The Editor
What a load of Crooked Cockles
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Written by Green Arrow
I did not know this fact until I read the following part of a statement made by a council spokesman from Flyde Council, in reference to the Lancashire's Ribble estuary cockle beds.
"Every citizen under Magna Carta has the right to gather eight pounds of cockles from the foreshore, but any more than that and it becomes commercial fishing which requires a permit."
Now cockles, which are mainly exported to Europe, sell for around £1,200 a tonne but can prove even more expensive than that and some of you will remember the 23 Chinese who drowned back in February 2004 whilst picking cockles for their gang masters.
Now the value of the cockle bed that is situated two miles offshore from Lytham is estimated to be valued at around £8 million worth of the shellfish and the beds are harvested between September and April or earlier if the bed is picked clean.
It is possible by all accounts for local fishermen to earn anything up to a £1,000 per day and so it is not surprising that the area has seen an influx of cockle pickers from all parts of the country and from even as far a field as Russia.
And this is where the story takes a nasty twist and in my opinion shows collusion by the establishment to put money in the pockets of big business, whilst depriving local fishermen who - fish with permits - of their livelihood and simultaneously depriving the British People of their right to pick their 8lbs worth of cockles for personal consumption.
Concerned with the numbers of people turning up each day with boats to take them out to the cockles, a team of coastguards, police and fishery officers carried out checks on the arriving cocklers and found that 15 of the 30 boats were unfit for sea, for reasons such as out of date flares and that 50 of the 150 cocklers did not have commercial fishing permits.
Local fishermen welcomed the checks on all boats, theirs included and said that if the authorities were to turn up every day then the problem of unlicensed fishing and untrained people picking the cockles would soon be stopped and he is right.
If a person is found without a commercial licence then warn him away, if he returns the next day then confiscate his boat. If the police can do spot fines for children dropping a sweet then they can do spot fines for illegal cockle pickers who endanger their lives and those of people who may be required to rescue them.
Now that would be the best way to handle the situation but something stinks up in Lancashire, because North West Fisheries, citing safety as being the main reason have decided to close the cockle bed and bring in commercial suction dredgers who will suck up the £8 millions pounds worth of cockles in just a few days.
Some rat named Dr Stephen Atkins, from the board, said:
"This is a drastic step and one we were reluctant to take but it is maybe the only way we can sort this situation out.
"I understand the effect this will have on the fishermen who have been fishing responsibly and safely for a long time but sadly this is the only way.
If we don't act there is the risk of a loss of life
Those who have been fishing illegally and in an unsafe manner have brought this situation about."
No, it is not the only way slime bag. Enforcing the law should be the way.
What you have done here, is deprive the local fishermen who have been fishing the area for generations of their livelihood in order to put £8m into some businessman's pocket who has done a dirty deal in some room away from the gaze of the world.
Now then, and here is the next bit of planned thievery being carried out by the establishment. The government will be "reviewing" the laws that govern this kind of fishing.
How long before yet another piece of Magna Carta is ripped off and people be deprived of their right to pick 8lbs of cockles and only commercial dredgers be allowed to scrape the wealth from the sea bed?
A hat tip to Ian for pointing me at this story. Ian also raised the point that it would be interesting to investigate the dredging firm that gets the contract. We shall try but invite others to also.
