One of the UK’s oldest family-run fishing businesses is being showcased in the MSC’s Sustainable Seafood campaign this month.
The aim has been to introduce a whole new generation to cockles from Leigh-on-Sea. The Osborne family has been catching cockles in this corner of Essex since the 1880s, and fifth generation business owner Graham Osborne sees a prosperous future for this tiny shellfish that packs both a nutritional and sustainability punch.
‘I see the cockle industry thriving for a good few years to come so long as it continues to be run as it is today,’ he said.
‘We’ve been running it for 150 years so we must be doing something right.’
As part of the Thames Estuary cockle fishery, it achieved MSC certification in 2019, making it the sixth MSC certified cockle fishery in the North Atlantic, along with Poole Harbour and the Dee and Burry Estuary fisheries in the UK.
The Osborne family’s vessel, Mary Amelia, is able to catch its quota of 12 tonnes a day, twice a week during the 15-week season, which this year started at the end of June.
‘Having the MSC certification means we have the stamp of sustainability. It means you know where everything comes from, you know the fishery works and that there will be cockles there next year and the year after that,’ Graham Osborne said.
‘We’re really excited to be championing such a well-managed fishery that’s an excellent example of how fishing can thrive economically and environmentally,’ commented MSC Senior Fisheries Outreach Manager Lisa Bennett.
‘Cockles are synonymous with Leigh-on-Sea and an integral, if perhaps sometimes under-appreciated, part of traditional British seaside seafood cuisine.’
