Societe tagging at last ormering tide of year
THE last ormering tide of the year was not the lowest, but the good weather meant that it was probably one of the most pleasant times to go hunting for the elusive shellfish.
It was also another opportunity for La Societe Guernesiaise’s ormer taggers to see if they could track down any more to add to those they had already managed to tag.
Societe marine biology section secretary Laura Bampton said that since they started the exercise last October they had managed to tag 50 ormers of various sizes.
‘We’ve been doing one session a month since then,’ she said.
Since the taggers are not taking the ormers away, they are not restricted as to when they are able to look for them.
The tag is a small one, bearing a number and letter code and it is attached to the shell with an inert glue that does not harm the ormer and should keep the tag in place for a long time, said Miss Bampton.
They had tried tagging ormers near Portelet, but had not had as much luck finding them there than in the waters around Lihou Island: ‘I’ve decided just to target this site because it’s part of a Ramsar site,’ she said.
‘The tags will help me re-find them and measure how far they’ve moved and grown.’
Aware that some of the tagged ormers could end up being taken home by gatherers, she said La Societe hoped people would report that they had found one, even if they intended to eat it.
‘It’s quite labour intensive,’ said Miss Bampton of the tagging process. ‘You have to find them in the first place, photograph them and measure them.’
Despite the good conditions and 0.4m tide – possibly even lower due to the high pressure on Saturday – there were only three people ormering in earnest.
Sarah Crisp had left her husband, Jurat Stuart, to it and was heading to Lihou for a swim in the Venus Pool, but she said that the day before he had ended up with a haul of 10 ormers and two lobsters: ‘They were good size ones, too,’ she said.
He had also seen several small ormers, she said: ‘He talked about one man who saw eight babies under one stone.’
The afternoon had not proven so fruitful for first-time ormerer Xiang Lee.
But after half an hour’s searching he had only one in his bucket, and he was not sure if it was big enough to take home.
‘I hope it’s big enough,’ he said. ‘I want to show the kids.’
On spotting the ormer taggers nearby, he asked them to measure it for him and was told that his find was legal.
The taggers had a good afternoon, and managed to tag 10 ormers before the tide started to come in.
