system strips out solids and biological waste, as otherwise there would be a build-up of ammonia."
Resembling an oversize chest of drawers, the unit is about 6 metres long, 3 metres wide and 2.5 metres tall. It holds 5,000 litres of clean, chilled seawater flowing at a rate up to 120 litres per minute, and can take 250kg of lobsters in each of its trays. "Lobsters can drop to €10 a kilo in low season, whereas the price can reach €45 before Christmas - with France and Spain being big markets. The beauty of this is that it gives fishermen more control over their catch, and they are not totally at the mercy of the middleman or buyer," Dr Robinson says.
A seafood company in Wexford has a 20-tonne version of the system, but GMIT's project with Inis Oírr is the first community venture of its type. It was developed with support from Bord Iascaigh Mhara and Enterprise Ireland under an Applied Research Enhancement (ARE) partnership.
"GMIT is very enthusiastic and excited about the regional development potential of this project," explains Dr Robinson, who was head-hunted by the Galway college from Trinity College, Dublin.
"Fishing is a vital source of production, revenue and employment in most coastal communities. New approaches to development are required to meet the challenges of current changes in the structure of coastal societies, the Irish economy and our natural environment," he says.
The unit is on loan to Inis Oírr's co-op, and GMIT staff who provided training to Paddy Crowe and the island fishermen have been in constant contact. Over the past few days, markets and weather have been scrutinised closely, and this first batch of lobsters may soon be en route to their final holiday season destination.