MINEHEAD’S last two commercial fishermen fear that work started by the Environment Agency this week could seriously damage sea life by dredging up seabed that has lain undisturbed for hundreds of years.

Paul Date and Michael Martin, who have fished in Minehead all their lives, as did their families before them, also fear the work could damage herring spawning grounds, disturb cod which come to the area to feed, and speed up erosion of the bank leading to flooding of the marshes at Warren Point.

And they cannot understand why the Environment Agency has not instead used unwanted shingle which West Somerset Council dumped in Minehead Bay at the end of last year after it had built up across the harbour.

Two diggers and three large dumper trucks were working this week on the beach at Warren Point at low tide to replenish the shoreline there, and the agency confirmed it was re-shingling a 40-metre length of beach to replace material washed away by erosion.

“The Environment Agency is going out approximately a quarter of a mile and digging up stone that’s been there for hundreds of years, destroying crustaceans and all sorts of sea life growing there,” said Mr Date.

“Ecologically they could do a lot of damage. There is a natural ridge there that protects Minehead Bay and Dunster Bay from winds and slows the movement of the sand, but they are digging that off and moving it up to the top of the beach to replace what has been washed out and it’s not right.

“The bank does need replenishing, it is eroding – there used to be sand dunes there when we were children – but if you don’t put vegetation there nothing will stay, it never has done.

“This just makes it ten times worse and destroys the shore life.

“They are digging up what’s natural and could alter the whole flow of water in the bay.”

Mr Martin said he did not understand why the agency didn’t use the unwanted shingle the council dumped near the harbour at the end of last year and which had covered up the sand there, making it unattractive for visitors, instead of digging up the ridge.

Full story in tomorrow’s Free Press (December 2)