INTEREST is growing in Minehead waters as an important breeding ground for herring, local fishermen told the Free Press this week.

Paul Date and Michael Martin, the last commercial fishermen to use the traditional and ancient methods of stakes and fish weirs, are literally weighing and measuring some of their catch now, so that the results can feed into data being collected at Swansea University.

They were recently asked to do so by a senior figure doing research there, Dr David Clarke, who was doing marine biology investigations, including looking at herring migration in different parts of the UK coast.

“They have now realised this is a breeding area, from Minehead all the way up the Bristol Channel,” said Paul Date.

He said Dr Clarke had come out to Minehead twice and taken samples himself, to do in-depth analysis, and the two fishermen were now providing the marine academic on a regular basis, with information for his research.

Paul said: “We take about 40 fish samples at most tides on the weekends, weather permitting, and measure and weigh them, and also get samples of the fish scales.

“Then we send a package off to Swansea University, and they do DNA testing and age the fish.

“They are looking to see if these are a sub-species of other herrings, and want to know where they go up the Bristol Channel.”

Paul said he still fears for the Minehead area, where there was no beach management because it was not considered a breeding ground, and shingle was continuing to be taken from the build-up at Minehead Harbour and dumped in the bay.

Interest in the area as a breeding ground had snowballed recently, he said, with not just the Swansea University research, but also a visit from a representative of the Devon and Severn Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority (IFCA), and a researcher from Plymouth University.

“All of a sudden everyone is interested in herrings,” Paul said.

Full story in this week’s Free Press.