The Courier-Gazette

FRIENDSHIP — Diane F. Cowan, president and founder of The Lobster Conservancy and a marine policy fellow at Woods Hole Oceanographic lnstitution, will discuss the private lives of lobsters in the 'Lobster Life Cycle: From Egg to Plate" 7 p.m. Tuesday at Hahn Community Center. 31 Main St.

Cowan will address such topics as how long it takes for a lobster to reach legal size, where lobsters spend their juvenile years and the crustaceans' sex lives.

The Lobster Conservancy is a nonprofit corporation dedicated to protecting and preserving the American lobster and the traditional trap fishery it supports through scientific research and public education.

Cowan has studied lobsters since 1983. Her dissertation research focused on the chemical signals involved in lobster courtship and mating behavior. She recently discovered a previously unrecognized nursery habitat for baby lobsters. Her research efforts have grown to include community volunteers in the Intertidal Lobster Monitoring Program.

The Lobster Conservancy has more than 50 active volunteers in Maine and New Hampshire and has recently acquired a new research facility on Friendship Long Island, where Cowan lives and works. The overall goal of the organization's research is to understand critical events in the life cycle of American lobster, from egg to plate.

For information, call 832-8224 or visit the group's Web site: www.lobsters.org.