GB
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ARRRRGGGGI just got home after buying myself the ultimate treat - a lobster - and after boiling lots and lots of water I got it out of the bag to find its underside covered in EGGS  Are fishermen allowed to catch females and are fish mongers allowed to sell same to the buying public 
Arrrrggg, guilt guilt guilt  its bad enough killing one, but thousands? 
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blowin
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I share your sentiments - both about the eggs and lobster being the ultimate treat  but I have been unable to find the answer on google . Sorry !
The small potting boats around here seem to observe a season but I don't know if that is due to regulation or the weather . I will ask but suspect that I will have to be careful how I phrase the question !
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GB
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The season has to d with water temp. as the lobsters are only in reach when the water is warm (ish) but back home any crabs in egg are thrown back so I naturally assumed the same was done for lobsters so to get one like that was a nasty shock. In fact if I had access to a boat I prob. would have tried to get her back to the ocean (where she would have promptly died of shock) but instead I just ate her - mmmmmmm good - but I will make the fishmonger upend any I manage to buy in future to be sure they are eggless.
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blowin
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Slightly off topic but it seems worth mentioning that there is a lobster conservation programme in place . I don't know much about it except that specimens which have been caught and released will have had a "V" shaped notch cut out of their tail as a means of identification . The sale , and I think even the possession , of these creatures is definitely illegal .
I guess it is too late to ask whether yours carried such a mark  .
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GB
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she apeared to be notchless, but tasty
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bref
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Didnt see this before so sorry for the lateness of the reply.
It is illegal to land/sell a berried lobster also a v- notched lobster or a lobster with a tail damaged enough that it may conceal/get rid of a v-notch
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GB
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so what do you do when you find one? she was the second I have gotten in 7 years in two different fish shops but from now on I will have the seller tip them up so I can check but what is the procedure from there when one is found?
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bref
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Well depends on how 'proper' you want to be, you could just refuse to buy it seeing as you would be at fault too if you did. Other than that you could report it to the department of the marine or maybe the central fisheries board.
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GB
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I had planned to have a look at any I buy in future and not buy any in egg but if I get anymore at the last place I got one I might have a word with the relivant atorities as once is accedent but twice is design
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bref
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Hey Gb, I have just searched and searched the Dept of Marine site for mention of berried lobster and damned if I could find anything. I was full sure I saw mention of restrictions on berried and V notched lobsters but all I could find was V notch. Dont do anything drastic!! (apologies for going off half cocked)
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GB
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Having had the day from hell today and releiving my frustrations by smashing a cat carrier to a bazillion peices with a mop I fully understand going off half cocked 
I think I will just decline from buying any that I find. Although it is catigoricly against the law where I am from to sell a blue crab carrying eggs so I would expect the same thing for all shellfish
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blowin
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| bref wrote: | | ... searched the Dept of Marine site for mention of berried lobster and damned if I could find anything. I was full sure I saw mention of restrictions on berried .... |
So did I and so was I , respectively . In the absence of anything about berried I thought I might find specific rules about open/closed seasons since they seem to apply to most other things of perceived value eg salmonoids and Sea Bass but again nothing to be found -- not even common custom like only eating shellfish when there is an "r" in the month .
So that is yet another mystery 
Do tell us more about the cat carrier and the mop !
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GB
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a bucket tried valiantly to intervien so it has a hole in it too
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