HUNDREDS of cocklers could be refused permission to fish on the Dee Estuary as moves to regulate the industry go ahead.

More than 1,000 people fish for cockles in the river between July and December every year but these numbers could now be reduced to 50.

Consultation on legal powers to control the numbers of cocklers is expected to begin within weeks.

The Environment Agency Wales wants to limit the permits it gives out to prevent over-fishing and improve safety.

Currently, anyone who applies for a permit can be granted one.

The agency said regulation would allow better supervision of the cockle beds.

A spokesman said: "This order will redress the current absence of adequate controls that has resulted in a highly volatile fishery with catches ranging from an estimated 16,000 tonnes in 1987 to zero in several subsequent years. It would enable the Agency to issue licences and restrict the number of these available.

"At present anybody who applies for a permit must be granted one. In 2003 the catch was 1,182 tonnes valued at £700,000. However, in 2004 the fishery was closed due to low numbers of shellfish of a harvestable size."

The agency has already applied to the Department for the Environment and Rural Affairs and the Welsh Assembly for a regulating order.

Consultation is expected to begin next month and the order could be in force by 2006.

The Dee is one of five major cockle fisheries within the UK. Since 1995, it has been regulated to some degree through by-laws.

These introduced a permitting system, restricted fishing methods, and provided powers to temporarily close the fishery.

MP for Wirral South Ben Chapman welcomed the move.

He said: "The current exploitation of the cockle beds with all the attendant damage to the river and its ecosystems had become unsustainable,

"The concept of a well-managed fishery in which the costs of regulation are recouped from issuing a finite number of fishing permits commensurate with anticipated cockle stocks appears to be the most sensible way forward.

"It will, I hope, also improve safety which is currently compromised by the large numbers of inexperienced operators that have been active in the fishery.

"It has taken a long time to get to this point, but I hope that now we can now proceed to a permanent and effective solution."