A permit scheme to pick cockles at the scene of last week's tragedy was introduced by the North Western and North Wales Sea Fisheries Committee in an effort to deter benefit cheats and migrant fishermen.

But the scheme was criticised by locals for not being properly policed.

Jack Manning, 71, of Flookburgh, a cockler for more than 50 years, has advocated a licensing system which restricts fishing and access to the beds to bonafide fishermen who would pay a levy for the right.

But Mr Manning is aware of the idea's flaws: "It is a public fishery, there is public access to it and anybody can go out there. Where do you draw the line?"

The current system, the first to be introduced by the NWNWSFC, was aimed at deterring those with dubious credentials from applying.

The permits demanded fishermen provided current addresses, photographs and National Insurance numbers, with a warning that information could be passed on to the Department for Work and Pensions and the Immigration Service.

Everyone receiving the permits was also sent a copy of the NWMWSFC Code of Conduct for Intertidal Shellfisheries with information about wildlife in Morecambe Bay, and information about shellfish hygiene regulation.

At the launch of the scheme the NWNWSFC pledged extra monitoring, regular reviews and site visits, but having the manpower to do so was acknowledged as a problem.

The authority levies a budget of just £600,000 a year from 11 authorities.

It also has to cover 2,000 square nautical miles between Ceredigion, on the west coast of North Wales, to Haverigg, in Cumbria, with just eight officers, a scientist, an environment officer, and a chief executive.

In addition to cockle licensing, the committee grants fishery orders for mussels, clams and oysters to be picked across its district, which form the largest mussel cultivation operation in the UK.