PEOPLE have been harvesting cockles by hand from the beaches around Scotland's coastline for centuries.

But this ancient practice has led to a bitter feud between cockle fishermen and one Scottish community attempting to protect their local marine and bird life.

The villagers in Fife are so intent on protecting their coastline from the shellfishers that they say they will take the law into their own hands.

The move comes after a legal attempt to ban the harvesting of the sought-after shellfish at Burntisland beach and Pettycur Bay. Fife Council last year won an interim interdict to prevent harvesting on the protected site over fears the marine and bird life could be adversely affected by the growing numbers of shellfishers gathering cockles by hand.

The move was seen as a temporary ban until Scottish Natural Heritage was able to obtain permission from the Scottish Executive to further protect the site, which is already an EU-designated Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI).

However, one cockle firm challenged the interim interdict and the council decided not to contest it, leaving the area unprotected. Locals fear an influx of cockle fishers from south of the border now that the ban is no longer in force.

William Leggatt, chairman of the Burntisland Residents' Association, said: ''It is a very important site for wildlife and the whole food chain is affected if the cockles disappear.

''So we are ready and waiting for them to come back. We have a boat which is ready to be launched and we are going to block them from trying to land the cockles. We will also block them from getting on to the beach with a number of strategically placed cars.

''We will inform the police of what we are doing and as chairman will take full responsibility. There will be no violence or disruption - it will be a peaceful protest.''

Shellfishers are able to earn more than (pounds) 1500 a tonne selling hand-picked cockles to restaurants in France and Spain, but the industry is finding it more difficult to source cockles as harvesting of the shellfish is being banned in increasingly more areas.

Colin Bryden, a fisherman, paid for the challenge to the interdict taken out by Fife Council and is now planning to return to the area with his team of hand-gatherers.

Mr Bryden said: ''They (the council) were 100% wrong and that's why they did not contest the interdict. Our harvesting does not do any damage at all. It will actually improve the area rather than destroying it. A lot of cockles are actually dying off because there are too many in the area.''

Mr Bryden estimates there are between 180-200 tonnes of cockles in Burntisland and Pettycur Bay, and his 12-strong team intend to harvest for three periods of five days with a gap of two weeks between.

Each day they hope to net about two tonnes, giving a maximum total of 30 tonnes for the 15-day harvest. This, Mr Bryden claims, will reduce cockle numbers by just 25%. But, more importantly, he says, it will allow the population to grow over the course of the next few months.

Dr John Lancaster, from the school of biological sciences at Swansea University, said there was some evidence to suggest that thinning cockle numbers in a densely populated area would help, and he doubted that a minor hand-picking operation could cause damage to the area.

He said: ''If there are too many cockles competing for a limited amount of space then there is often not enough food to support the population and a thinning of numbers is required.

''Hand-gathering is the most ecologically friendly method and small-scale harvesting is unlikely to have much impact anyway.''

However, Fife locals say that without a ban, companies will increasingly turn their attention to their shores. Some companies have already started to do so after being forced to abandon their traditional harvesting grounds on the Solway Firth.

David Somerville, head of community services at Fife council, said in an internal memo: ''We are not against cockle fishing in general, but our concern is that we don't know what stocks there are

or how sustainable they

are.''

A spokesman for Scottish Natural Heritage said: ''SNH has asked the Scottish Executive to consider putting a Special Nature Conservation Order on this site which would stop the cockling.

''It may be that that would allow us to possibly even manage a fishery without harming the bird life or the sustainability of the cockles.''

mollusc delicacy

Cockles are a type of bivalve mollusc, once a staple part of the British diet in coastal areas. They are frequently heart-shaped with ribbed shells.

Cockles are burrowing shellfish which live in firm sand in sheltered bays. In some places, there are up to one million per acre.

Traditionally served raw with vinegar and bread and butter, they are considered a delicacy.

Though harvested throughout the year, cockles are usually in best condition during the summer months.

Cockles are sold fresh, frozen, canned and in brine. Recipes include cockles with garlic shallots and steamed cockles in Thai broth.

Cockles were immortalised in the song Cockles and Mussels, which begins: In Dublin's fair city where the girls are so pretty; I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone; She wheeled her wheelbarrow through the streets broad and narrow; Crying, cockles and mussels, alive, alive-o.

The expression ''warm the cockles of your heart'' first emerged in the mid-17th century. The earliest form of the idiom was ''rejoice the cockles of one's heart''.