Published 22nd Oct 2022, 11:45 BST

Joe Redfern, the manager of the Whitby Lobster Hatchery, and Dr Gary Caldwell, a senior lecturer in marine biology at the University of Newcastle are set to attend the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Select Committee (EFRA) on Wednesday as questions continue to be asked about what really caused thousands of crustaceans, in particular crabs and lobsters to be washed up on beaches from Hartlepool to Whitby.

Last night a documentary by the BBC aired called “Trouble At Sea” which follows the local community – including fishermen, locals and environmental volunteers - as they deal with the fall out from the mass mortality which occurred in October 2021.

Mystery crab and lobster deaths: Government agrees to re-investigate after Whitb...

Joe Redfern is pictured with Juvenile Lobster called Dolly at the Whitby Lobster Hatchery. Mr Redfern features in a new BBC documentary looking at why thousands of dead crabs and lobsters were found dead and washed up on Yorkshire beaches last year.

They believe it could have been caused by dredging, a practice carried out in ports to maintain channels for vessels as they would otherwise be blocked up by sand and sediment, and the presence of a toxic chemical called pyridine which can lay dormant in dredged material.

In addition to contributions from Mr Redfern and Dr Caldwell, the BBC has followed James Cole, a sixth-generation crab and lobster fishermen from Whitby who might be facing the last year of his career.

Following reports from further up the coast last year, Mr Cole, who has been going to sea since he was seven-years-old, started to notice below average catches for crabs and a lack of younger stock in the North Sea.

In the last nine months he has lost two thirds of his usual catch that is equivalent to £2,000 a week, he reveals in the documentary.

James Cole is a sixth generation fisherman in Whitby and noticed crab catches were down by two thirds at the height of the marine emergency. He talks to a new documentary about his fears for the future of his trade while stocks are so down.

He says: “Something catastrophic is going on with the eco-system. It leaves you with a sinking feeling that there is going to be no future in this job. Everybody is treating the sea like a rubbish-tip. It is mind-blowing.”

The programme also features Sally Bunce, an ex-police officer turned environmental volunteer and activist. After the first wave of shellfish mortalities she started to investigate the issue and believes dredging activity in the River Tees may have inadvertently led to the die off as marine records show dredging was taking place just before the dead crabs and lobsters started to get washed up.

PD Ports – the statutory harbour authority that looks after the Tees – dispute that dredging may have had anything to do with the incident and confirms it operated within the terms of its licence as it also appears on the show.

In May 2022, a DEFRA report said the cause of death was algal bloom - a rapid increase or accumulation in the population of algae in freshwater or marine water systems.

Fishing crews stage a protest in Teesport, Middlesbrough, near the mouth of the River Tees, demanding a new investigation into the mass deaths of crabs and lobsters in the area. They believe a 'dead zone' in North East inshore waters is killing marine life and "decimating" their livelihoods.

However, the North Sea Fishing Collective made up of commercial fishing associations, angling societies and stakeholders commissioned a report by an independent marine consultant and Hull and York universities, as well as Newcastle, started their own research.

In May 2022, 23 fishing boats from various ports headed to the River Tees for a mass protest to express their frustrations and at the “disbelieving” of authorities who continue to say the deaths were a natural incident.

They are calling for the investigation to be re-opened and assurances that mass dredging operations in future will take the sediment to landfill rather than dump it at sea.

To replace the dead stocks will take several years, warned Mr Redfern, and that was only if they ever do return as the whole “structure of the eco-system” will have changed, he added.

"We are talking about years of impact. At my hatchery, every juvenile lobster takes five to seven years before it is viable and can be bred. We are talking potentially seven years before we can see that. It could change the whole structure of the eco-system.

"There have been other instances (of dead marine life being washed up) but nothing on that scale, but that is because everything is dead – there is nothing to wash up.”

Mr Redfern, who set up Whitby Lobster Hatchery last year with the intention of releasing 100,000 lobsters each year, said: “After a year of pressure and talking to people and campaigning this (select committee) is where we have got which is really good.

"If it was such a clear cut case there would be no need to have the hearing. We have been told all the way through this to get our own data so it is good to have got to this and hopefully they will take it on board and be more minded with it.

“We want to reopen the investigation, be more open-minded and make sure it doesn’t happen again – here or anywhere else.”

Marine campaigners set to question MPs over deaths of thousands of crabs and lobsters on Yorkshire beaches as row continues over cause