ROY BAMFORD talks about his memories of shellfish harvesters and government plans to open the Cardigan Bay to scallop-dredging.

AN abiding memory of mine is of commercial shellfish harvesters descending upon a rocky shore just south of Borth.

This happened all of 25, maybe it was even 30 years ago and I watched as they stripped the rocks of an abundance of edible periwinkles (Littorina littorea).

These are snail-like molluscs with dark brown and very strong shells, the very largest might just about reach an inch (2.5cm) in length.

At the time they were there to be gathered in the bucket-load and soon numerous sacks were filled and awaiting collection, scattered all over the rocky shelves.

Since that day, the periwinkle population has never again reached anywhere near those proportions. The habitat has not altered but clearly something has changed.

They have just never recovered and so it is with some trepidation that I hear there are moves afoot to controversially open parts of the Cardigan Bay SAC (Special Area of Conservation) to scallop dredging.

No doubt encouraged by some celebrity chef on TV, there seems to be a market for scallops and the industrial way of getting them, is to dredge.

This entails dragging several wide and very heavy pieces of fiercely tined kit along and through the sea bed to gather in scallops to a metal mesh/net attachment immediately behind. It has to be one of the most destructive harvesting methods imaginable, in fact if you were thinking to destroy that marine environment, this is probably the best design and method that anyone might come up with.

It is akin to ploughing the sea bed and is known to leave a trail of dead and damaged organisms (including scallops) in its wake and how on earth the Welsh Assembly can be thinking of allowing this to happen in a special area of conservation absolutely beggars belief.

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