At present members of the public can go on to a beach to collect shellfish and seaweed for personal consumption or to use as fishing bait. Some people go too far and literally go to the beach every tide to totally empty the beach of all shell fish as well as some seaweeds.

Creatures being affected include, crab, whelk, cockle, mussel, razor clam and many other similar shellfish plus some varietys of seaweed.

Anglers and occasional collectors are struggling to pick for their own personal use as others have been on the beach picking on large scale for commercial use or sale. They are not licenced in any way and are currently free to pick as much as they want.

A commercial licence needs to be introduced along with limits of what can be picked and when as well as a quota limit.

Also as the stocks are depleted it means that wildlife such as birds will struggle to feed.

The government needs to act now before it is too late. this has been going on for a number of years and is getting worse by the day. It is easy to see it is being done on a commercial basis because they turn up with large tubs. they normally operate in gangs and they make the most of the tide spending every possible second on the beach and collecting as much as they can possibly move.

Please act now to save the seaweeds and wildlife on our beaches.