Sophie’s internship experience

I had the most amazing time on my internship with the Firth of Forth Lobster Hatchery in the month of July 2023 as a hatchery technician. I have just graduated with a degree in Marine Biology, and this experience has given me vital career-starting knowledge of the aquaculture industry. Being a hatchery technician involved several tasks to do daily as well as certain tasks being done a few times a week all of which I took great interest in. I had never done work in the aquaculture field before and was very excited to be given the opportunity to learn.

Daily tasks included feeding larvae and juvenile lobsters twice a day, ensuring the feed cycle was on for at least half an hour and turned off again. I also collected, acclimatised, and counted the larvae that had hatched from the night before which changed daily from between 600 to 4000. I also identified and collected stage 4 juveniles from incubators and placed them in aqua cubes. To clean the hen unit, I used a siphon and bucket to empty out some of the water and collecting any dropped eggs. Cleaning the filters in the collecting tubs in the hen room and the larvae tanks in the hatchery filters was also done as well as cleaning the protein extractor. I maintained the recirculating aquaculture system by topping up water levels and sump tanks at the right tide times and testing the water for ammonia and nitrites daily.  

The lobster hatchery also had a shop by the beach huts at the harbour as well as an education centre. The shop really taught me to engage with customers and have social interactions as well as talking about the lobster hatchery. Handling lobsters was something I had never experienced before this internship and within a few days was very capable of checking hens’ eggs and v-notching them and releasing them back into the sea. I gained extensive knowledge on certain aquaculture equipment that I had never handled before such as pumps and how they worked and so much more.

Outside of work, I had the most amazing time exploring North Berwick and surrounding areas. Working by the sea daily gave me the opportunity to swim daily and embrace coastal life. This one-month internship taught me so much and really opened my eyes and expanded my interests to aquaculture for my future.