Native & Canadian
Lobsters
We are one of the largest lobster suppliers in the UK, with both indoor and outdoor lobster tanks we can look after over 4 tonnes of lobsters at any one time. Our state-of-the-art algae filtration plant means that our lobsters have plenty of fresh clean seawater to swim in until they are packed to order.
Live Lobsters
We only supply live lobsters to restaurants who understand the need to humanely dispatch the lobsters prior to cooking and to wholesalers with the same philosophy.
Cooked Lobsters
Lobsters can be cooked to your specification; blanched, part cooked or fully cooked. We cook to order and the lobsters are always dispatched humanely with a Crustastun before cooking.
Dressed Lobsters
We offer ready to eat dressed lobsters for when you have large events or are short of space. Alternatively the lobsters can be part cooked and dressed, ready to be finished off by the chef.
Lobster Meat
For when your recipe calls for just the lobster meat, our hand picked frozen lobster meat is a quick and easy solution. Picked from cull lobsters you receive the meat from the tail, claws and knuckles.
MSC Certified Lobsters
Our Canadian lobsters are always MSC certified ensuring the lobsters are from a truly sustainable fishery. At present only the Canadian lobster fishing grounds are MSC certified.
The Canadian lobster industry has the most strictly enforced rules all focused on sustainability, to ensure that the lobster stocks not only survive but thrive. This is why we have always imported lobsters from Canada as the finest seafood isn’t just delicious but it has to be sustainable too.
Native & Canadian Lobster
Native Lobster
Our native lobsters come from the East Coast; from Essex all the way up to Northumberland. We buy direct from the Fishermen and Lobster Co-Operatives to ensure the price and freshest catch. We buy the whole catch and grade the lobsters once they are at the Fishery.
We only buy native lobsters landed in England as this ensures that only lobsters without eggs/berries are landed. Landing lobsters with berries is harmful to the future of the native lobster and we do everything we can to make sure that the seafood you serve is as sustainable as possible.
Native lobsters are most abundant during the summer months and the larger catches keep prices lower. During the winter, catches are much smaller and we recommend switching to Canadian lobsters, which are in plentiful supply in the colder months.
Canadian Lobster
The Canadian lobster ground is split into 41 different regions, each of which has a strict opening and closing date. The vast majority are closed during the summer months to allow the lobsters to breed.
The industry has long since banned the landing of berried lobsters and if one is caught in the traps, its tail is notched prior to being put back into the water to keep breeding. If a lobster with a notch in the tail is caught it is put back in the water as it’s known to be a breeding female.
Canadian lobsters are available in the summer months as before the grounds close, part of each catch of lobsters are put into large storage facilities, where they are kept until needed. As the number of stored lobsters reduces, the price increases until the main lobster grounds open up again in the autumn.
Our Lobster Tanks
Our lobsters are stored in fresh, filtered, chilled seawater in large covered bespoke tanks. The seawater originally comes from our river, collected in a pond that gets filled with each high tide. It is then pumped into a holding reservoir where the sediment settles before entering the water purification system.
A series of filters, UV treatment and protein skimmers ensure the lobsters are kept in the best possible conditions. We also have an algae filtration plant that removes nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon from the water. We pump air into the water to make sure oxygen levels are kept at the optimum level for the lobsters.
This not only keeps the lobsters healthy, it means that the lobsters you receive have been well looked after and are in the best possible condition.
To open an account
01206 384141
Colchester Oyster Fishery
Nestled on the edge of Pyefleet Creek, the Colchester Oyster Fishery has been supplying the finest seafood since 1966. However, our oyster beds have been in use since Roman times, when Colchester was the capital of Britain.
01206 384141
Pyefleet Quay, East Road, East Mersea, Colchester, Essex. CO5 8UN