Shellfish questtion

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Shellfish questtion
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2steps

Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Posts: 5349
Location: Surrey

Posted: Sat Sep 10, 05 4:45 pm Post subject: Shellfish questtion
I live about 30 minutes from the sea and was wondering am I allowed to collect shellfish from the beach and take them home to eat? what about crabs?

Mad Dad

Joined: 12 May 2005
Posts: 407
Location: Nowhere near where I want to be

Posted: Sat Sep 10, 05 5:42 pm Post subject:
Yes if it is a public area and there are no restrictions such as endangered species or nature reserve. Another thing to watch for is that you are not foraging in someone elses patch as some fisheremen are quite territorial. I speak from experience from some years ago. If it is from the shoreline then you should be OK.

Mad Dad

Joined: 12 May 2005
Posts: 407
Location: Nowhere near where I want to be

Posted: Sat Sep 10, 05 5:44 pm Post subject:
Also. Not sure about the crabs but I think there is a minimum size that the experienced foragers use to ensure sustainability. Around 5 - 6 in. across the back I think but don't quote me.

Treacodactyl
Downsizer Moderator

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

Posted: Sat Sep 10, 05 5:56 pm Post subject:
I've not collected anything since I was a nipper, but take care where you collect to ensure they are safe to eat. Not point in collecting filter feeders near sewage outlets. It would be worth seeing what other people collect in the area.

2steps

Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Posts: 5349
Location: Surrey

Posted: Sat Sep 10, 05 6:23 pm Post subject:

yes, its a public beach. All the times I have been there I have never seen anyone else collecting anything, though mostly I just go to the sandy 'beachy' part as I have the children with me and they want to build sandcastles and play in the sea. I may go one day next week and just see. I have only ever eaten prawns and mussels once when I was in spain. I see loads of cockle and mussels shells on the beach, does that mean that I will only find those?

Jonnyboy

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 23956
Location: under some rain.

Posted: Sun Sep 11, 05 7:37 am Post subject:

You won't have an real legal problems with collecting shellfish, but you do need to be comfortable that the water quality is acceptable. A good start is the MCS good beach guide, which you can find here

Crabs aren't filter feeders so they are less of a problem. From an edible perspective you will mostly get green shore crabs and velvet swimming crabs. Both a small, with the former being the smallest but they are excellent in bisques and seafood stews and the velvet can yeild a surprising amount of firm sweet meat from it's claws and muscular rear legs.

If you have a deep spot close in you may be lucky and get some smallish brown crabs, snorkelling is a good method or the hand line and mackerel you used as a child!

If you are going for mussels and cockles, forage at low tide and then even get as far out as you can (safely) as you will be taking shellfish that spend the majority of their time in the sea, so they will be larger and tastier than ones further up the shoreline.

Don't forget winkles and on a really low tide you can try for razor clams.

And if you get lucky, remember the golden rules for cooking shellfish.

Good luck.

2steps

Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Posts: 5349
Location: Surrey

Posted: Sun Sep 11, 05 9:58 am Post subject:
thank you Jonnyboy. Looked on that site and our beach is MCS recommened so thats great I love prawns and ate a mussel once in spain I've never had shellfish other than that but have been reading how to cook them safely. Will look up some recipes depending on what I find, if anything. Do you know if there is a website where I can find out tide times?

dougal

Joined: 15 Jan 2005
Posts: 7184
Location: South Kent

Posted: Sun Sep 11, 05 10:28 am Post subject:

Jonnyboy wrote:

... you do need to be comfortable that the water quality is acceptable. A good start is the MCS good beach guide, which you can find here
Crabs aren't filter feeders so they are less of a problem. ...

The MCS guide is concerned *only* with *sewage* contamination, basically shit and germs.
https://www.goodbeachguide.co.uk/pages/info_2.php

Now filter feeders (like mussels for example) do pick up those contaminants, but their systems, and those of things like crabs will be digesting the shit and fighting the germs.

And anyway, the worst that such poisoning should do to you is give you a tummy upset.

Personally, I'm more bothered about *industrial* pollution - heavy metals and even pesticides that are *not* broken down by the organisms.
Such things are *concentrated* as one goes up the food chain.
The classic example is Minamata. The mercury was concentrated in the people who ate the tuna, that ate the things that ate the shelfish that filtered the mercury out of the water.
Check this page, especially about 1/3 down, the paragraph "The Science"
https://www1.umn.edu/ships/ethics/minamata.htm
The mercury level in Crabs was found to be 7x higher than in the (filter-feeding) oysters.

So, I'd say if there was *any* question whatsoever of *any* industrial pollution in the area, you'd be safer with the filter feeders than the crabs...
Grimsby, eh? (Ignoring irony of fishing heritage, goes off and consults map...) Being fussy about such things, I'd tend to steer clear of the Humber estuary - there's (been) a *lot* of heavy industry upstream... however there's fairly wild coast North of Spurn Head and South of Cleethorpes isn't there?

And another thing, 2steps - don't restrict yourself to foraged Mussels. As per a previous discussion on the subject of fish farming, Mussel farming is ecologically, sustainably, etc, etc perfectly OK. Waitrose (rarely cheap) offer Scottish rope grown (IMHO the best) Mussels for only a little over �3 a kilo, (plenty for two)... And note that they don't store at all well...

Jonnyboy

Joined: 29 Oct 2004
Posts: 23956
Location: under some rain.

Posted: Sun Sep 11, 05 7:47 pm Post subject:

Fair point about heavy metals, but it's worth noting that the town in question had almost their entire protein intake from fish and shellfish in that bay. We are talking a far lower potential exposure here in a time of far greater emissions regulation.

We can only make our choices based on the information readily available, TC-99 from sellafield has been found in shellfish as far away as Norway, unfortunately as our government isn't overly concerned about it's 200,000 year life span, information about it's absorption closer to home isn't readily available.

The alternative to a calculated risk based on probability is not eating anything from our seas.

2steps

Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Posts: 5349
Location: Surrey

Posted: Sun Sep 11, 05 8:08 pm Post subject:
when we are on the beach at cleethorpes I do see quite a lot of ships going by. mercury would be a big concern for me because of its connection with neurological disorders, my son has adhd already I've only lived here a year. I've been told there is much less fishing here now and more food production

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46243
Location: yes

Posted: Tue Sep 13, 05 8:14 pm Post subject:

wise advice so far . the northsea is patchy as far as pollution goes it depends on many factors , the same factors apply to bought food but then you have to trust people with a profit motive as you do not see the source . be sensible ,research your local area ,check gov reports , independant reports ,trust to your common sense . as a general rule the further you are from people the safer the food is but the dodgyest places can be well hidden and are often remote .ps limpets are chewy but not a bad flavour and among the safest shellfish as they are grazers . discard the dark bits and use the foot in stews or mince and make burgers they really are tough but tasty and wholesome.

zigs

Joined: 02 Sep 2005
Posts: 524
Location: Somerset

Posted: Sat Sep 17, 05 8:53 am Post subject:
found a bit about minimum size here https://www.defra.gov.uk/news/newsrel/1999/990312a.htm and this will give you tide times https://www.bbc.co.uk/weather/coast/tides/ last went cockle picking in the summer, very nice too

2steps

Joined: 05 Sep 2005
Posts: 5349
Location: Surrey

Posted: Sat Sep 17, 05 5:49 pm Post subject:
thank you ziggy

zigs

Joined: 02 Sep 2005
Posts: 524
Location: Somerset

Posted: Sun Jan 22, 06 4:07 pm Post subject:

my pleasure 2steps, how about that for a long pause before replying

have just eaten my first ever blue mussels - delicious.

went fishing yesterday with a friend from anglers net, he brought a big bag of mussels & a cuttlefish as bait. he & my mate caught all the fish, i just blanked. was given the bait as he left just before us so cooked the cuttlefish up for breakfast & had the mussels for sunday lunch.
discarded all the open ones & the ones that floated on the top of the cleaning water. cooked the rest in fish stock & they all opened.

waste not want not

StuP

Joined: 19 Jan 2006
Posts: 123
Location: Aberdeenshire

Posted: Mon Jan 23, 06 11:48 am Post subject:

Hi

There are some health concerns with shellfish, particularly filter feeders such as mussels. Some areas of the coast are occasionally prone to red tides - algal blooms. These algae produce toxins that accumulate in filter feeders and can, in extreme cases, cause paralysis. The South East coast of Scotland where I grew up is prone to these - the blooms appear in the Firth of Forth and drift south along the coast.

It's worth checking with the relevant government agencies for safety advice for your area. Good places for info are:

https://www.shellfish.org.uk/

and:

https://www.food.gov.uk (search for "shellfish poisoning")

I personally have eaten limpets, winkles and mussels collected from the beach but always after checking with the authorities.

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