A MASSIVE rescue operation to pull 192 cocklers off Morecambe Bay has exposed a mistake that has allowed potentially dangerous cockles to enter the food chain.

Co-ordinates of a rescue on August 7 far off the coast near Aldingham revealed that the area being raked was not a recognised cockle bed and was unclassified'.

It means the cockle quality has never been tested so the molluscs are deemed unfit for human consumption.

"It could be seriously polluted but no one knows," said Chris Fidler, South Lakeland District Council's assistant director of environmental health.

"Potentially, it could be a danger. All we can say is we have no reports back of problems but that isn't sufficient evidence."

Cocklers have sold-on many tonnes of the sought-after shellfish from the unclassified spot known as Leven Island since they started gathering there about three months ago.

Around 50 Furness and Flookburgh fisherman have regularly harvested cockles there and more recently up to 200 people have been on the sands as pickers from outside the area arrived. Most of their haul will have been exported to Spain, France and other European nations.

The bed was discovered on the other side of the River Leven channel far out in the Bay after the Aldingham cockle bed was closed in June because stocks were perilously low.

Mr Fidler said SLDC assumed Leven Island was part of a classified cockle bed because most of the Bay was classified.

Yet when he cross-checked the coastguard's co-ordinates of the August 7 rescue with fisheries committee data, it transpired that it was well outside the Aldingham bed.

It will now take three to four months to sample the shellfish and, if they prove palatable, to reopen the bed.

A council letter dispatched on Friday to explain the cockle bed closure decision met with a furious response from Furness cocklers.

Janet Butler, of Newbiggin, said the sudden ruling had "near bankrupted" the operation she runs with her husband John.

"We are having to go to Morecambe to fish. It's a good hour travelling just to get there."

In 12 weeks of selling cockles from Leven Island, she said she had received no complaints.

"If there was anything wrong with the cockles, someone would be ill and they're not.

"Ours go to a purification centre, some have been classed as A' which is the best quality you can have."

Meanwhile, Inspector Ali Dufty of Cumbria Police warned Grange-over-Sands Town Council on Monday of a possible "influx" of cocklers to South Lakeland's only remaining cockle bed off Humphrey Head at Flookburgh, near Grange.

However, by mid-week many cocklers appeared to be ignoring SLDC's dictat and could still be seen working off Aldingham.

Others like the Butlers had bypassed Flookburgh for Morecambe because the Holker Estate owns the crucial stretch of coastline to access the sands and is locking its gates to non-local' fisherman.

Insp Dufty said the ruling was a decision for Holker, but added: "Myself and other agencies did want to try to negotiate some access so I could manage the situation."

Meanwhile, as winter closes in and with little movement on legislation to regulate the industry, Bay fisherman are yet again warning that there will be more deaths on the sands.

"Unless someone does something quickly, they'll be another 20 to 30 drownings this winter," said Flookburgh fisherman Steven Manning.

"It's probably going to take at least 100 drownings before anyone will do anything."