Point 9 – Vehicles

Vehicles and tractors should be kept off the sand flats, because they damage shellfish beds.

Reasons: Boats are frequently launched or retrieved in the low tide channels, using tractors traveling more or less randomly across the sand flats and shellfish beds. It is also becoming increasingly common for cockle gatherers to drive to the cockle beds instead of walking. This not only damages the shellfish beds but encourages over-harvesting if the shellfish don’t have to be carried far. Consideration should be given to upgrading the harbour classification to Coastal Protection Zone 1, or at least to apply the same rules re vehicles that apply in C.P.1.

Frothy plankton on the edge of the rising tide brings new life to shellfish sleeping under the sand. Tidal rhythm controls harbour life; flood tides stir animals which shelter beneath the sand as it dries on the ebb, waiting for the water to return - Ian Macdonald