A social and economic impact assessment of cockle mortality in the Burry Inlet and Three Rivers cockle fisheries, South Wales UK

Abstract

First paragraph: Mortalities of larger, more valuable cockle 2 and 3 year-classes have recurred on the Burry Inlet (Loughour) Estuary (BI) since 2002 and on the nearby Three Rivers Estuary (TR) since 2005. The aim of this report is to estimate the economic impact of the mortality on the south Wales cockle industry, related businesses and wider Welsh economy. Stakeholder interviews, direct observation, secondary literature, production and price data supplied by industry and government agencies is used to characterise value-chains, historic livelihood, regulatory and production trends. Lack of intermediate expenditure data (wages, energy rents etc.) prevented estimates of losses on foregone gross value added (GVA) across the Welsh cockle value chain. Analysis was instead focused on estimation of first-sale value losses for whole cockle from the BI using a range of baseline output and price scenarios (lack of historic value data precluded the assessment for the TR). Value-chain analysis indicated that the burden of mortality losses fell most heavily on independent gatherers; whilst processers are able to source much of their raw materials needs from other Welsh, English and European fisheries, gatherer access to other cockle fisheries is much more restricted.