A SCUBA diver from Milton Abbot has led efforts to release hundreds of baby lobsters into the sea as part of a major marine conservation project.

Mark Pearce, 40, is a member of the British Sub-Aqua Club (BSAC) and Visits Licensee of the Coronation ship wreck, a British gun ship which sunk off Penlee Point, Plymouth in 1691.

He enlisted the help of fellow divers from the Bude branch of the BSAC at the launch last weekend to ensure the little creatures made it to their new, wild home.

The team took around 800 lobsters, 18 metres below the surface, to the site of the 17th century shipwreck.

The little lobsters were taken down to the seabed in special trays which keep them in separate chambers to prevent the naturally cannibalistic creatures from eating one another in transit.

Mark Pearce organised the dive on behalf of the National Lobster Hatchery in Padstow which is masterminding the environmental conservation programme.

Speaking after the release, Mark, a butcher by trade, said: 'I am relieved to say it was a very successful release and the weather was kind to us so I really do think we have given them the best possible start in life.

'It was very interesting to watch how some of them would be off, quick as a flash, burrowing down and making a new home, others hung around on your glove for a bit longer.

'I suspect they were in shock about being out in the big wide world but instinct soon took over and they were away.'