Island Queen®
Frozen at Sea Whole Spiny Lobster
Commercial Bahamian lobster fishermen, who have been specially selected and trained by Tropic Seafood, Ltd., Quality Assurance staff, produce “ Whole-Green (raw) Frozen Lobster, Packed at Sea”.
Once the trap-caught wild lobsters are harvested, they are immediately graded, bagged and boxed, then placed in 10 kilo boxes. The boxes are place into a blast freezer (temperatures down to -20 °F) to obtain an immediate hard-freeze. This helps to ensure the highest quality product possible.
After blast overnight blast freezing, the whole green frozen lobster cases are stored in a storage freezer (usually 5-15 days) until the vessel arrives in port to unload.
Upon landing, all product is inspected and tested for compliance with quality, weight, packaging, labeling and microbiological specifications before being received by Tropic Seafood, Ltd (TSL). Cases are stored at TSL until sold and shipped by ocean freight to their destinations.
Island Queen®
Live Whole Spiny Lobster
Wild caught spiny lobsters are harvested by Bahamian commercial fishermen from traps. The lobsters are transported in “live wells” onboard their vessels until they reach port. Lobsters are then transported via boat and/or truck to Tropic Seafood, Ltd. (TSL), where they are placed in “live lobster holding tanks”.
Live lobsters are sold both locally and exported to Asia or Europe, to satisfy a growing “live market”. Lobsters are carefully harvested from TSL live tanks and placed in chill tanks in order to slow down their metabolism. After they reach a state of hibernation, they are graded and dry packed in specially modified insulated boxes, using a non-toxic wood fiber media from the Aspen tree, in order to survive long transit times (up to 48 hours in duration) from Nassau to Asia. Boxes will hold either 15 or 18 kilos depending which box is used. Lobster survival over 95% is required to cover these special handing materials and associated transportation costs.
