Utility Workers Dine on Lobster Trapped at Plant

NEWINGTON, N.H. — As many as 200 lobsters a day are being sucked into a power plant’s cooling system. Many are crushed by equipment and many more are wolfed down by employees.

Authorities have been investigating since an officer with the state Fish and Game Department seized 28 live lobsters from a worker.

Joseph Couture, who officials said had 508 lobsters stashed away, described lobster-gathering at the plant as widespread.

He was charged with illegal possession of short lobsters, taking lobsters by illegal means and without a license and possessing an egg-bearing female lobster. If convicted, he faces up to a year in jail and a $30,000 fine.