A different kind of storm cleanup took place Monday in Petit-Rocher in northern New Brunswick — beachcombers were busily picking up lobsters beached by the huge waves on the weekend.

People crowded the beach as soon as the storm calmed down, and many braved massive waves to pick up buckets of lobster.

Mayor Pierre Godin was among the hundreds of people who came out to collect the crustaceans, picking them out from among the seaweed, shells and ice floes on the beach.

"It was around 300 people from there to there," Godin said. "All the time, until midnight, it was full of people here, flashlights and everything. Marvellous. Very marvellous and we thank the God."

About once a year, a big storm will bring lobsters to the beach, Godin said.

Crustaceans get disoriented

"Because it's a storm of the sea, and it's snowing, and big waves and the lobster is getting very upset and disoriented and because of that the lobster doesn't know where he is going. But I know," Godin said.

While he admits fishermen might not like it, Godin said local residents love the chance to collect the seafood.

Fernand Aubé, dressed in raingear and rubber boots and carrying a plastic bucket, scoured the beach.

"I was on the beach at four o'clock yesterday [Sunday] morning, until four o'clock yesterday afternoon. If I hear there's a storm coming, I don't sleep," he said.

Aubé said he had gathered about 45 kilograms of lobster, which he planned to cook and freeze.

The federal Department of Fisheries and Oceans said it's illegal to take lobsters without a licence, and warned that eating them could be a health risk.