Crab death inquiry: Committee chairman says further work needs to be done to protect fisheries

The chairman of a parliamentary committee looking into mass crab and lobster deaths along  the North East coast says they plan to write to the Government’s Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DEFRA) to recommend that more scientific sampling is carried out at the River Tees, to gather further evidence surrounding the case. 

Thousands of shellfish were found washed up either dead or dying in Autumn 2021 along the coast near Teesside and North Yorkshire.

DEFRA’s investigations found the most likely cause was an algal bloom, a harmful but naturally occurring water algae. 

However fishermen on Teesside and in Whitby, who say they suffered catch losses of up to 90% as a result of the deaths, blamed pollution in the River Tees.

They claimed that historic industrial toxins had been unearthed by dredging along the Tees bed, a theory DEFRA has ruled out due to a lack of evidence.

Fishermen, supported by marine biologists from the region, commissioned a new study into the deaths, led by Newcastle, Durham, York and Hull Universities.

That study concluded that their “preliminary evidence suggests that crab deaths could be consistent with poisoning by industrial toxins, as well as by natural algal toxins [and] many uncertainties remain: targeted sediment and water sampling needs to happen around Teesside as a matter of urgency if we are to understand how to prevent further economically and socially damaging mass mortality events.”

The university study, which is yet to be peer reviewed, prompted a Parliamentary hearing, allowing MPs to hear all the evidence, and question both government and university scientists.

The hearing, on Tuesday 25 October, was told that the only firm dredging on the Tees before the mass deaths was PD Ports, who are lawfully licensed for essential maintenance dredging.

• Report by Rachel Bullock

Jerry Hopkinson, managing director of PD Ports, told the hearing that last year, slippage on the river bed demanded more intensive dredging, but it was done under very best practice and fell well within the depths they have dredged over the last forty to fifty years, with no incidents. 

The panel was told that separate to the maintenance dredging carried out by PD Ports, new dredging called "capital dredging" began eight weeks ago along Middlesbrough’s South Bank Quay to make way for Teesside’s new Freeport.

There are calls from fishermen for that capital dredging to be halted to allow a new investigation into suspected buried pollution within that section of the river bed. 

Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) committee chair Sir Robert Goodwill, Conservative MP for Scarborough and Whitby, said: "We had a good opportunity to listen to all the signs, I'm not still convinced that either way so I think we need further work.

"The algal bloom happened last year - we know there was an algal bloom - it's whether it killed the fish or not."

He added: "I think we need to do more work, we need to take it very seriously. If we are to develop the Tees as a bigger port with lots of jobs, we need to do that in a way that is environmentally safe."

South Tees Development Corporation, the body that’s leading the Freeport project, began its dredging eight weeks ago, nearly a year after the dead shellfish were washed up.

There have been no reports of any further dead shellfish since the Freeport work began in September 2022.

The South Tees Development Corporation told us: "We continue to follow all legal standards and requirements, as is required, including the issued licence and guidance from DEFRA and the MMO who continue to rule out dredging as a likely cause.

"The Tees Valley Mayor continues to push Government for financial support for those fishermen whose livelihoods have been affected by this issue."

Responding to news that the MPs’ committee will now write to DEFRA, Dr Gary Caldwell, a marine scientist at Newcastle University and who contributed to the university study said: "I am feeling positive, I am feeling like we were genuinely listened to.

"That is important because it shows that we are now beginning to coalesce on a common direction."

He added: "If we can work alongside the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs agencies, with the power of the universities, with the power of the independent research, it is a really good thing to do."

Hartlepool fisherman Stan Rennie, who also gave evidence at the hearing said: "We are the North East, we're proud people and like I said in there, some people think England stops at Leeds.

"Well it doesn't, we are the North East….and the message has got out there and we've had the opportunity to speak before the committee."

DEFRA said they have  always welcomed the research carried out by universities into the deaths and are keen to study it in detail. They add that the Inshore Fisheries and Conservation Authority for the North East contacted the researchers and asked for them to share some unpublished data with DEFRA and its agencies. They are yet to receive the data but say they will look at it when the researchers are able to share it.

DEFRA’s broader statement regarding the background to the case can be found here.

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