A TEAM of scuba divers from Bude will be releasing hundreds of baby lobsters into the sea as part of a major marine conservation project.

The members of the Bude Branch of the British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC) will be depositing the lobsters on the seabed near a 17th century shipwreck off the coast near Plymouth.

The dive is being done on behalf of a local hatchery which is donating the baby lobsters and masterminding the environmental conservation programme.

Their experience and skills have been enlisted by Mark Pearce, a fellow BSAC diver and Visits Licensee of the Coronation shipwreck, a British gun ship which sunk off Penlee Point, Plymouth in 1691.

Mark came across a leaflet for the National Lobster Hatchery in Padstow and approached the charity to offer the area in and around the wreck as a perfect place to nurture the baby lobsters.

As Visits Licensee for the wreck, he monitors and controls who is allowed to dive on the wreck and two years ago, The Coronation Wreck Project decided a 'no take zone' would be enforced on the area meaning no sea life can be brought to the surface without permission.

For the full report, and a round up of the area news and sport, please pick up this week's edition of the 'Post'.