We have developed a low-cost, low-maintenance, field-based nursery caging system for rearing cultured lobsters, Homarus gammarus (L). Individuals (780 and ranging in CL from 5.2 to 7.2 mm) were reared in pre-fouled and unfouled containers (360 cm3) fabricated from an extruded plastic netting (3.2 mm aperture) and in pre-fouled plastic petri dishes (200 cm3) that were deployed in five near-bottom cages for 10 months (September 2000 to June 2001) at two subtidal sites located in a shallow, relatively exposed embayment on the west coast of Ireland. Animals apparently were able to survive and grow by suspension feeding on the plankton and/or foraging on the fouling community that settled on and within individual containers. Mean recovery rate (±95% CI) was independent of a priori fouling treatments, but was site-specific (42.1±7.9% and 27.8±13.7%; n=5). These rates are minimal estimates of survival because we found that at least 20% of the animals were capable of escaping from the mesh containers. Mean recovery in petri dishes that prohibited emigration was 53.3±37.02% at one site and 75.0±23.1% (n=5) at the other. These recovery rates compare favorably with survival rates of fed conspecifics held in the laboratory over the same time (54/81=66.7%). At the end of the experiment, animals in field cages had mean CLs that were significantly smaller than the fed controls. Because of costs incurred with maintaining small lobsters under laboratory conditions, results of this short-term, manipulative field experiment indicate that field-based nurseries represent an economically viable, third option for managers of lobster stock enhancement programs. 相似文献