Well-travelled New Brunswick lobster caught off Cape Cod, Mass.

One adventurous New Brunswick lobster decided to take a vacation this summer and ended up traveling all the way south to Massachusetts, surprising researchers with its journey.

Heather Koopman, a senior research scientist at the Grand Manan Whale and Seabird Research Station, was amazed by the lobster’s trek. She has been working at the station for over 30 years and is currently involved in a project to track the movement of female lobsters by tagging them.

The tagged lobsters carry a note asking anyone who catches them to report their location to Koopman. While most reports come from around Grand Manan, she also receives updates from areas like Campobello, Deer Island, southwest Nova Scotia, and the Maine coast. And now, Cape Cod can be added to the list of reported locations.

Since the project began in 2019, approximately 6,600 lobsters have been tagged, with Koopman receiving reports on about 23% of them. However, one report stood out recently when she received a text message from a Massachusetts area code with GPS coordinates of where a lobster had been caught off Cape Cod.

The lobster was caught by fisherman Mike O’Brien, approximately 220 nautical miles from Grand Manan. This distance is a remarkable feat for a lobster to travel, especially considering they don’t move in straight lines. The lobster was found just over 250 days after being tagged off Grand Manan.

While it’s unclear why this particular lobster embarked on such a journey, female lobsters are known to move according to the season and are sensitive to water temperatures. Laboratory experiments have shown that they can detect temperature changes as slight as 0.1 degree Celsius, indicating that temperature likely played a role in the lobster’s journey.

Koopman expressed her excitement about the lobster’s travels and the interest it has sparked in the local lobster fishing industry. Some fishermen on Grand Manan have even started helping with tagging lobsters, eager to learn more about where these creatures come from.

Overall, Koopman finds it inspiring to see people engaged with the research and data that come from tracking lobsters’ movements. The lobster’s journey serves as a reminder of the mysteries of the ocean and the importance of understanding marine life for conservation efforts.