St Ouennais Tony Gavey has had a good start to the ormering season – but don’t ask him where he gets his bucketful from.
Like many other low-water fishers carrying on a tradition that has been a part of Island life for centuries, he has his prized – and secret – spots.
‘It’s what I do. It’s my hobby,’ he said. ‘I learned off the old guys who have done it for generations before now, and I am still learning, always learning.’
Ormers can only be collected between October and April, with fishers permitted to take 20 on any one coastal foray. They can only be gathered on the first day of each full moon and three days afterwards. The first ormering tides on the 2026 season were between 10-13 October, and the next opportunity is next week, between 26 and 29 October.
The limit is 100 per boat with a maximum of five people on board. If there are fewer than five people, individual bag limits apply. The minimum size in 9cm across the widest part of the shell and it is illegal to collect ormers using scuba or other diving equipment.
Asked where he finds this ancient Jersey delicacy? ‘In the sea,’ Tony says with a chuckle. Each Christmas Eve, he posts pictures of all the fish he has caught that year to throw people off the scent so they cannot link the location with a date.
While he does not disclose the exact co-ordinates, he does explain that the location is determined by the wind direction (…although he’d rather not leave his beloved parish).
‘For example, if it’s a north easterly,’ Tony explains. ‘I go around the Five Mile Road or Corbière,’ adding that sometimes he’ll be on the south or east coasts, and occasionally clambering down the cliffs on the north.
Tony went out on two tides earlier this month and quickly gathered his allowance of 20. As well as eating the fruits of his labour and keeping enough for the winter, Tony also looks after several elderly people around the parish.
‘They love them, can’t get enough of them, and I make sure they’re all right,’ he says.
Mick Ward, owner of Mr Fish angling store in First Tower, said that people were telling him that they were finding their quota in just a few minutes, and even had the luxury of continuing to search so that they could find bigger ormers and put the smaller ones back.
‘I’ve never known it so good,’ he added. ‘I don’t know what has caused the rise in numbers. It used to be quite hard to find them, but not anymore. Maybe its global warming. That’s the reason for everything nowadays isn’t it.’
