Whitby, May 2022
By Tessa Bunney on 5 April 2023
Out at sea on the ‘Good Intent’ checking their lobster pots. We sailed out six miles to the furthest pots first and then made our way back to Whitby harbour.
The skipper shouted out each time he hauled up a pot which contained a lobster. At six miles out this was almost every pot but as we got closer to land this became less and less.
“The catch rates are down tremendously even in Whitby. It’s 20 miles from here to Teesport as the crow flies and it’s affected from Tees all the way up to Scarborough.
The fishermen’s morale from Hartlepool up to Scarborough is absolutely on the floor because we can’t see an end to it. We don’t know what’s the cause of all the dead lobsters and wash-ups and we don’t know when it’s going to stop so we have our environment slowly dying.
Six miles out there’s signs of life but once you get inside of that you can definitely see something drastic has happened because the sealife just cuts off and further out you’re seeing creatures that would live in rock pools and they’re out in 30 fathoms of water.” James Cole, Skipper of the ‘Good Intent’
