Inlet and Estuary - Gower - page 193

FIG 107. Father and son hold a locally caught sea bass, weighing around 1.5 pounds (0.7 kilograms), before return-
ing it to the sea, as it is underweight. (Harold Grenfell)
Bass are exploited all around the coastal area, through the use of rod and line, net, and to a lesser
extent trawl. Due to the pressure on the stocks the inlet has been designated as a bass nursery area. For
this reason, boat fishing for bass is seasonally restricted. Catches of bass and other species dependent on
the estuary from Carmarthen Bay are significant, however, with the Sea Fisheries Committee estimating
that over 25 tonnes of bass are landed annually.
As the season progresses, the anglers tend to concentrate upon sea trout Salmo trutta and, to a lesser
extent, Atlantic salmon S. salar . The sea trout run starts in April and usually reaches a peak in late May
and early June. The first fish to enter tend to be the larger, multiple-spawning ones, with the main run of
maiden fish in late May and June. During July and August the smaller shoal sea trout, known as whitling,
entertherivers.Thesalmonthatdoentertheriverstendtodosoduringthesummerandautumn.Thebest
months for sea trout fishing are therefore usually June, July and August, while salmon fishing tends to be
restrictedtoSeptemberandOctober.Althoughthesearetheprincipalmonths,seatroutandsalmoncanbe
caught throughout the season from March to October. The Loughor has an average recorded annual catch
of only 9 salmon and 195 sea trout.
Non-commercial species include both the sea lamprey Petromyzon marinus and the river lamprey
Lampetra fluviatillis ,primitivejawlessfishesresemblinganeel.Bothfishneedcleangravelforspawning
and marginal silt or sand for the burrowing juveniles. The larva feeds by filtering fine particles during the
five years of its freshwater life, while the marine stage develops a sucker-like mouth to feed on marine
fish such as the shad Clupea alosa and salmon before eventually returning to fresh water to spawn and
die.
Other species which occur in the area include two members of the herring family, twaite shad Alosa
fallax and allis shad A. alosa . The estuaries feeding into Carmarthen Bay contain the only viable popula-
tions of shad in the UK and for this reason the area is of national importance. While twaite shad is found
along most of the western coastline of Europe allis shad is rare and declining. Like the herring, shad feed
on zooplankton, filtering it from the water through comb-like gill rakers. Both fish have streamlined bod-
ies, distinct circular scales with a toothed edge on the lower margin, and a membrane partially covering
each eye. The only reliable way of separating the two species is by counting the gill rakers; twaite shad
have only 40 to 60 while allis shad have 90 to 130.
Sandeels,particularlythelessersandeel Ammodytes tobicnus ,arecommonintheestuaryandprovide
an important food resource for many other fish and for seabirds. They are also the basis of a small bait
industry.
BIRD POPULATIONS
If there is one feature of the inlet and estuary that attracts the interest of naturalists it is the importance of
the area for birds. The sand, the alluvial mud with its wealth of invertebrate fauna, the salt marshes and
sea-washed turf offer a wide range of habitats. The estuary is the most important wholly Welsh estuary
for waterfowl, being valuable both as a wintering area and as a resting area during the spring and autumn
passage for many artic-breeding species. The area lies on a major migratory flyway and many birds mov-
ing to and from other wintering areas on the Mediterranean and European coasts stop for a while on their
journey. The area increases in importance when there are periods of severe cold weather in eastern Eng-
land and birds move to the comparative warmth of the west.