Marine Discovery Centre Whitby - AKA The Lobster Hatchery

Our visit to Whitby coincided with grey skies and pretty much constant heavy drizzle, so after parking the car our first stop was the local Tourist Information Centre to ask what was recommended for bad weather. The local Captain Cook Museum as apparently closed and so instead they suggested the Marine Discovery Centre, which locally is known as the Lobster Hatchery. It is also Whitby’s only aquarium.

A visitor leaflet for the Marine Discovery Centre Whitby. At the top of the leaflet it says Whitby's Only Aquarium and their website URL is at the bottom with a statement saying "book online at:"

Lobsters and Whitby

Whilst I’d say I was familiar with lobsters I have to admit that I don’t know very much about them. What I certainly wasn’t aware of was that Yorkshire Lobsters are the most sought after and expensive in the world! An average of 100,000 lobsters are landed each year by Whitby vessels and the town is the third largest lobster fishery in Europe, behind nearby Scarborough and Bridlington. Yorkshire is basically the lobster capital of Europe. And a mighty fine county for a million and one other reasons too!

The plight of lobsters in the wild

In the wild only 1 in 20,000 lobsters make it from egg to juvenile. That is not a very high success rate. The Marine Discovery Centre Whitby is able to boost that up to 50% in their lobster hatchery. They take eggs from female lobsters and keep them in the hatchery through the larvae stage into them being juveniles, until they are big enough to be released into wild populations. They aim to release 100,000 every year. That’s the same number that are landed by local Whitby vessels.

A blue looking lobster inside a large tank.

What’s at the Marine Discovery Centre, Whitby

I’m not going to lie, the Marine Discovery Centre, Whitby is a small place. Literally one room. There are a total of five tanks with starfish, hermit crabs, anemones and of course lobsters. At fist glance you can be a bit underwhelmed by what there is to see there, but once you read and understand about the work that the Whitby Lobster Hatchery (a marine conservation charity) does then you suddenly look at this place in a whole different light.

Small trapeze shaped cells in a white tray with holes in the bottom to allow water to rise up through them. In most of the cells is a juvenile lobster. You an clearly see their claws and they simply look like miniature versions of adult lobsters.

The tiny juvenile lobsters are utterly fascinating. It’s mesmerising to see them so small and so close, and wonderful to think about what they are doing there to rejuvenate the lobster population. I’ve been to aquariums around the world who are doing various bits of marine conservation work, but never before have I been anywhere focuses just on lobsters.

We went as a family with children varying in age from 5 to 13 and all really enjoyed it, as did the adults.

Visiting the Marine Discovery Centre and Lobster Hatchery

The Whitby Marine Discovery Centre is located on Pier Road on Whitby, almost opposite the famous Magpie Cafe. It’s about a ten minute walk from the train station in the town, and near there are numerous large council car parks.

It is normally open Thursday – Sunday, 10am to 5.30pm, but they do say that they open different hours in the school holidays. Their website actually says they are open to 6pm so if you’re planning a visit it may be wise to contact them first to confirm times.

At the time of writing admission prices are as follows: Adults £5, Children £4, Family £15 (2 adults & 2 children or 1 adult and 3 children), Concessions £4. You can book in advance via their website, but you don’t have to. We bought tickets when we arrived.

Upon arrival there’s just a terminal on the wall that you can purchase tickets from, and then you simply scan a code on your ticket to open the gate to get in. There were a couple of staff around to answer questions, but it’s quite a hands off place to visit.

There’s a small gift shop with some lovely bits produced from recycled products and all sold to support the work of the Whitby Lobster Hatchery. My husband picked up a cord for his reading glasses (were really showing our age now!) that was made from recycled fishing nets.

A five year old girl in a yellow coat sat at a small white table colouring in a picture of a fish.

There was also a table with some colouring for young children and my daughter really enjoyed sitting there colouring in some pictures whilst we continued to look at the tanks and information boards around her.

Whilst we were there I noticed a fellow visitor who was a wheelchair user. The centre is all on one level and appears to have been designed with accessibility in mind.

Marine Discovery Centre Whitby – what we thought

A small, but perfectly formed little aquarium that is supporting and education people on the excellent work being undertaken by conservationists and marine biologists in the lobster hatchery. Perfect to visit with the whole family and a wonderful way to learn more about local marine life.

Looking for somewhere to eat nearby?

If you’re looking for food nearby then I highly recommend the Magpie Cafe across the road from the Marine Discovery Centre. Excellent food and great service in a family friendly cafe. Don’t let the queue put you off. It’s there because the food is excellent and staff are great at getting it moving as fast as they can.