An offer with claws: £4.99 for Lidl lobster

LIDL has begun a Christmas price war by luring middle-class shoppers with £4.99 lobsters caught using fishing methods that do not harm the environment.

It is the first supermarket to offer lobsters certified as “sustainably sourced” by an official fishing authority.

The discount store will hope the environmental credentials attract families who might ordinarily choose to buy Christmas food from Waitrose, Sainsbury’s or M&S.

Expanding Lidl has sold whole frozen lobsters for around half the price they retail at the larger supermarkets since 2008.

As well as gaining accreditation from the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), the body that monitors fishing practices, Lidl has cut the price from £5.99. Lobster costs around £10 at most shops.

The lobsters come from New Brunswick in Canada, where the fishery is managed to protect healthy stocks with a season of just two months to make sure numbers are buoyant and the crustaceans are in the best possible condition.

Fishermen based in villages along the shoreline fish in small boats around 35ft long, using baited traps which are fitted with escape panels to reduce the number of undersized lobsters that are caught in them and to help other species escape.

The panels are biodegradable to reduce the chance of “ghost fishing” by traps that are lost.

The fishery also bans the landing of undersized lobsters and females with eggs to ensure they are returned to the sea to breed, the MSC certification assessment found.

Lobster freezes well and the New Brunswick lobsters are cooked and frozen locally before being shipped to the UK for sale at Lidl.

Tony Middleton, programme director of the north-east Atlantic for the MSC, said: “Lidl have worked closely with the MSC over the past year to build up their range of MSC-certified fish and shellfish.

“It’s a real commitment to demonstrably sustainable sourcing that is providing a benefit to their customers.”