Morecambe Bay's rich seam of cockles, worth an estimated £6 million, was targeted like never before after prices rocketed due to a shortage in the European shellfish market.

The quest for Cerastoderma edule, or the common cockle, coincided with a boom in the amount, size and maturity of cockles buried in the "wet sahara."

In contrast, the principal producers in the Netherlands saw a nosedive in stocks, while in the UK, many other beds were closed due to over-fishing and fears about shellfish poisoning.

It led hundreds of pickers and producers to target Morecambe Bay in a modern-day gold rush as cockles went for as much as £1,000 a tonne.

As a result, inexperienced gangs joined the race to rake the sands with the guarantee of hundreds of pounds being paid for a week's work.

Initially, operations were concentrated in Morecambe but the NWNWSFC used its limited powers to shut down the beds for fears of over fishing and damaging young stocks.

That meant the focus of attentions switched to Aldingham and Bardsea, which saw residents and local cocklers express alarm at the volume taken, and become angry at the mass influx of workers who arrived by the van and car load as the tide went out.

After months of work off the Furness coastline, and friction in the local community, the operation moved across to the other side of the Bay in December after a rich seam of untapped cockles was identified off Warton Sands, scene of last week's tragedy.

The NWNWSFC re-opened a section of the closed bed after it was identified it harboured an estimated 8,000 tonnes of mature cockles, which would die over the coming months if not harvested. The rush saw more than 800 permits to fish issued by the NWNWSFC.

The Department for Work and Pensions and Immigration Service mounted raids on the look out for illegal asylum seekers and benefit cheats with 37 suspected illegal immigrants arrested in Morecambe last August and further swoops in the Wirral.