On patrol today we spotted a group at Peveril Point who seemed to be taking a large amount of limpets off the rocks. We made a few enquiries about the legalities of taking limpets from the shore only to find in fact they aren't protected.
However they are protected if they are within an area of SSSI and Durlston Bay just happens to be one of those.
This group of six was about 20 metres inside this area so off we went to ask some questions.
So tactfully asking what they were doing and what they had in their bags it was confirmed they had limpets......so I asked what they were going to do with them, "eat them" was the answer, "in Portugal they are a delicacy" oh OK.....(I only thought you went crabbing with them!)
So having just crashed diplomatic relations, it was a case of pointing out they were just inside a protected area and shouldn't be taking any limpet. With a huge apology they stopped and left the beach.
Its not all about rescuing people, sometimes we do our best to protect the environment.
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