NOOFIE'S RESCUE: MAY 7TH, 2010
BY: RJ OF CONNECTICUT
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I just completed an RRR (the Rescue, Rehabilitation and Release of lobsters)that was 6 months in the making. I don't usually take photos, but did so in this case, as this particular specimen became very special to me.

I found a large 8lb American lobster in a small grocery store display tank back in November of 2009. It was on the very bottom of a heap of smaller lobsters and appeared to be stressed to the max, and dieing (if not dead already). I got a good deal on the price per pound, as it'd been in the tank for several weeks, unpurchased because of the old belief that "big lobsters are tough to chew". Lucky for him I suppose.

The big male lobster was immediately placed in one of my large salt-water environmental tanks at home. His claws, legs, and pleopods hung listlessy as I quickly transferred him. I've never been able to revive a lobster that was this far gone, but was determined to try. I gave this specimen a 150% rehabilitation effort, using every trick known to me .

He responded well to heavy oxygenation, and started eating within a week. Within a month he was moving around the tank bottom, and began "burrowing" into the substrate, a favorite pastime of lobsters.

His claw bands indicated that he was from Newfoundland, and I gave him the name of; "Noofie". It was now late December and too cold for inshore boat release so Noofie hunkered in with us for the winter. As the tank water temps dipped to a chilly 38'ish degrees, he went into what appeared to be a hybernatic slowdown. Ie: He slept alot! I've attached a photo of Noofie "sleeping". Note the green ceramic army soldier in the foreground (photo to the right). Lobsters quickly get bored in captivity and will destroy the filtration units, aeration hoses, etc, unless you give them something to play with. He loved marching that army-man around the tank bottom. He eventually crushed it into green powder.

By Jan. 2010, he was fully rehabilitated, and full of vigor. I reached in the tank to remove his claw bands, and he kicked up a storm of dust with his big tail. As I was trying to remove the last band, the water was very cloudy, and I felt a very light touch around my left wrist. I looked to see his massive crusher claw, fully encircling my wrist up to the claw hinge joint! He was capable of, and certainly could have, crushed and severed my left hand completely off with no effort at all. Instead, Noofie allowed me to slowly pull my hand out, and away from the water. A miracle! This has never happened to me in 50 years of handling lobsters. He looked at me from the tank bottom, with his big pincher claw gaping wide, and raised above his head. He said to me, in no uncertain terms; "Now, we are even. Don't touch me ever again or I won't be so kind" I thanked him, and heeded his warning. I cautioned my family (who often fed him) to be extremely careful around Noofie. His pincher claw was LIGHTNING QUICK! Faster than the eye could see. It made a metalic sounding SNICK! when it snapped shut. Amazing,, I've never seen a lobster with this type of claw response.

This once fragile dieing creature was no longer a toothless heel-hound. He was a fully charged, un-banded, highly dangerous, wild animal. This is how it should be, my job was almost done.

We made meticulous plans the days before his repatriation (release) in May 2010. I wanted this particular release to be "by the book". I wanted this lobster to have the absolute best chances of survival after his release.

Noofie was given a "Last Supper" with humans, a large fresh quahog clam, his favorite. You don't want to feed them immediately before the release process as the post-digestion period makes them somewhat lethargic, almost mildly stressed.

We watched him devour the entire clam, and when he was done, he did something odd. Something that he never did after eating. He turned to face us through the tank glass, cocked his body around, and raised his big pincher claw up, as high as he could reach? It was as if he was giving us a last "salute" of thanks? (photo below).



Of course, he often used the tank salinity meter as a punching bag which also may have been the reason for this little display. We prefer to believe that it was his way of saying "Good bye humans".

A large 100-qt marine cooler was filled with fresh filtered sea-water. Blocks of frozen ocean-water were placed in the cooler to lower the water temp to 40~45 deg f, the optimal best temp for Homarus americanus. And, most importantly, the water was hyper-oxygenated overnight, with an aeration bubbler. This is the absolute best environmental conditions for transport of an American lobster. (see photos to right)

The next morning, I lifted Noofie into the transport cooler, the first time he'd been moved by human hand in 6 months. His big antennae whipped back and forth trying to size-up his new surroundings. A battery-powered portable aeration bubbler unit was placed in the aft section near his tail. He'd have had enough oxygen for the 2hr trip out to sea, but I wanted all facets of his survival to be maximized. Noofie was too big to easily turn around in the 100-qt cooler, or he'd have snipped the air hose instantly if it was near his fore-quarters.

The transport cooler was secured in the front of my boat. I use large plastic bags crimped under the cooler lid to reduce some of the "slosh" movement when motoring out to the drop point in rough water. This decreases another point of "stress" in the release process.

I chose a release point that is treacherous to boat traffic and SCUBA divers. Noofie is far too big to be threatened by nearshore fish, or other lobsters, the largest of which in this area is only 1/3 his size at best. His crusher claw alone will not fit into the entry ring of any standard inshore lobster trap, recreational or commercial fisheries of this entire region. He will be the apex predator, and unchallenged ruler of his new domain and by all odds and logical assessment, this 35 year old lobster will die of old age, many, many years from now, due to natural causes.

At sea, the lid popped open and Noofie saw the sun for the first time in nearly a year. He was scared at first, understandably. If you look at the photo attached you'll note his claws pinched shut, tail curled under, and both antennae pinned back over his shoulders? All classic signs of fear and uncertainty in a lobster.

I gently, carefully lifted him out of the cooler. My wife took a quick photo, a bittersweet moment for me.

He was slowly lowered into the sea. I carefully held his tail so it wouldn't "dry-clap" and injur himself, and prayed that his 2 deadly claws wouldn't leave me with a hospitalization parting-gift. ha!

Slowly, surely, he stood on my supporting gloved hands. His antennae whipped up to touch my arms, one last time, and he stepped off me, into the sea. I expected him to merely drop into the sea like a dead weight. But, instead, he fell away a few inches, and started snapping his massive tail, and literally flew away like a small torpedo, down, and out of sight into the deep green ocean. He's back home now.



I'm sure he hit the sea-floor with his feet running. Later that night we celebrated this, our best RRR ever with a glass of wine. My wife commented; "God help the unwarry SCUBA diver, or striped bass that swims past Noofie".

All my best,

RJ