Committee Hears Competing Theories On Yorkshire Coast Shellfish Deaths

Wednesday, 26 October 2022 06:00

By Matthew Pells

A government committee has heard competing theories about what caused the deaths of thousands of shellfish off the Yorkshire Coast.

The Environment Food and Rural Affairs Committee heard yesterday from government scientists who put the mass mortality event down to an algal bloom which they say caused a lack of oxygen at the seabed - killing the crustaceans.

But, academic researchers from the University of Newcastle say they believe that dredging in the River Tees released a toxic chemical called Pyridine from the seafloor, which killed the crabs and lobsters.

Joe Redfern from the Whitby commercial fishing Association spoke at the hearing, he wants further dredging to be halted.

DEFRA's official report had concluded that a naturally occurring algal bloom was responsible for the mass mortality event last year.

But Dr Gary Caldwell from Newcastle University's School of Environmental Science, says experiments have shown that the chemical pyridine could have killed the crustaceans, he's concerned that dredging in the River Tees at the time of the event could have released the chemical from the seabed and he says their research shows that crabs are more susceptible to the chemical than had been previously thought.