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Shellfish
Cockles Cockles are hand-gathered using a jumbo (a long plank with a tall handle which is rocked from side to side on the sand and brings the cockles to the surface) and rake, and then riddled to leave the small cockles behind on the bed. The cockles are collected in net bags and transported directly from the bed to processors in both the UK and Europe. Morecambe Bay has seen unprecedented numbers of cockles and cockle fishermen over the last couple of years and the management of the fishery has had to change radically in response. NWNWSFC have introduced a permit scheme for several areas and plans are in progress to extend this for the whole of the District. Mussels Mussels are also gathered by hand within the District. There are large natural mussel skears in parts of Morecambe Bay and off the Welsh coast. However the largest mussel fishery in the District, and indeed in the UK, is the cultivated fishery in the Menai Strait in North Wales. Mussel growth benefits greatly from careful husbandry. The optimum conditions for mussel growth vary throughout their lifecycle. Mussels are filter feeders, so those located high up on the shoreline with little time underwater do not grow as quickly as those further down the shoreline. However, mussels that are submerged for most of the time have very thin shells and are more susceptible to predation. The most productive mussel fisheries are those which are carefully managed in a similar manner to an agricultural farm, with mussels being moved around as they grow. The largest mussel fishery in our area can be found in the Menai Strait. At either end of the Strait the Committee there are large mussel cultivation areas. These are located within ‘Fishery Orders’ which establish legal protection for the mussels and enable their cultivation on the sea bed. Small "seed" mussels are brought to the Strait from eroding mussel beds elsewhere in the District, and laid on the seabed by specialist dredgers. The Strait provides superb growing conditions, and is the UK’s biggest mussel producing area: in 2003-04 it produced over 15,000 tonnes of mussels. These mussels are all exported to Europe. The Conwy Mussel Fishery is a smaller Several Order Fishery managed by a group of 20 fishermen who collect the mussels in a more traditional way with long handled rakes from open boats. This fishery produces approximately 300 tonnes of mussels each year, exclusively for the home market .Lobsters, Brown/Edible Crabs and Velvet Crabs Potting vessels operate from a variety of locations all around the Welsh part of the NWNWSFC District, and also from the Barrow/Walney Island area. Although a few hardened operators fish all year round, the main season begins in spring around April after the prawn season has finished, and peters out slowly between autumn and winter. Whelks The whelk fishery has become quite important in the last 5 years and is most productive around Holyhead and North Wales. Most of the whelks are exported to Korea, where they are a delicacy. Prawns Prawns are caught with lightweight polypots that are weighted to move lightly just over the seabed. There is a short autumn season just after the lobster and crab fishery begins to slow down, and another longer and more productive season in spring between March and April. The prawn fishery is another relatively young industry with little background research.
Finfish Relatively few trawling boats operate in the NWNWSFC District and much of the fishing concerned with inshore waters is carried out by angling boats. Bass Skate and Ray
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Cockling
Cockle riddling
"Still Ostrea" LR111 mussel dredging in the Menai Straits
Conwy mussel boats c.1913
Lobsters
Whelks
Bass in gill net |
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