John Hughes Honored

John Hughes, former longtime director of the Vineyard’s lobster hatchery, will be honored by the state Division of Marine Fishers on Friday, March 23.

Mr. Hughes will be presented with the Belding Award, given to those who go above and beyond the call of duty to promote the conservation and sustainable use of the commonwealth’s marine resources.

The award will be presented to Mr. Hughes at 1:30 p.m. at the Martha’s Vineyard Commission office in Oak Bluffs. The occasion also marks Mr. Hughes’s 90th birthday.

Mr. Hughes, a well-known and respected authority on lobsters, ran the state hatchery on Lagoon Pond in Oak Bluffs for 36 years, from 1948 until 1984. Now closed, the hatchery was in its time nationally known for its research on lobsters.

Last year Cape and Island legislators announced their intention to partner with the Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group to transform the languishing site into a shellfish hatchery.