1.1 At the Joint Committee meeting on 14^th March it was resolved to open an area of undersized mussels on Foulney Twist for hand-gathering as seed mussels. The mussels were unstable, sitting on a layer of mussel-mud, and were being severely eroded. The area is shown on the map at Annex A.

1.2 An Appropriate Assessment for this seed mussel fishery was agreed with Natural England. The conservation concerns that had to be addressed were the access route and the possible effect on eider ducks. Foulney Island is a sensitive area, particularly so in the early summer when ground-nesting terns breed on the stony ground. An access route was agreed that would avoid the tern breeding colony, and also avoid damage to the vegetated shingle around the high-tide mark. Conditions of the authorisations were that all mussels had to be removed by boat (although the gatherers were permitted to travel from the Coast Road to the bed using ATVs) and no weekend or night-time fishing was permitted. Eider ducks have had poor breeding success recently in the Walney Channel area, and although there are several possible reasons for this, food limitation has been suggested as a possible factor, advice from Natural England was that these should be included in the assessment.

1.3 The area was opened to seed mussel gathering on 14^th April, with authorisations issued under Byelaw 15 and expiring on 31st May 2008. At the same time, the southern part of Foulney Twist was closed to mussel fishing (see Annex A). This area had been fished, but the majority of the mussels were below the Committee’s 45mm minimum landing size. A request had been received from the North Morecambe Bay Fishermen’s Association to close these mussels on the grounds of size and poor meat yields. The closure also preserved this stock as potential eider food whilst the seed mussel fishery was ongoing. This closure expires on 31^st July 2008.

1.4 The fishery began satisfactorily, but during the week beginning 28^th April the area Fishery Officer found that some of the gatherers were fishing outside of the authorised area. Despite being warned, fishing continued outside of the area over the next 2 days. The infringements did not threaten the mussel stock, as a substantial ‘buffer zone’ had been left between the eroding seed mussels and areas of undersized mussels that should grow to commercial size. Nevertheless this was a clear and unacceptable breach of the authorisation conditions. In consequence, all of the seed mussel authorisations were suspended from midnight on Friday, 2^nd May.

1.5 An inspection of the area was carried out on Wednesday, 7^th May. It was found that there was still a substantial quantity of fishable seed mussels, and that these were still in a vulnerable state, being on soft mud and only loosely attached to each other. A discussion took place with main buyer, and it was agreed that the fishery could resume, but only if there was total compliance with authorisation conditions, and that the industry would take a larger part in ensuring this by refusing to take mussels from anyone in breach of the conditions. After this, the fishery has proceeded without any problems.

2.1 The site visit to Foulney Island on 7^th May was preceded by a helicopter flight over Morecambe Bay on the previous day. Observations over both days showed that there had been a considerable, recent spatfall, particularly in the Foulney Twist area.

2.2 Two large areas of intertidal ground on Foulney Twist have received an extremely heavy spatfall of mussels, around 5mm shell length at the time. Most of these are lower down the tideline than the area currently being fished for seed. The progress of this spatfall will be monitored to see whether it is likely to support a fishery for mature mussels, or whether a seed fishery is justified.

2.3 It is disappointing to report that the areas where vessel dredging for seed mussels takes place, the South America skear and the offshore banks, were barren. South America skear was observed to be covered in sand last September, and this is still the case, with the majority of the skear ground covered in substantial sand waves. Whilst these remain, there will be no mussel spatfall on the area. This is a concern, as the area is capable of producing several thousand tonnes of seed mussels. The offshore areas, which supported the extensive seed fishery in 2006/7, appear devoid of mussels, although there are still abundant starfish surviving in the area.

3.1 At the March 2008 Joint Committee meeting it was reported that Heysham Flat Skear had received a most unusual autumn spatfall of mussels in 2007, and that the industry were interested in harvesting this as seed. This area was visited several times over the winter period, and on each occasion there were large numbers of oystercatchers present, apparently feeding on the small mussels. Throughout this period the majority of the mussels remained embedded in the sediment, with very few in a fishable condition.

3.2 It was expected that the survivors of this spatfall would begin to grow in the spring of 2008, and might come into fishable condition. However, a visit to the bed in early May showed that a heavy spatfall had occurred over a wide area of the bed. If this follows the same pattern as in recent years, it is anticipated that an extensive hand-gathering fishery for seed mussels should be possible in late summer of 2008. The progress of this spatfall will be closely monitored.