Mass deaths of marine life off North East Coast.

CPRE North and East Yorkshire, the countryside charity, wish to express the deep concern over the mass deaths of marine life that are occurring off the Yorkshire and the North East of England coast.

Dear Mayor Houchen,

We would wish to express the deep concern of CPRE North and East Yorkshire over the mass deaths of marine life that are occurring off the Yorkshire and the North East of England coast.

There is now significant cause to doubt the causative factor of these deaths following the recent joint  research report from Newcastle/ Hull / York and Durham Universities. DEFRA has previously attributed these deaths to an algal bloom: the Universities Report highlights the release of toxic Pyridine as a more likely factor.

To quote

“Preliminary evidence suggests the crab deaths are “more consistent with poisoning by industrial toxins than by natural algal toxins” and more analysis of sediment and water samples must be done “as a matter of urgency”.

They add:

They agreed satellite imaging does show(ed) a marine algal bloom appear(ing) off the coast in October but evidence supporting the theory that it caused the deaths is “incomplete and contradictory”, as the metabolites detected were not from the algal species normally associated with die-offs.

The researchers said harmful algal blooms “usually kill a broad range of organisms”, including fish, but this event “disproportionately affected crabs and lobsters”.

We consider the huge marine death rates along the coast to be in no way coincidental to the amount of contaminated river bed deposits that have been dredged and relocated to an off shore deposit site. It is known that industrial sites in the TeesPort area were using Pyridine prior to 2019.

These polluted sediments have accumulated over many years through the various steel making, chemical factories and decommissioned nuclear power plant. They have been buried and undisturbed by river mud and sediment since the cessation of industry.

To simply relocate this untreated sediment and deposit offshore is in no way decontamination process but a simple offloading and reliance on the old maxim of the solution to pollution is dilution.

We consider a more appropriate description would be unlicenced waste fly tipping on an industrial scale, with no regard for the consequences at home or abroad.

The loss of biodiversity is totally unacceptable. Shellfish, crabs, lobsters, fish, birds, poppies and seals have been affected. The damage to the local fishing and shellfish industry has been significant and the impact on community health and wellbeing is a deep concern as we are moving into a cost-of-living crisis.

The local fishing industry has been massively affected, to the extent where its viability is questionable.

With so many immature crustaceans wiped out, and crabs and lobsters can live to an age of 30+ years there is little chance of recovery for the biodiversity or industry.

Equally local tourism is impacted by the visual impact of numerous dead and dying sea creatures. The marine waters are not just UK’s by right but part of the wider marine ecosystem these actions are impacting on our neighbours in continental Europe.

We would, in the light of the recent Universities report, expect and anticipate, best practice and responsible Environmental management practice to be followed and the dredge and dump practices to cease immediately until further research can identify the true causes of this biodiversity disaster.

In addition, if the mass deaths of crustacea is a consequence of the release of toxic chemicals we would expect a full mitigation plan to be instituted.

Given the scale of this environmental disaster I await your immediate response and what actions you will be taking in the short, medium and long term.

Yours Sincerely

Jan Arger – CPRE North and East Yorkshire Chairman.

Articles:

Countryside charity chief calls for immediate stop to dredging after release of report on crab deaths