Why is it illegal to fish for breeding lobsters and what is Cornwall doing to protect their stocks

• Watch Charlotte Gay's report

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It's often the finest dish on the menu but Cornwall fishing authorities say they are cracking down on fishing companies who illegally catch berried lobsters.

A female lobster with eggs, known as a berried hen in the fishing trade, will carry between 20-30 thousand eggs but only a couple will survive in the wild to a size that's legal to catch.

In England, anyone who pulls up a lobster carrying eggs is legally obligated to immediately return it to the sea. Many fishers mark lobsters in the breeding season by cutting out a V-shape in their tail which lasts about two to three years.

In 2023, two fishing companies in Cornwall have been prosecuted for catching berried lobsters and were ordered to pay a combined total of more than £50,000.

The National Lobster Hatchery in Padstow is one of the few places you can legally land berried lobsters and raise them for the first three months of their lives.

Nicola O'Donnell, the Chief Operating Officer says this is because they are "such a vulnerable species" who are often eaten as juveniles by other sea creatures.

"It would take about seven to eight years for a lobster to actually reach the landing size, which is why it is such a vulnerable species. It takes so long to grow."

The marine scientists nurture the eggs through every stage of the growing process until their big enough to be returned to the sea which increases their survival rates by 1000%.

Rob Wing is the chair of the hatchery and has worked in the fish sales industry for 40 years. He says "lobsters are under pressure in spite of the great works we're doing" as "some members of the fishing community [are] flagrantly disregarding conservation measures."

However, the majority of attitudes towards sustainable fishing have started to change as fishermen on the whole have become "much more conservation-minded".

"If we don't look to tomorrow? It's absolutely no good to be short-term. We have to take a much longer view. Otherwise, all the work that the fishermen have done and the industry will just collapse it. It cannot happen."

Padstow fisherman Johnny Murt specialises in crab and lobster fishing, he says it's really important to have a sustainable future and anyone who does not follow these rules harms the industry as a whole.

"If you're going to cheat the system, there's only you it's going to benefit."

"If you returned it in a few months, it's fair game to catch because that female lobster's not carrying her eggs so you're allowed to keep it. If they all go back in, everybody will probably benefit."

The lobster industry is worth millions for Cornwall. With Cornwall Inshore fisheries estimating £5.7 million worth of Cornish caught lobster and crab were sold directly from fishing crews last year.

Fish merchants like Wing of St Mawes it's a huge part of their business. Deputy Manager Jack Clifford-Wing says:

"It's really important to us and we want to increase the sales, get Cornish fish to be accessible as possible to everyone in the UK. But it's also important that we have an effective and realistic stock management process. The cost to the fish for the future. It's not just about fishing for today. It's about fishing for tomorrow."

Cornwall Inshore fisheries enforce the rules and though they cannot set the punishment they have been training magistrates to "raise the profile of fisheries offences".

Sam Davis, Chief Officer of Cornwall IFCA, says: "We've done some training with local magistrates to explain some of the detail, just to get across the importance of, you know, what might be very specific to, to our area. Whereas inland these with these offences wouldn't be something magistrates would come across."