ARTIFICAL reefs are to be created at a Teesside lake to protect fish from sea birds.

Cormorants have been eating thousands of fish from Hemlington Lake, in Middlesbrough.

Staff at the lake's recreation centre plan to make reefs from wire fencing and plastic mesh to give the fish somewhere to hide.

The work will be carried out in the coming weeks and will involve cutting wooded areas used as dumps.

A spokesman for the recreation said that when the cormorants came, it was like a feeding frenzy. Some of the birds have been seen eating up to 20 fish at one sitting.

Last June, dead fish were found in the lake after too much weed and algae killer was poured into the water.