Up until 1871, when oyster-dredging reached its peak, the dredging for oysters had been one of the mainstays of Mumbles Life. Some sixteen million oysters were harvested by five hundred locals employed on one hundred-and-fifty skiffs. But a combination of overfishing (said by some to be due to outsiders) pollution from the nearby River Tawe and a poor sewage scheme led to a sharp decline in oyster numbers over the following two years, resulting in relative prosperity transforming into such a degree of poverty that would  require soup kitchens.

            In 1871, regulations were brought in to license craft, protect and conserve stocks, prevent the taking of small or unfit fish and the temporary closure of sections of the sea bed. However, the peak of the industry had passed and a slow steady decline was in progress. Large numbers of skiffs were either sold at a loss or laid up as the employers could not afford to operate them.

The following week, the Cambrian printed two letters, pleading for financial help for those affected. 

One from 'Beinfaisant' emphasised one family where the father had a family of ten children. The other from D. White Evans pointed out that 'Now the skiff was gone and with it the means of a livelihood, the oysterman was left destitute. . . even those whose skiffs were damaged would need help with the cost of repairs.' 

Within a week, a hardship fund had been set up and donors' names published in the newspaper on 28 February and 4 March 1881, together with subscription lists.

 By 18 February, an 'Entertainment' had been held at Reynoldstone [sic] schoolroom in aid of the Mumbles fishermen. Artistes included Captain Miers, Mrs. Capel Miers, Miss Macdonald and Miss Wilton.

             Wages, which could sometimes have been  as much as £6 back in 1870, gradually diminished, so that by the 1890s, a man would be lucky to earn £1! The steady decline of the industry continued  and by 1883, there were only forty-seven skiffs, twenty-four by 1888, eighteen in 1908 and fourteen by the outbreak of the Great War. 

 A virus in the early 1920s finished off what was left of the industry forever-- or did it? Now nearly a century later in 2013, plans are afoot to reseed the oyster beds and hopefully bring back an oyster industry to Mumbles.