But the Marine Conservation Society worries this and similar initiatives need to work alongside more ambitious government plans to help prevent Britain's lobster industry collapsing.

On the North Yorkshire coast, where lobster pots line the seafront, the Whitby Lobster Hatchery, run by Joe Redfern, is hoping to release the same number of lobsters landed each year back into the sea.

The former fisherman turned marine biologist hopes the plan will "build some resilience and sustainability" into Europe's third-biggest lobster port.

The hatchery, which is split into different rooms, is precision-engineered to help nurture and feed newly hatched lobsters.

The project involves harvesting female lobsters from the North Sea so they can hatch safely.

In the open sea, the survival rate for lobster larvae is one in 20,000, or 0.005%.

By allowing them to grow in a protected environment, Mr Redfern hopes to increase that to 20 or 30.

As they develop in their hatchery tanks, the larvae are separated into segmented trays when they reach the stage at which they are liable to eat each other.

After two to three months, now known as lobster juvenile, they are ready to be released back into the sea.

After Whitby's traditional catch of whitefish collapsed, the town turned to lobster fishing, but a mass die-off of crustaceans impacted their numbers in 2021, before a more recent boom cycle that Mr Redfern and his team want to help sustain.

"We've seen the big boom in the amount of pots in the water and the amount of pots and potting effort from the fishing fleet and indeed the amount of lobster being landed," he said.

"A 400% increase in the last 15 years, so it's very much on a boom cycle and we're trying to make sure it comes crashing down on the other side."

'Not the only solution'

Mr Redfern admits however, that as one hatchery, the difference they can make to the bigger picture is limited without more support.

"We've never sought out to be the one and only solution," he said.

"There's lots of research and lots of questions that we'd like to have answers for. So, there's a lot of support we can get in terms of research. Also, we believe that hatcheries will work best with a network of hatcheries around the coastlines, around the country, to have the most impact."

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The government is hoping to address the wider question of lobster stock management - with the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) publishing a fisheries management plan for crab and lobsters earlier this year, followed by a consultation that closed this month.

However, the Marine Conservation Society warned that the plan does not go far enough meaning schemes like the hatchery in Whitby will simply be sticking plasters.

Recipe for success?

Speaking to Sky News, Dr Kenneth Bodles, the head of fisheries and aquaculture for the Marine Conservation Society, said the lobster fishing industry in the UK at the moment "is not in great shape," saying it will take more support from the government to make a difference.

"At the minute we think the management isn't ambitious enough to help the stock," said Dr Bodles.

"If you can get that recovered stock with good management and good data in place, add the hatchery on top of it, then you've got a recipe for success."

"We think the plans need more data and more management measures that are ambitious and pragmatic," he added.

Dr Bodles says this needs to be a data-driven plan informed by an understanding of how many lobsters are in the sea and how many are being fished, as well as assessing whether there are too many lobster pots and lobster fishing boats and managing this.

"We know that lobsters as a species are prone to collapse, and once they have collapsed it's hard to recover, so we want to see these plans go further," said Dr Bodles.

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A Defra spokesperson said: "We are working closely with industry on this issue and are grateful to those who came to our recent event in Whitby to discuss important issues on crab and lobster fisheries management.

"We are considering all the points raised during our public consultation and will be providing an update later this year.

"We are supporting a thriving fishing industry outside the EU through fisheries management plans which draws on the expertise of our fishermen to ensure fish stocks are healthy and sustainable.

"The draft Crab and Lobster Fisheries Management Plan sets out measures to improve the sustainability of lobster stocks in English waters."