Alex Cunningham is calling for regular water testing of the North East and North Yorkshire Coast after the crustacean deaths.

The Stockton North MP believes more questions need answering after the inconclusive nature of the report.

Mr Cunningham has written to Mark Spencer, the Fisheries Minister, with three main areas of concern.

He wants:

  • An understanding of the ongoing work to determine the definitive answer to the crustacean die-offs
  • Open access to the samples to enable any future, independent research
  • A commitment from DEFRA for regular testing, monitoring and reporting regime of seas and sea-life

He said: "I’m grateful to those working on the Crustacean Mortality Expert Panel and indeed to everyone who has been trying to find the cause of this ecological catastrophe.

"Whether Ministers like it or not however, the recent report leaves more questions than answers, particularly around the definitive cause of the die-offs.

"The fishing industry and local people deserve to know the reasons behind the die-offs and they need to know that their Government doing all it can to avoid a repeat of this ecological catastrophe, protect our natural environment, and support local fishers."

In his letter to the Fisheries Minister he said: "The lack of certainty behind what caused the mass mortality event has created understandable concern that a mass die-off similar in scale to what happened in 2021 – there is evidence of ongoing smaller-scale events – could happen again.

"Also sadly, I understand there is little evidence of sea life recovery off the North East coast leaving more unanswered questions.

"Will your department commit to a regular testing and monitoring regime and report the findings so we can all monitor what is going on?"

Pyridine was suggested as a possible causative agent in the mass mortality event that occurred during the autumn of 2021.

The analytical pyridine detection method developed by Cefas through this study has been validated and the research has been internally reviewed by Defra and the Environment Agency.

DEFRA’s Chief Scientific Adviser, Professor Gideon Henderson, has supported this research and recognises the importance of it being independently peer-reviewed and published in an academic journal.

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Within this study the re-analyses of the original crab samples from the 2021 event in the Northeast of England, revealed very low concentrations of pyridine across the board.

Similarly, low concentrations were also found in the sediment samples.

The study concludes that it is very unlikely that pyridine was the sole causative agent of the crab and lobster mortalities during autumn 2021.