Southport, UK. 15 Dec 2022. Cold start for pickers at the Ribble Estuary Cockling. Trucks and park up as the sun rises for the opening of the Beach at Southport to Cockle Pickers at the start of the season, Marshside, Southport. The Ribble Estuary is where the River Ribble, meets the Irish Sea on the North West Coast of England. Cocklers collecting edible, marine bivalve mollusc risk their lives on British shores but can earn earn up to £1,000 a day. The cockle beds here have not been fished commercially for ten years and it is estimated they contain £80million worth of the shellfish.
Scores of Cocklers have arrived in Southport recently as the Cockle beds have been opened by the Fisheries Agency. There are currently 137 permit holders, who could prosecute the bed. It is expected that there would initially be 20-60 permit holders fishing. Once the fishery has opened and the initial volume of cockle has been removed, the number of gatherers will likely reduce significantly. The majority of the bed is within a commercial area where the ability to remove 5kg of cockle has been removed for personal consumption. The small area that is outside of the commercial area is where the cockle are at a low density and undersize. No other person is allowed to take or remove cockle. Access to and from the fishery will be via ATV / quad bikes from Haul road, Marshside in Southport. Access by boat is not authorised. All other access routes from Fylde and Sefton coast will be closed to cockle fishers. Permit holders are expected to access Haul road approximately 3 hours before low water and will progress on to the fishery 2 hours before. All permit holders using ATVs are required to have permits issued from Sefton council.
Size: 4953px × 3302px
Location: Southport, UK
Photo credit: © MediaWorldImages / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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