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2024 Cockle Fishery Recommendations – request for stakeholder feedback

Please read the following recommendations and provide your feedback via the questionnaire provided below, or by email to [email protected]

2024 District Cockle Survey Results

Officers completed surveys of the District cockle beds on the 26th of July. Full results are provided here:

https://www.nw-ifca.gov.uk/app/uploads/Agenda-Item-6-Survey-and-Inspection-Report-August-2024.pdf

A summary of the results is provided below, and will be presented at the TSB meeting on the 13th of August.

2024 District Cockle Fishery Recommendations

The following recommendations are being proposed to TSB Members for the 2024 Cockle Fishery:

Recommendation 1: Officers recommend that the Flookburgh and Leven cockle beds are opened as of September 1st 2024 under Byelaw 3.

This recommendation is based on the following factors:

  1. The biomass of size cockle is high compared with previous years when the fishery has been opened at 3629 tonnes
  2. The cockle biomass across Morecambe Bay as a whole is high compared with previous years therefore there will be resource availability to birds across other areas of the Bay.
  3. Potential for further growth – Though there is a mix of size and undersize across much of the bed, the undersize is predominantly in the 20-25mm category which will likely grow on during the late summer
  4. Assist stakeholder compliance – Leven cockle bed boundary adjoins the Flookburgh cockle bed. The beds used to be separate but have become joined in recent years. Though the cockle biomass for this Leven is low, there is a small area of size in the lower right corner, which may be fished. Given the rest of the bed is of low density and undersize, there is minimal risk of fishers targeting these areas, and allowing fishers to access the small area of size reduces their risk of non-compliance.

Recommendation 2: The Flookburgh/Leven fishery will be opened weekdays (Mon-Fri) one tide a day under Byelaw 3 flexible permit conditions.

This recommendation is based on the following factors:

  1. Effort limitation
  2. Additional feedback from responses to the consultation on early opening

Recommendation 3: Officers recommend that the Pilling cockle bed is opened as of 1st of October 2024 under paragraph 15 of Byelaw 3, subject to additional inspection.

This recommendation is based on the following factors:

  1. Biomass of size cockle is greater than the minimum biomass of size cockle the fishery has previously been recommended open, and the total cockle biomass of Morecambe Bay is comparatively high.
  2. The composition of the stock is highly mixed, which increases the likelihood of undersize cockle being removed and disturbed. The densest areas of cockle are located in the west of the bed, and is highly mixed with the majority undersize – undersize cockle making up the majority of the biomass.This has enforcement and riddling implications. Mixed cockle requires thorough riddling, and also has the potential to disturb stock on the ground should it struggle to re-settle. In previous years (2017 and 2019), though the biomass of size cockle was low, and the biomass of undersize large, there were discrete patches of size on the beds which allowed fishers to concentrate on areas where effort return was greatest, minimise riddling and disturbance to undersize stock. The Authority closed a portion of the Pilling cockle bed to facilitate this (see table  for HRA justifications for previous years).
  3. Potential for further growth – Though there is a mix of size and undersize across much of the bed, the undersize is predominantly in the 20-25mm category which will likely grow on during the late summer – leaving the cockle bed for an additional month will allow the stock to grow on in the summer months will allow the undersize to grow on and reduce the highly mixed stock composition

Recommendation 4: The Pilling fishery will be opened weekdays (Mon-Fri) one tide a day under Byelaw 3 flexible permit conditions.

This recommendation is based on the following factors:

  1. Effort limitation
  2. Additional feedback from responses to the consultation on early opening

Recommendation 5: The Leasowe cockle bed is opened as 1st of October 2024 under paragraph 15 of Byelaw 3, subject to additional survey.

This recommendation is based on the following reasons:

  1. Minimum biomass of size cockle for bird food requirements is not met – Historically, 800 tonnes of size cockle has been required under HRA conditions to support oyster catcher on the Leasowe cockle bed (see 2017  https://www.nw-ifca.gov.uk/app/uploads/NWIFCA-MNNWF-DE-LB-COCKLE-Leasowe-FINAL-small.pdf and 2019 HRA’s https://www.nw-ifca.gov.uk/app/uploads/NWIFCA-EMS-North-Wirral-Leasowe-Cockle-Fishery-HRA-Sept-2019.pdf ). Size biomass of cockle on Leasowe is currently 799 tonnes.
  2. There is a highly mixed composition of size and undersize – distribution of size and undersize is highly mixed. This has enforcement and riddling implications. Mixed cockle requires thorough riddling, and also has the potential to disturb stock on the ground should it struggle to re-settle. On Leasowe there is a limited ability to split the stock by area.
  3. Undersize cockle could grow on over the summer months – the composition of undersize cockle is close to size and has the potential to grow on by the autumn.  Leasowe is historically known to grow quickly.

Recommendation 6: The Leasowe fishery will be opened weekdays (Mon-Fri) one tide a day under Byelaw 3 flexible permit conditions.

  1. Effort limitation
  2. Additional feedback from responses to the consultation on early opening

Recommendation 7: All other District cockle beds, including Aldingham and Newbiggin, Middleton and Southport remain closed for the rest of the closed season, and from September 1st 2024 under paragraph 15 of Byelaw 3. 

  1. Biomass of size and undersize cockle is very low

Stakeholder Feedback

We would like your feedback on the results.

Once you have reviewed the results, please provide your feedback by filling out the questionnaire here: https://forms.office.com/e/DAHD9H1eGg

Use of data

Why have you asked for my name or permit number in the questionnaire if it is anonymous?

All answers to the questionnaire and issues raised with officers will be confidential. The results of the questionnaire will be presented anonymously to the Authority and as a general summary of the results.

For the consultation to be fair to all stakeholders, we want to reduce the risk of any individual submitting multiple questionnaire responses. Your permit number and name are only taken to ensure you contribute only once to the consultation.