'War of the Whelks' off Shoreham coast

The call follows a dispute between Worthing fishermen and a crew from North Wales who recently began fishing whelks from Shoreham Harb-our.

Fishing crews in Worthing and Shoreham have an informal agreement between them to limit catches.

They observe a restriction of up to 350 pots per two-man boat and 200 for single-handed vessels, in an effort to protect the whelk population.

The dispute erupted from concerns that whelks could be wiped out and resulted in two Worthing fishermen being caution by police for breaching the peace.

Les Gibbs, secretary of the Worthing Fishermen's Society, said new laws were needed to limit the size of whelk catches.

'¢ Full feature and interview with one of the fishermen involved in the dispute in this week's Shoreham Herald, on sale now.