Cockle pickers in Llanelli have claimed the local industry faces disaster after thousands of tonnes of cockles were left to rot. Last week, town residents complained of a foul smell which was traced to rotting cockles in the Burry Inlet.
Local fishers said they were not allowed to gather the shellfish, which were then left to rot in the heat.
The Sea Fisheries Committee, which monitors cockle fishing, said hot weather was to blame for the situation.
'Grinding halt'
Some local fisherman have said the authorities should have allowed them to gather a greater number of cockles.
Mark Swiston, managing director of Penclawdd Shellfish whose family have been cockle pickers in the Burry Estuary for five generations, said the situation could threaten next year's cockle harvest in the area.
"The (local) industry is going to come to a grinding halt in the next two weeks.
"We haven't got an industry now and I don't think we'll have one next year."
Phil Coates, director of the South Wales Sea Fisheries Committee, said his organisation had done all it could to avoid the problem and had reduced the size that cockle could be legally gathered from the usual 19mm to 17.5mm.
 Residents complained of the smell after cockles rotted in the heat |
He added: "We reduced the size in June to allow them to be thinned out.
"The problem is that the cockles have died very rapidly over a two to four day period because of the hot conditions.
"In practise, there's nothing anyone can do about it.
"The stench is temporary, but the longer term problem for the cockle industry is that they've not got any cockles to fish.
"We've done everything we could in reducing the cockle size."
Biologists are to carry out a survey following two days of cockling on the Dee Estuary in north Wales last week. They will check stocks of the shellfish at the Salisbury Bank before a decision is reached on whether a further two days of cockling will be allowed.
Hundreds of people took part in last week's harvesting, which had been suspended since 2003 because of a fall in shellfish numbers.
However, there were safety concerns fishermen were overloading their boats.
As well as the inspection by biologists, a meeting between the Environment Agency, North Wales Police and the Health and Safety Executive is also due to be held on Tuesday to discuss how the two days went.
A decision on whether further cockling will be allowed is expected by Wednesday or Thursday.
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The stench is temporary, but the longer term problem for the cockle industry is that they've not got any cockles to fish
