The 2015 Solway Firth cockle survey was carried out between August 10th and 20th by staff from Marine Ecological Solutions Ltd (Marine EcoSol) and their sub-contractors Hebog Environmental Ltd, working under contract to Marine Scotland. As in previous Solway shore-based surveys, All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) were used to collect samples at pre-determined randomly generated locations (stations), during periods of low water. A stratified random sampling design (first stage) was employed at each fishing ground. At Barnhourie a two-stage adaptive sampling design (Francis, 1984; Bailey et al., 1998) was used to target high density areas of C. edule, identified during the first sampling stage. Computer generated random sampling positions were uploaded to Global Positioning Systems (GPS) equipment mounted on the ATVs or carried by hand.