DEFRA need to tell the truth about the needless loss of marine life happening on North East beaches, protestors claimed this morning as they poured piles of dead and rotting crabs outside of the department's offices in London.
Ocean Rebellion used to crab protest to ask the Department of Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to “tell the truth” about the “needless” loss of marine life happening on North East beaches.
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Protestors turned up outside of DEFRA’s offices dressed in fishing gear and proceeded to pour the boxes of dead and rotting crabs onto the ground.
They then left the scene after holding up placards reading “as the sea dies we die”, and “no more fish in the sea.”
A spokesperson for the activist group said the investigators were testing “chemical poisoning.”
They told The Northern Echo: “They were there to conduct the independent and unbiased investigation that DEFRA should be having carried out in the Teesside area.
“The investigators sealed off the area with the Climate Crime Scene tape, carefully cleaned the site, making sure the toxic mess didn’t infect the environment.
“Unlike the dredging that’s happening in the mouth of the River Tees and, unlike DEFRA, they tested for chemicals including Pyridine.”
Ocean Rebellion continued to speak of the seal-pupping season, saying the North East is “a well known breeding area” and “Stockton boasts Seal Sands and seals are often spotted.”
However, as the pupping season progressed walkers, walkers started to report dead seals and pups.
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A spokesperson for the activist group continued to say: “These began to wash up with horrific regularity, and most of the bodies washed up were pups.”
A DEFRA-produced report concluded that an “algal bloom” was responsible for the mass deaths of crustaceans since October 2021.
However, an independent report, carried out by Tim Deere-Jones, using information gained through FOIs into Defra, the Marine Management Organisation, and the Centre for the Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture Science, found the pollution was being caused by pyridine.
A spokesperson for DEFRA in March that “Further scientific work is required to continue to examine the ongoing impact of this incident and we will continue to update industry on next steps as work continues.”
However, DEFRA have confirmed that “algal bloom” was the “most likely cause of the incident.”
A spokesperson the department said: “Defra has thoroughly investigated this incident and concluded that a naturally occurring harmful algal bloom was the most likely cause of the incident.
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“We ruled out a number of potential causes including chemical pollution, sewage, animal disease, and dredging.”
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