Fishermen Fear Fallacious Findings, Defra Denies.
Fishermen in north-east England have begun a legal campaign over the deaths of thousands of shellfish last year. A report suggested algae was to blame – but the fishermen fear the deaths were linked to the release of the chemical pyridine as a result of dredging in the River Tees in October.
Paul Widdowfield, who has fished all his adult life in the waters by Hartlepool, said his daily catches could now be 50 times smaller than three years ago, losing him £1,000 a day. “There’s absolutely nothing,” he said. “It’s not normal at all.” Stan Rennie, whose family has been fishing for 500 years, said: “It means absolutely everything to me. It’s all I’ve ever done. Now, we’re facing hardship because of the catches. The boat will probably have to go by the end of the year.” It was an “environmental disaster”, Mr Widdowfield and Mr Rennie said. On each trip, they used to throw about 80 pregnant lobsters back into the sea – but in the past three weeks, they have seen only two. Whitby fisherman James Noble summed up how many of the community felt. “If it was just about money, I could stack shelves for a living – but this is also about the environment. It belongs to everybody.”
Leading the campaign on behalf of hundreds of fishermen, marine biologist Joe Redfern said legal action could require agencies such as the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) and the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science (Cefas) to explain how their conclusions were reached. A court could then decide whether their investigations had been conducted in a lawful and thorough manner.