foraging for oysters and mussels

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foraging for oysters and mussels
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Ronnie

Joined: 11 Jun 2009
Posts: 73
Location: Highlands

Posted: Wed Feb 10, 10 10:53 pm Post subject:
Wow - I never even considered eating a slater Kudos The key to foraging shellfish is clean water. Don't pick off piers or anywhere where sewerage is pumped into the sea. Rocky headlands are good. Mussels and oysters are good food, but they accumulate contaminants. Pick near to a Blue Flag beach to be sure.

zigs

Joined: 02 Sep 2005
Posts: 524
Location: Somerset

Posted: Sat Mar 27, 10 5:31 pm Post subject:
Was just surfing for fishy porn again and i came across this https://www.echo-news.co.uk/news/4510035.Five_illegal_immigrants_caught_collecting_oysters_on_beach/ Thought it might be relevant, with the uv light purification bit. Best flavoured meal i've ever had was mussells, just picked from cornish beach, with white wine & garlic sauce.

toggle

Joined: 30 Dec 2006
Posts: 11622
Location: truro

Posted: Sat Mar 27, 10 5:36 pm Post subject:

dpack wrote:

avoid coasts with an industrial legacy if there is a big heavey metal or radiological load (i wont eat anything from devon to scotland and north sea fish are a rarity),there are local issues as well which one should assess on their facts

that's the coast of cornwall out as well then, there are old arsenic mines upriver from here

Last edited by toggle on Sat Mar 27, 10 7:44 pm; edited 1 time in total

Treacodactyl
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Sat Mar 27, 10 7:15 pm Post subject:

toggle wrote:

dpack wrote:

that's the coast of cornwall out as well then?

Why Devon dpack and both the north and south coasts? IIRC the pollution from Sellafield seems to travel mostly north so not much should reach the North Devon coast.

jamanda
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Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 35057
Location: Devon

Posted: Sat Mar 27, 10 7:43 pm Post subject:
I've seen you eat limpets in North Devon Dpack!

Musty

Joined: 01 May 2011
Posts: 9

Posted: Sat May 21, 11 4:45 pm Post subject: Mussel foraging
Hello! Post are a bit old but I've not had much luck purging my mussels picked a bit off the sussex coast. Porridge and salt water is recommended but others don't seem to bother. Mine look like they've still got their poo sac after 24hrs purging. I've had limpets, whelks and flounder and mackeral off my coast all good eating. I'm new and normally on the homebrewing topics. Bye.

Treacodactyl
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Fri Nov 11, 11 5:37 pm Post subject:

Anyone foraged some mussels recently and are you still alive?

Hopefully I'll be out foraging tomorrow and I've been trying to find somewhere that lists any recent problems with shellfish and I can't find any sites. I notice that some beds have been closed in Pembrokeshire recently but there doesn't seem to be one place that lists the latest news.

I've found this page on the CEFAS site that lists loads of locations and their previous history, it's quite useful even if it is a rather weighty 166 pages. (List of reports here)

Musty

Joined: 01 May 2011
Posts: 9

Posted: Sat Nov 12, 11 9:13 am Post subject:
Hmm, foraging for mussels? I recall something about not eating mussels when there's an 'R' in the month. Happy foraging, but you'll get more in the woods this time of year. Bye for now.

jamanda
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Joined: 22 Oct 2006
Posts: 35057
Location: Devon

Posted: Sat Nov 12, 11 10:03 am Post subject:
I've never purged or worried about the letters in the month. Treac - we've had them from Sandymouth, where they are small and plump but rather salty so you don't want loads.

Musty

Joined: 01 May 2011
Posts: 9

Posted: Sat Nov 12, 11 10:24 am Post subject:
Thanks Jamanda, maybe I'll try some E. Sussex mussels this month and find out where the 'R' saying came from. More into mush than mussels at the mo.

Treacodactyl
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Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 25795
Location: Jumping on the bandwagon of opportunism

Posted: Sat Nov 12, 11 5:06 pm Post subject:

Still alive after three hours...

We were just up the coast from Sandymouth, we'll try there in the coming weeks.

I only picked a few as they weren't that big or numerous, tasted fine to me. Plenty of laver about which is nice to nibble.

Musty, the saying is normally you only eat shellfish when there is a R in the month. There seems to be many reasons, such as: avoiding eating things when they are likely to be reproducing, growing quickly and thus processing large volumes of water and more at risk of picking things up, more likely to eat poisonous algae etc, etc.

Musty

Joined: 01 May 2011
Posts: 9

Posted: Sat Nov 12, 11 5:43 pm Post subject:
Thanks Treac. I'm left handed so I often get things back to front. No lava where I am but lots of other seaweed. Bye for now.

Musty

Joined: 01 May 2011
Posts: 9

Posted: Sat Nov 12, 11 5:44 pm Post subject:
I meant laver. See?

MattV

Joined: 28 May 2013
Posts: 1

Posted: Tue May 28, 13 2:09 pm Post subject:
Word of caution, check with your local Port Health Authority for water quality regarding ecoli and noro virus. Late summer can produce toxic algae that cannot be removed by soaking in salt water. good reference sight www.thecornishmusselshack

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46291
Location: yes

Posted: Tue May 28, 13 6:26 pm Post subject:

Jamanda wrote:

I've seen you eat limpets in North Devon Dpack!

from devon to scotland ,not including d or s.

along the bristol channel has industrial history,im dubious about anything in the irish sea but as the recorded radiological loads have decreased for technicium in winkle shells maybe there is less new load being added .

the irish box load has mostly been from sellafield/windscale but there have been inputs from several other facilities.it does go mostly north/west around ireland and into the northern seas.most places are radiologically/chemically safe to eat a few shellfish but as a staple it might be a mistake in some places.eating the shells is always wrong

there are other places to avoid such as dounreay but most are well known or behind wire.

as to chemical challenge from mine outflow local "hotspots"are common but usually only give dangeroos metal levels locally.in lagoons/estuaries /marshes etc they are less diluted by the sea.

biological challenge is the most immediate and requires common sense

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