I would be mostly worried by the reports of the behaviour of the cocklers rather than the harvest if what Sid says is true.

Rubbish, anti-social behaviour and carbon footprints worry me and I just wonder who polices this and pays for the clean up operation???

If these people show this little regard for the area and its wildlife then just what does that say about their attitude to the wider aspects of their effects on food availibility,roosting areas,fishery sustainability etc etc!?!

Thanks for the info on cockle biology Sid. I have nothing against small scale harvesting. As you say, there are historical and cultural precedents. It's the ramped up size of the operation which shocked me, a modern day industrial effort surely?!

Henry I too saw the Deeestuary report over the weekend. I must say that folk have been cockling on those Wirral beaches for years and years, in fact when I was a young lad we used to do it ourselves not in the numbers we see today of course but always lots of folk taking part. We used to light a camp fire on the dunes and boil a few up before taking bags home. Only the large mature cockles were worth eating. There must be millions and millions of cockles out there and you only have to walk on those beaches when the tide is out to see the number of discarded shells - so I wonder if we are being slightly alarmist as to the long term effect on the wild life/bird population.

I understand that birds only eat cockles when they have small shells and are young. Mature cockles being filter feeders, consume the tiny cockle plankton if they land anywhere near them thus eventually reducing the number of small cockles available to the birds in an undisturbed bed. So by taking the mature cockles the beds are perhaps better for the birds year on year with a range of ages in the cockle life cycle of 5 to 7 years.

Just a thought.

I was alerted to the reopening of commercial cockling off Leasowe today by the deeestuary website run by Richard Smith. Not a handful of cocklers, which was my initial impression on hearing the news, but 250+ present (and 450 permits issued in total). This is a disgrace in my opinion, totally unsustainable for the cockles, nevermind the wildlife that feed on them, which are being heavily disturbed at present it seems. This area is some of the most heavily protected in Britain by conservation designations yet it seems to stand for nothing in the eyes of the fishery. Check this video out to get a sense of scale of the operation!!! - http://www.flickr.com/photos/dewmuw/5199138659/ (copy and paste into your browser to view) There are links on the deeestuary.co.uk website with how to voice your opinion to those who matter on the issue. Please spend a minute to write and help to reverse the fishery's decision if you agree that this rampant scale of cockling cannot continue. Thanks. Henry.