COMMERCIAL shell fishermen have been gathering cockles from Angle Bay this week after the beds were given a clean bill of health.

The arrival of the Penclawdd cockle gatherers in this Pembrokeshire Marine Special Area of Conservation has alarmed local residents.

The issue was first highlighted in January when the gatherers came to the area to protest at the length of time it was taking Pembrokeshire County Council to health classify the cockles.

They vowed they would be back and returned this week just days after the authority gave the cockles a clean bill of health.

Rory Parsons, managing director of Lesley A. Parsons and Son, a shell fish processor in Burry Port, said there was now nothing to stop anyone, including locals, from gathering and selling Angle Bay cockles.

But he did admit that now was not the best time for the gatherers to be there. "They are not sizeable cockles at this time of the year, the quality is not the best for processing,'' he said.

Local people have asked the European Commission to intervene. Marine biologist Francis Bunker, of Estuary Cottage, Bentlass, is seeking reassurances from Saskia Richartz, of the Institute of European Environmental Policy.

Features of the site that will be damaged, he believes, include inter-tidal sea grass beds and fringing saltmarsh, both of which are protected in the Pembrokeshire Marine SAC. The Countryside Council for Wales and the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park have said they are unable to stop the cockling because it is a fishery activity. "There is apparently no fishery bylaw to cover it and therefore no licence is required,'' said Mr Bunker.

"I understand that there has yet to be a decision on whether fishing operations constitute 'plans and projects' in accordance with the provisions of the Habitats Directive. Certainly no Appropriate Assessment has been carried out prior to the cockling going ahead.''