In a world of bewildering uncertainty and breakneck change, where a pack of butter now costs about the same as a small family saloon in the 1950s, there is at last some good news to cheer the soul. It concerns the lobster, that culinarily appealing crustacean which has sustained us nutritionally since the Stone Age – albeit in recent times mainly for the wealthier sort. Suddenly, the lobster has got the wind in its sails.
It’s thanks in no small part to Britain’s rather quixotic, headlong dash to become, seemingly, the only net-zero country in the world, and the enormous wind turbines that have been springing up off our shores to help this take place. Because – would you believe it? – it turns out these turbines make absolutely ideal artificial habitats for lobsters, as well as quite a few other sea creatures too.
Already there are the best part of 3,000 wind turbines in UK waters, but thanks to the Labour government’s commitment to quadruple the capacity of offshore wind by 2030 (no one better mention a certain former PM’s boasts about turning Britain into the ‘Saudi Arabia of wind power’), there are many, many more on their way. Which all means we could be contemplating a future of increased abundance of the lobster, who just can’t get enough of them.
So while ‘lobster for all’ wasn’t a commitment that found its way into Labour’s 2024 election manifesto – it doesn’t sound like a vote winner in the Red Wall, after all – it might be that raising their population could be among the first tangible achievements of Keir Starmer’s administration.
As well as providing a feeding and breeding ground for tens or presumably hundreds of thousands of delicious European lobsters, the artificial reefs created by each of these wind turbines is a boon for molluscs and fish – whether it’s cod, that Friday lunch staple, or herring, the biological progenitor of the kipper, a food worth getting out of bed for. In other words, while it’s a case of net zero for energy, it’s net positive for seafood. And we should celebrate this – and embrace it in our kitchens.
In November, energy firm RWE announced it had partnered with the Whitby Lobster Hatchery (just imagine their staff canteen) to release 5,000 juvenile lobsters at one of RWE’s wind farms 20 miles off the Lincolnshire coast. If all goes well, the plan is to release another 10,000 lobsters over the next two years. ‘Lobsters are a crucial link in the food chain and help regulate the populations of smaller organisms, such as crabs and sea urchins,’ RWE said in a press statement. ‘Lobster increase is good news for the local fishing industry. As the numbers increase within the wind farm site, they will spread out and repopulate themselves on a wider scale.’
And when you consider that that same Whitby hatchery (located, incidentally, just 30 miles north of Bridlington Bay, which describes itself as ‘the lobster capital of Europe’ because it lands 300 tons of them there each year) aims to release 100,000 juvenile lobsters a year, it gets you thinking. With all these hundreds of turbines going up, even with Chinese-super trawlers hungrily scraping up every last living thing from the non-territorial waters of the North Sea, there is hope for marine life lurking beneath those slowly turning blades on the wind farms. Since trawlers can’t go near them, they are in effect accidental marine reserves, where life and lobsters can flourish.
Will your autonomous car halt outside the McDonald’s drive-thru of tomorrow where the lobster burger will have superseded the Big Mac?
Could we, therefore, be on the verge of the greatest renaissance in lobster numbers since their spiny ancestors survived the asteroid collision that obliterated three-quarters of life on Earth 66 million years ago? Wouldn’t it be grand?
As it stands, if you take a glance at the Marine Conservation Society’s Good Fish Guide website you’ll see there’s a mixed picture for lobster stocks around UK waters, with some in better health than others. But with the rapid growth in offshore wind farms the odds are tipped in favour of seeing more of these wonderful creatures – rubber bands stretched around their claws – in our fishmongers’ windows and on our supermarket fish counters. And you never know: assuming the stocks are managed properly, perhaps the lobster might even become a routine staple of the British diet.
As well as the prized lobster thermidor (essentially lobster cooked in white wine and then reassembled for serving), we could follow the example of Chesapeake Bay or New England and stick our lobster in a roll with mayonnaise — basically making it a burger. If you’ve had it, you’ll know it’s delicious and removes the fussy, rather skeletal side of lobster-eating which is either your idea of a culinary dream or nightmare — you know, all a bit Alien meets 19th-century dentistry. Over on the other side of the pond, they also serve lobster with macaroni and cheese or even on a pizza. Well, why not?
The overlooked truth is our native homarus gammarus and its bigger-clawed homarus americanus cousin are highly versatile sources of protein – and healthy too, since they’re packed with omega-3 fatty acids and much lower in saturated fat than meats such as beef.
So that prompts a question about the future. What will happen in a decade or two, when beef and land-derived protein is simply too expensive, or deemed too environmentally inefficient because we have finally covered every acre of decent farmland with five-bedroomed houses with double garages and committed what’s left to rewilding, bat tunnels and beaver playgrounds?
Will the wind turbine-carpeted seas be the food farms of the future, teeming with crustaceans? Will your autonomous car halt outside the McDonald’s drive-thru of tomorrow where the lobster burger will have superseded the Big Mac? Might there be a kipper version of Filet-O-Fish? Perhaps even Greggs will have a marine steak bake and Birds Eye will have muscled in on the act, too, with a battered lobster fillet? After all, only the best is good enough for the captain’s table.
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