Californian Freediver Catches Giant Lobster

Forrest Galante, 26 was free-diving close to Anacapa Island off the Californian coast when he found the huge crustacean that weighed close to 12 pounds.

A Pacific Spiny lobster of this size would have been common decades ago but overfishing has meant that they now rarely exceed three pounds in weight.

Forrest, who caught the lobster on October 6, 2014, said: “I’ve been doing this for ten years and I’ve never seen a lobster as big as Albert Girther – which is his name.

“I mean any lobster that can bear hug a man must be pretty huge and he had no problem with that.

“Originally I thought he was the world’s biggest lobster but I was just excited – I’m pretty sure he is the biggest lobster caught off the west coast this year though.

“They normally only manage to grow to around three pounds because of intensive fishing so it’s really rare to find one this old and big.

“I won an award from my free diving club last year for bringing in a 9.4 pound lobster, so Albert has definitely surpassed that.”

After debating whether or not to eat the animal, Forrest decided to take Albert home to his family in Santa Barbara, California, and make a decision.

“I’ve got to say it was very tempting to take him home and eat him – he had pounds and pounds of delicious meat but he was clearly a good breeder, so my family and I decided that we had to put him back into the water so he could have more children," added Forrest.

“We took him to the Ty Warner Sea Centre where he was put in a tank and gorged on food but we were not going to leave him in captivity.

“We put him back into the water in a marine reserve off the coast of California which does not allow fishing, so he can live out the rest of his days in peace.”