THE man in charge of fishing in Morecambe Bay believes a new permit scheme will prevent more cockling deaths.

Dr Jim Andrews, chief executive of the North Western and North Wales Sea Fisheries Committee, hopes his new scheme will bring better regulation to the industry and prevent a repeat of February's tragedy.

"Cockling will not go away," says Dr Andrews, who is in charge of 1,000 miles of coastline from Scotland down to mid-Wales.

"If the cockle pickers are moved from Morecambe Bay they will just go somewhere else - so we need to address the safety issues.

"I hope the permit scheme we introduced at Warton can be extended throughout the area and to some extent tightened up."

February's disaster, when 21 cockle pickers drowned, highlighted the hidden danger in Morecambe Bay - and Dr Andrews never wants a repeat of those horrendous scenes.

"The Bay is such a difficult place to police," says Dr Andrews. "There are so many points of access and there is nothing we can do to stop people going out there unless the cockle bed is closed.

"But we can only do that if stocks are getting to a dangerously low level - and then we have to open it up again when the stocks have been replenished."

There are 19 agencies involved with the control of fishing activity and they can use special powers to close a cockle bed down if they believe it is being over-fished.

A bed at Middleton was closed in August along with beds up to Morecambe's Stone Jetty.

But Dr Andrews knows that since 2002 there has been a massive increase in the amount of cockle picking in the area with vast amounts of money to be made, especially on the continent.

"A couple of years ago the price of cockles was between £300 and £400 per tonne bag," says Dr Andrews.

"But now a one tonne bag will go for £1,000 and in the run up to Christmas will fetch £1,500, especially from the Spanish market. People see the amount of money they can make and can't resist.

"There are millions of cockles in the Bay and the only way to stop the cockle fishing is to have a really cold winter. Cockles do not like the cold and that will kill them off."

Dr Andrews has just a handful of staff to police the 1,000 miles of coast in his territory - including 17 cockle beds.

"We need a multi-agency approach to make the permit scheme a success," he adds.

"We are always actively looking for the best was to manage fishing and stocks and at least the permit scheme lets us know who is out there.

"The permits have to be carried at all times and we need to know personal details about the fishermen, like their National Insurance number. And if they cannot produce their permit they are not allowed to fish."

The scheme has also been welcomed by police, with Morecambe's Insp Jill Townley saying: "The scheme has worked well at Warton and anything that can bring some control to the industry is good . The police in general do not have much jurisdiction on the Bay - but we will do whatever we can to work with other agencies."