Utah restaurant workers spot federally-protected egg-bearing lobster, work quickly to save her

LAYTON — Staff members at Red Lobster are being praised for their sustainable efforts after noticing something out of the ordinary. 

On Tuesday, Supervisor Dean Adams noticed one crustacean in the new shipment the restaurant received looked odd. Based on it’s posture in the restaurant’s tank, he thought it may have died. 

“They curl their tail in and then the lobster goes up and the claws are just in the water, like above the water,” Adams said. 

He and a manager plucked it out of the water to inspect it. 

“We went to open the shell to see what was going on, and some of the eggs fell into the tank,” Adams said. “That’s when we realized it was a female.” 

An egg-bearing female was mistakenly sent to the restaurant. 

“I was surprised because we’re not supposed to get any females,” Adams said. 

He and his co-worker contacted Nikki Smith, the restaurant’s general manager. Smith, who’s worked for the company for 25 years, said she’s never seen or heard of a situation quite like this, but she faintly remembered a policy and protocol.  

“I had in my mind like, ‘Hey, we’re supposed to send it back, we’re supposed to get it back to the ocean if she has eggs on the outside of her tail,’” she said.

Lobster going back to ocean 

Smith called some people from corporate. She heard back from Ready Seafood, which supplies Maine lobsters to Red Lobster. 

“He thought it was really cool…my manager and Dean had actually seen the eggs expunged, like actively going from inside to outside,” Smith said. “They said, ‘We’ll pick it up tomorrow, we’ll have her back by Thursday and in the ocean by Friday.’” 

Team members worked delicately to separate the female lobster from the rest and save as many eggs as possible. 

“We got some wet cardboard, some ice packs, packed her up, put some paper towels on top of her to keep her cool, and FedEx came and picked her up and took her back,” Smith said. 

Smith received a video from a lobsterman with Ready Seafood showing the lobster being released back into the waters of Maine. 

“Whirlwind trip for her. Maine to Utah to Maine in four days,” Smith said. 

Protected for life

The lobster got a V-notch to mark that she’s a breeder. The conservation technique protects her for life. 

Thousands of her eggs went back into the water with her. The lobsterman known as Captain Curt showed her being released into a “safe spot” in deep waters in the video. 

“I’m sure not all 10,000 lobsters make it, but even if just a few do, it’s a great way to take part in being sustainable,” Smith said. 

Back in the water, this lobster can continue the reproduction cycle. 

“I’m very proud of my team for having the instinct to say, ‘Hey, let’s do something about this,’” Smith said. 

Instead of ignoring it, they took action. 

“I think she must have known that they would take care of her. So, they really were good about making sure she was taken care of, checking in on her,” Smith said. “It was like she’d become just a part of the family.” 

It became a lesson in conservation over the dining table. 

“They did a good job and it was awesome to see her get back to Maine,” Smith said. 

Now that the female lobster has a notch in her tail, she’s illegal to keep, even when she releases her eggs.