Fishery Officers display a few of the seized nets. But in order for that fishery to happen in a sustainable way, poaching patrols had to be mounted around the clock by the Officers in the months before, after and during the gathering, to keep the illegal practices at bay. As a result, Carmarthen Magistrates court saw unprecedented numbers of prosecutions; probably more than all the combined fisheries actions taken in the rest of Wales and England. Also at record levels were the fines which reached the maximum of £5000 for the first time. Speaking after a recent Committee Shellfish Sub-group meeting, its Chair, Mr N O’Sullivan said, “the management of intertidal cockle fisheries provide substantial challenges to a small organisation. I commend our staff at all levels for the combined effort which achieved so much in exceptionally difficult circumstances. “Full cover could be provided across all areas of shore and sea at all times, but this would come at significant extra cost to Local Authorities who fund the Committee. We would also need the new powers from the Marine Bill, promised by Fisheries Minister Ben Bradshaw. We have called for new powers to control vehicles on the foreshore to hold the buyers to account, to make it an offence to possess and carry cockles and to be able to close fisheries in accordance with National and European legislation”. |
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2005 was a busy year for the Officers of South Wales Sea Fisheries Committee. The cockle fishery in Carmarthen Bay’s Three Rivers Estuary yielded over 9000 tonnes of cockle, valued at over £5m first sale, in just 37 days fishing spread over 4 months.