A NEW cockle consultation has been launched by the Welsh Government.
It will build on analysis of a previous one last year.
Cockle fisheries are worth several million pounds to the Welsh economy.
There has been focus in recent years about cockle mortality in the Burry Inlet.
Minister for Natural Resources and Food, Alun Davies, said response to the first consultation "provided a clear mandate" for a new cockle fisheries regime to ensure a long-term future and increase traceability and enforcement. Support was shown, he said, for year-round fishing via a total allowable catch.
Mr Davies said: "The results and analysis prompted further consideration of some of the elements contained within the proposals, namely the methodology for allocating permits under a new cockle management regime in Wales.
"My officials have looked at those elements as part of the package of measures and have refined proposals surrounding the details of the allocation methodology and to clarify the protocols of the forthcoming new management scheme for cockle fisheries."