A Labour-backed project that risks devastating Europe's last wild native oyster fishery has sparked a ferocious war in a historic Cornish seaside town.

The £150million Falmouth Docks redevelopment could wipe out a tradition that dates back to Roman times, opponents have warned.

It aims to attract bigger cruise ships, lay the groundwork for Floating Offshore Wind and improve Ministry of Defence ship maintenance.

But the project would see a huge swathe of contaminated sediment that stretches 232,500 sq metres – the size of 32 football pitches – dredged and largely dumped at sea.

There are major concerns that sediment around Falmouth contains heavy metals and tributyltin (TBT), a toxic chemical that was used heavily in the area to paint ships' hulls before its use was banned globally in 2008.

If any of this material were to reach the oysters – which share the same Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status as France's Champagne or Italy's Prosciutto di Parma – the delicate creatures could be destroyed.

'It seems ludicrous. We're talking about possible major marine environmental damage,' Zane Dutton Tompson, 64, one of about 20 oyster-fishers, told the Mail.

He, like many others, fears the impact of disturbing heavily contaminated sediment and the repercussions of dumping it at sea.

Jason Pascoe, chair of the Fal Fisheries Cooperative, said that while waste had previously been dumped at the site out in the bay, it was not at this scale.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham has been accused of hypocrisy over the issue. Having entered No10 promising to devolve decision-making to local communities, his administration appears set to overrule the concerns of passionate local fishermen like Mr Dutton Tompson.

Tom Scott, coordinator of Cornwall Green Party, said: 'There's an obvious mismatch between denying local communities a role in being consulted and what Andy Burnham is saying about devolving decision-making powers at local level, and that's one reason why people in Cornwall are not happy.

'We don't want to be told by central Government that we have to have this project because it's going to be good for us or for the country.'

The oysters of Fal Estuary have been renowned across Europe since the days of Julius Caesar. Their distinctive flavour so enchanted the Romans that emperors would have them packed in snow and ice and shipped back to the imperial court.

While transportation has since accelerated – and the delicacies are now served everywhere from the Ritz in London and the Guy Savoy in Paris to the finest restaurants of Hong Kong, China and Dubai – one thing has not changed: the way they are harvested.

Today, just as 2,000 years ago, the oysters are hand-harvested by boats under sail and oar. Engines are banned to protect the fragile seabed.

'If this dredging operation goes wrong, we'll both be gone - the oysters and the fishers. It's not just the livelihoods it would destroy if we lost the oyster beds, we'd also lose the skills that are a part of our culture,' Mr Dutton Tompson said.

'Most of the guys were taught by their fathers and they have it in their genes. They read these waters as if they were reading words on a page.'

Several environmental organisations have also sounded the alarm over the plan including Cornwall Wildlife Trust.

Dr Dan Barrios-O'Neill, Head of Marine Conservation at the Trust, supports the need to invest in the docks, but stresses: 'Right now, the data simply cannot assure us that the organisations in charge can redevelop the docks in a safe and sustainable way.'

Tensions ran high at a meeting organised by campaign group Stop The Dredge in Falmouth last month. Crowds spilled onto the street to listen to a panel which included fishers, Cornwall Wildlife Trust, environmental activists and, speaking to the public for the first time, a representative from developer Balaena.

The Marine Management Organisation, the government environmental body that works with the developers, has the final say on whether this project will go ahead. While no date has been announced, a decision is expected soon.

Balaena did not respond to questions from the Daily Mail. 

It has previously stated that sampling has been done in accordance with regulations, and that dredging will be done in line with relevant licence conditions.

Miles Carden, chief executive officer of Falmouth Harbour, said the redevelopment is 'critical' for the port's future.

He described the scheme as 'proportionate' and that the 'methodology for doing the dredge is sound'.