Plans to cultivate cockles and other shellfish have been approved

They decided to back the plan by Dee Fish of Castle Douglas to cultivate oysters and cockles for a temporary period of three years.

Objectors had expressed concern about the visual impact of the plan and said it would deliver no jobs benefit.

Councillors approved the scheme with a condition banning vehicles using an access road along the shore.

The experiment - if approved by the Crown Estates Commissioners - will be for a trial period on two sites in Kirkcudbright Bay.

One site is on the foreshore at St Mary's Isle and the other is near Kirkcudbright Lifeboat station.

Visibility concern

Those opposed to the plans say the structures on which the shellfish will be grown - made from larch posts - will be unsightly and visible for up to seven hours a day.

They also claim aquafarms are not labour intensive and no extra jobs will be created.

Councillors, however, approved the plans with the condition that the farms be accessed by boat.