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The tradition of collecting shellfish from the shores of the Lough for personal consumption is well established. Cockles are collected by raking the sediment, and mussels and winkles are collected along rocky areas of shore. Native oysters are also collected particularly from the north eastern shores of the Lough.
In Strangford Lough there is some commercial harvesting of scallops although this is mainly concentrated on licensed aquaculture sites.
Collecting a few shellfish for home consumption is a traditional activity and causes little overall disruption to the Lough's ecological balance. People may be seen raking the muddy sand at Kircubbin when the tide goes out, to collect edible cockles. Common winkles (whillicks) are also gathered extensively from rocky shores, while common mussels are collected on a fairly small scale.
However, in recent years there has been increasing interest in collecting shellfish on a commercial basis and this has led to fears for the environment and for the future of small scale traditional activity.
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