The National Lobster Hatchery at Padstow on the north Cornwall coast in England has been awarded a £150,000 grant from the EU funded organisation, Supporting Sustainable Coastal Fisheries, reports Bryan Gibson.

The heavily purpose-restricted funds are intended to provide four new jobs, beginning in October 2012, and lasting for two years.

The hatchery has not only become a popular Padstow tourist attraction, but also an important centre for scientists to study lobsters at their larval and juvenile stages.

The centre also intends to develop a new exhibit to demonstrate the work marine biologists are doing regarding the sustainability and nutritional aspects, which surround commercially caught lobsters.