Commercial Cockling, involving dozens of vehicles and hundreds of people, effectively strip mining the natural resources used by the tens of thousands of migratory wading birds is not sustainable or acceptable.
Mockbeggar Wharf is the feeding ground for the internationally important numbers of Oystercatcher and Knot, both of which have been declared threatened species. The Dee estuary hosts around 5% of the global population of Oystercatcher. The cause of their decline is known to the over-fishing of shellfish.
It beggars belief that this level of plunder has been allowed in what it is an Internationally protected Special Protection Area and Ramsar Site. Aside from removal of cockles on an industrial scale, the level of disturbance is intolerable.
Green councillors are looking into how this licence can be challenged. We renew our calls for vehicles including quad bikes to be banned from the foreshore.
In this BBC article, Pat Cleary, from Wirral Council’s Green Party, said he was opposed to such “industrial” levels of activity on the beach.
He said: “These are really important feeding grounds for migratory birds.
“We are talking about internationally threatened species like the oystercatcher and the knot.
“The Dee estuary is home to 5% of the global population of oystercatchers. This is a threatened species, and we know that fishing of shellfish directly contributes to the decline of these species.
“So if we are serious about protecting nature, this kind of activity we cannot allow on an industrial scale.”