Shirley Rockett, owner of Rockett’s Lobsters at the Lingan Wharf, said the 1.5-pound white lobster — named Stan after her neighbour Stan Eksal, 77, who caught it — will soon have a new home as part of Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada being built at the base of the CN Tower.
Ripley’s Entertainment Inc. is well known for its Ripley’s Believe It or Not! odditoriums.
“They are also taking a green lobster we have named Elaine after Stan’s late wife,” said Rockett.
She said it all began with a recent message she discovered on her telephone from Jim Eddington, senior marine biologist at the Aquatron at Dalhousie University in Halifax.
“He said he was a marine biologist. I thought someone was playing a joke until I saw Dalhousie on the phone.”
Rockett had planned to keep the lobsters alive and release them at the end of the season. She said the biologist told her the lobsters would live a great life at the Toronto aquarium.
“He told me the lobsters will be well taken care of and would live a long life there, way longer than you’d expect them to in the ocean,” she said.
“There will be a plaque on the aquarium stating where the lobsters came from and who caught them.”
Rockett said although she planned to tag the white lobster, that wouldn’t have guaranteed it would be released if it was caught again.
“You could let it go and put a tag on him but that’s not to say another fisherman isn’t going to rip that tag out of him.”
Rockett said the biologist is coming for the lobsters Friday.
“We told him we want to go see the lobsters sometime, maybe next year. He told me he’d arrange for me to go behind the scenes. I’ll be anxious to see in a few years how much the lobster grew.”
Rockett said she will be taking a picture of the lobsters for the wall at her lobster pound.
Eddington said the lobster will be kept in a holding tank at the university until preparations have been finalized in Toronto.
“We have a large tank — a holding facility being used by Ripley’s — to hold the animals they’ve asked us to collect.”
Eddington’s wife Janice MacDonald is a native of East Bay. He lived in Cape Breton for three years, graduating from Sydney Academy in 1985. He said Ripley’s Entertainment Inc. owned by Jimmy Pattison is building an aquarium at the base of the CN Tower.
Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada is slated to open in September. The aquarium is 12,500 square metres with more than 5.7 million litres of water and will include 13,500 marine and freshwater habitats from around the world.
Eddington is also looking after other lobsters for Ripley’s, including two blue lobsters donated by local fishermen on the mainland as well as three large ones ranging from 17-23 pounds.
According to National Geographic, a white lobster is one in 100 million. They also say lobster can live upwards of 50 years.
Shirley Rockett, owner of Rockett’s Lobsters at the Lingan Wharf, said the 1.5-pound white lobster — named Stan after her neighbour Stan Eksal, 77, who caught it — will soon have a new home as part of Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada being built at the base of the CN Tower.
Ripley’s Entertainment Inc. is well known for its Ripley’s Believe It or Not! odditoriums.
“They are also taking a green lobster we have named Elaine after Stan’s late wife,” said Rockett.
She said it all began with a recent message she discovered on her telephone from Jim Eddington, senior marine biologist at the Aquatron at Dalhousie University in Halifax.
“He said he was a marine biologist. I thought someone was playing a joke until I saw Dalhousie on the phone.”
Rockett had planned to keep the lobsters alive and release them at the end of the season. She said the biologist told her the lobsters would live a great life at the Toronto aquarium.
“He told me the lobsters will be well taken care of and would live a long life there, way longer than you’d expect them to in the ocean,” she said.
“There will be a plaque on the aquarium stating where the lobsters came from and who caught them.”
Rockett said although she planned to tag the white lobster, that wouldn’t have guaranteed it would be released if it was caught again.
“You could let it go and put a tag on him but that’s not to say another fisherman isn’t going to rip that tag out of him.”
Rockett said the biologist is coming for the lobsters Friday.
“We told him we want to go see the lobsters sometime, maybe next year. He told me he’d arrange for me to go behind the scenes. I’ll be anxious to see in a few years how much the lobster grew.”
Rockett said she will be taking a picture of the lobsters for the wall at her lobster pound.
Eddington said the lobster will be kept in a holding tank at the university until preparations have been finalized in Toronto.
“We have a large tank — a holding facility being used by Ripley’s — to hold the animals they’ve asked us to collect.”
Eddington’s wife Janice MacDonald is a native of East Bay. He lived in Cape Breton for three years, graduating from Sydney Academy in 1985. He said Ripley’s Entertainment Inc. owned by Jimmy Pattison is building an aquarium at the base of the CN Tower.
Ripley’s Aquarium of Canada is slated to open in September. The aquarium is 12,500 square metres with more than 5.7 million litres of water and will include 13,500 marine and freshwater habitats from around the world.
Eddington is also looking after other lobsters for Ripley’s, including two blue lobsters donated by local fishermen on the mainland as well as three large ones ranging from 17-23 pounds.
According to National Geographic, a white lobster is one in 100 million. They also say lobster can live upwards of 50 years.
