emptying a mussel dredge into the hold.
In early 2011, a stock of mussels estimated to be about 22,000 tonnes came to notice off the Norfolk coast between Mundesley and Cromer. About two thirds of that stock was within three mile limit and could not be fished for a number of reasons, not least the possible clash with crab gear which would be put on the ground with the onset of spring. But the other third, made up almost entirely of juvenile - or seed - mussels could be fished if the restriction on minimum size was relaxed which it was, the point being that seed mussels provide stock replenishment for mussel growers of the Wash ports of King's Lynn and Boston fishermen who put them onto "lays", or areas of sea bed in the Wash, for growing on to maturity. Some fishermen who already have enough stock are however selling the seed to a German grower on the west coast of Schleswig Holstein, the point being that German boats cannot dredge the seed themselves in UK coastal waters.
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Photo credit: © John Worrall / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
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Keywords: anglia, boat, commercial, dredge, dredger, dredges, dredging, east, fishing, mussel, mussels, norfolk, north, sea, seed, sunny, uk
