Bloody rivalry may have claimed cockle pickers' lives

The 19 Chinese labourers who drowned when they were trapped on a sandbank picking cockles were caught up in a violent turf war over the lucrative trade, fisherman in the north-western English town of Morecambe said.

Like many of the Britons who dig for shellfish during low tide in Morecambe Bay, Gareth Parkinson resented seeing Chinese migrants working in the muddy sands.

Many, he says, were illegal immigrants who did not speak English and who could not have legally obtained permits for cockle picking.

He and his friends resented competition from up to 200 Chinese cocklers, even if they were sending most of their earnings - up to £150 ($360) a day - back to their poor families in China.

But Mr Parkinson, 22, was shocked when that resentment led to a turf war between the Chinese and the local cocklers. He thinks that may have led to the drowning of the Asians caught in the swirling tides on the night of February 5.

"I think they came out cocklefishing that night because they knew the locals would fight with them or sabotage their equipment on the beaches again during the day," said Mr Parkinson, who bears the scars of one clash between Chinese and British cocklers. "It's a shame, but it was a tragedy waiting to happen."

Police say it is too early to know what caused the disaster and who, if anyone, was responsible. A Lancashire Police spokesman, Peter Lovett-Horn, confirmed there had been violent incidents.

At low tide, the bay's waters can recede more than 12 kilometres from the high water line.

The Chinese workers "don't know what they're doing regarding the tides. They do as they're told," said P. Williams, 31, a cockler from Barrow-in-Furness.

"They're often the first ones on and the last ones off, and we've seen them get stuck out there before."

Half a dozen cocklers - most of whom refused to be identified - said the locals had recently used kerosene to set fire to nets of freshly harvested cockles that the Chinese had placed on a beach.

Mr Parkinson said he suffered a broken rib and a cut on his leg in one fight between local fishermen and the Chinese, each side armed with the metal rakes they use to dig cockles.

Associated Press, The Guardian