Save Our Sea
On 25th September 2021, the UKD ORCA dredger was brought in by PD Ports to undertake 6% of its annual dredging quota at the mouth of the Tees Estuary and dispose of this dredged material in a spoil site located 7 miles off the coast.
The following day, those who work bait tyres in Greatham Creek reported dead and dying shore crabs in their tyres. Then, fishermen knew something was seriously wrong as their catches were decimated, and what little there was, was lifeless and weak – many lobsters dying before being landed. Wash-ups began occurring at Seaton Carew, Redcar and Saltburn. Thousands of crustaceans littered the shores in scenes never seen before; the public were as alarmed as those in the fishing industry and many sightings were reported on social media sites.
In early December, the North East Fishing Collective was formed, a collective made up of 9 commercial fishing and angling associations across the North East.
NEFC had a small amount of funding, which they used to commission an independent marine pollution consultant Tim Deere-Jones to carry out an investigation. Tim’s eventual report suggested that dredging had most likely disturbed chemicals and led to the mass mortalities plus he identified one potential chemical, pyridine.
Since then environmentalists and fishermen have continued to fight for answers – with DEFRA eventually launching an investigation. While the initial report said an algal bloom was the most likely cause, further investigations found that a “novel pathogen” was most likely to blame. Independent marine and university experts as well as the fishermen still believe dredging on the Tees unearthed historical toxins leading to the mass die off – but this has been ruled out by the authorities.
In the subsequent year, the fishermen have collected sediment samples themselves from the Tees estuary and dump sites out at sea and raised further funds to commission independent scientists from regional universities to analyse them. The results are still pending.
In March 2024, the North East Fishing Collective reported a continued absence of crabs between Hartlepool and Whitby and the sale of local fishing and prawn boats as a result of ongoing catastrophic financial losses.
The series was supported by the RPS/TPA Environmental Bursary 2023 and was published in The Journal of The Royal Photographic Society, January – March 2024 issue.
This work is ongoing.