Common cockle  (Cerastoderma edule)

The common cockle has been collected and sold for hundreds of years. Mechanised forms of collecting, using tractors and hydraulic dredging, have largely replaced more traditional methods such as hand raking. There are fears that without adequate management of cockle stocks, these new techniques could result in over-exploitation (2).

In some areas, concerns about over-collecting have led to measures that control the numbers of cockles harvested and the methods used. In Scotland, for example, dredging with vehicles is banned, and hand gathering is the only method allowed in some parts of England and Wales (2).