In the US, it is regarded as the most valuable sea crop, generating dollars by the million. However, a potentially lucrative export business which could benefit peripheral areas has received a setback in north Mayo after a dispute between various State authorities on interpretation of the law.
The business is bait, and the particular crop is the bloodfilled, fat and juicy lugworm which is found in abundance on various parts of the coastline. For the past month, over 20 local people have been harvesting it on the strand at Blind Harbour, just outside Belmullet.
They are being trained in environmentally sensitive harvesting of the worm, according to Lugach Teo, a new company based in nearby Ballyglass, and in which Seabait, a major English supplier for anglers, holds shares. Udaras na Gaeltachta has grant-aided the initiative, to the tune of £49,000 for capital, research and development and training. Technical assistance is being given by the Udaras subsidiary, Taighde Mara Teo.
The project has aroused some local opposition, however, and the North-Western Regional Fisheries Board (NWRFB) has voiced disapproval over the lack of a foreshore licence. It is not happy with a baseline survey of lugworm stocks provided by Taighde Mara Teo. It says it would like to see a proper environmental impact assessment of the venture before a licence is granted by the Department of the Marine and Natural Resources.
"We feel that this harvesting could have a major impact on food supply to various species of fish, and affect sea angling in the area," Mr Vincent Roche, manager of the NWRFB, told The Irish Times. "One would have to be concerned about the environmental aspect, when an English company like Seabait is involved. It would suggest that its own supplies of bait on its own coastline are exhausted."
Lugach Teo maintains it did carry out a detailed environmental impact survey, and consulted with Duchas, the Wildlife Service and the Department of the Marine and Natural Resources. The Duchas involvement relates to the fact large parts of north Mayo are subject to various EU habitat directives, but Blind Harbour is not in a special area of conservation.
In the contact with the Department of the Marine and Natural Resources, it was led to believe the foreshore Act was not applicable as no beach material was being removed and no structures were being put in place.
The activity is limited to winter, which allows the beds to replenish undisturbed during the summer months. The target market is that comprising thousands of inshore and shorebased anglers on the north-east coast of Britain, who pay 12 pence on average for a lugworm.
It was this market which inspired islanders on Cape Clear off Co Cork to set up a ragworm bait farm, as one of their many self-sustaining enterprises.
The Mayo diggers are self-employed, supplying Lugach Teo with the crop for export, and supplementing income at a difficult time of year.
Lugach Teo maintains its approach is both structured and sensitive to the shore habitat - unlike the largely unregulated digging for bait on the east coast, which is now believed to be attracting day trippers from Britain. Mr Sean O Coisdealbha, development officer with Udaras na Gaeltachta, has emphasised the venture is in a research and development phase, to explore the economic viability and scientific impact of the activity, and has promised an environmental assessment when the season ends in February/March.
In the past fortnight, Blind Harbour has been visited by a Department of the Marine and Natural Resources engineer and regional staff, and by a representative of Duchas. The Department says it has advised the company to apply for the necessary foreshore licence and has requested that digging stop with effect from last week. Lugach Teo is not clear that such a directive has been issued, and the Northern Regional Fisheries Board said last week it had not been informed of this. There is a question mark over whether individual diggers would have to apply for the licence.
All of which suggests the need sooner rather than later for the Government's promised coastal zone management policy, allowing agencies concerned with inshore marine environment to co-operate and make the most of a valuable resource.