Desperate fishers slam local MP for 'insulting' prawn comments

The North East Fishing Collective (NEFC), which represents fishers from Hartlepool to Whitby, was established to support fishers along that stretch of coast after unexplained mass deaths of shellfish in the area in several events from September 2021 onwards left them without catches.

Hartlepool MP, Jill Mortimer, last week shared a photo of her in a meeting with Environment Minister Mark Spencer in Parliament where she described how “prawners have experienced a temporary but significant reduction in their catches due to prawns burrowing into sands.”

“The prawns and catches returned,” she wrote, however the NEFC has disputed this in no uncertain terms. In a statement released last night (23rd May) they mention fishers “who are suffering indescribable hardship and lack of catches on the local prawn grounds where they have made their livings all of their working lives.”

The statement begins by saying: “It is with utter dismay and bewilderment that we find ourselves having to clarify the current situation for those concerned in order to have full transparency around the current issues that the fleet faces.”

Despite Mortimer describing the return of prawns, NEFC quotes several skippers from the fleet in Hartlepool who dispute this.

“The last couple of winters have proven extremely challenging as the prawns we would normally rely on from inshore grounds have failed to materialise, resulting in having to travel anywhere between 10-20 miles North of Hartlepool to look for prawns in a bid to earn a living,” said Darren Greenwood.

One unnamed skipper said how they’re having to travel “two hours North of Hartlepool to get any prawns in any quantity. The job's f****d.”

A number of mass mortality events have occurred on the coast around the mouth of the river Tees, mainly affecting crabs, lobsters and other crustaceans. The government originally blamed an algal bloom, although this was ruled out.

The fishers commissioned research from academics at Newcastle University who put forward a theory that the chemical pyridine - a toxic by-product of the steel industry - had been responsible for the deaths. Campaigners had speculated that redevelopment of land on the south bank of the river for the Tees freeport site had disturbed pollutants that had collected in the ground and sediment over the last two centuries of heavy industry there.

Late last year, the Department for the Environment (Defra) commissioned an independent panel of experts to examine the available evidence to attempt to find the cause of the crab deaths. Its findings were published in January this year and ruled out dredging and pyridine as potential causes, although its proposed most likely cause - a new disease - was ruled to be “as likely as not” to have caused the deaths.

The NEFC has recently commissioned new research which has included taking sediment samples from different points in the Teesmouth area as well as off-shore. They are currently awaiting the test results as the samples are tested for a wide range of pollutants at the University of York.

Jill Mortimer did not respond to a request for comment.