NEW BEDFORD, Mass. (AP) — Environmental authorities in Massachusetts are donating lobsters seized from an illegal harvest to homeless veterans.

Massachusetts Environmental Police say they found the lobsters during an inspection of an offshore trawler in New Bedford on Sunday. Police say they determined the vessel had exceeded the legal limit of 500 for lobsters caught outside state waters. Police say the crustaceans were caught on Georges Bank.

They weren’t returned to the ocean because returning lobsters to different water conditions is potentially fatal. Instead, they were donated to the Veterans Transition House in New Bedford.

The Veterans Transition House serves homeless and at-risk veterans and their families in southeastern Massachusetts.