An environmental activist with links to Guernsey has landed herself in hot water after trying to save a lobster from that same fate.
Emma Smart – who is married to Guernseyman Andrew Smith – recently took a live lobster from a tank at a restaurant in Dorset and put it in the sea.
Staff from the Catch restaurant in Weymouth say they tried to stop her, but she was successful in her bid to release the lobster.
The Dorset Echo, the Sun, and the Times have all reported on the case – with each saying that the fate of the lobster is unknown.
The incident happened in April last year, but Smart has only recently appeared at Bournemouth Crown Court to admit one count of causing criminal damage to a lobster.
Smart was described in court as a marine biologist who “cares very deeply about animals”, the Dorset Echo reported.
However, the lobster in question belonged to the restaurant’s owner and was not for sale to customers.
Anthony Cooper had owned the lobster for two-and-a-half years and is reported to have used it “for ‘educational’ purposes when children visited” his restaurant.
The Sun reported that Judge Susan Evans told Smart: “The lobster was not there for consumption. It was there for educational purposes. You were determined to take it from the tank and you placed it in the harbour. It was a deeply misguided thing to have done.
“It was not a good thing for the lobster at all, and whether or not it survived, we don’t know.”
Judge Evans gave Smart a conditional discharge lasting for eight months – meaning she must not break the law again in that time, or she could be resentenced.
The judge also imposed a three-year restraining order, banning Smart from going within 10 metres of the restaurant or approaching staff or guests.
This is not the first time that Smart has fallen foul of the law while campaigning.
In 2021, she was jailed for four months for breaching an injunction banning activists from protesting on highways. Her husband launched a fundraising campaign whilst she was imprisoned.
Mr Attenborough was dining at the Catch restaurant – the same place where Smart freed the lobster last year – when she approached him.
Smart and her husband, Mr Smith, were both linked with campaign group Animal Rebellion at the time, and raised concerns about rising sea levels in statements shared on the organisation’s website.
Smart and Mr Smith have also been involved in the work of Insulate Britain, which is allied to the international movement Extinction Rebellion, and other campaign groups and movements.
Mr Smith has also been arrested for his activism, including when he infiltrated the headquarters of Shell to speak with its staff about issues regarding the climate crisis.
He previously told Express that Guernsey needs to do more to address its own impact on climate change.
Mr Smith is an artist who launched the Centrefold Gallery, the Readerswives’ Collective, and other creative initiatives while he lived in Guernsey.
He worked as an arts development officer for the States of Guernsey before he left the island to travel the world with his wife.
