Independent report into deaths of North Sea marine life can't come soon enough - The Yorkshire Post says

It is clear that we need to do what we can to boost this country’s economy. That is how you lift people out of poverty, it’s the way that you dull the pain of austerity and that’s how you ensure vital public services are protected. But along the way, there is also a need to protect the planet and its biodiversity.

And that is why it’s important that dredging at freeport sites is looked at closely. MPs have called for the act to be paused while a mass die-off of marine life on the coastline from Hartlepool to Whitby is investigated.

The Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) last year said it had concluded that “a naturally occurring harmful algal bloom” was the most likely cause of the deaths, after a “thorough investigation”.

Subsequent research by academics, backed by the fishing industry, suggested the incident could have been caused by industrial pollutant pyridine, possibly from dredging in the mouth of the River Tees to maintain channels for port traffic. But there are those like Simon Clarke, MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, who say that the dredging being blamed happened after the die-off.

Fishing crews stage a protest in Teesport, Middlesbrough, near the mouth of the River Tees, last year, demanding a new investigation into the mass deaths of crabs and lobsters in the area. PIC: Owen Humphreys/PA Wire

The Government expects to receive a report from an independent panel of experts this month, the findings of which can’t come soon enough.

Whatever the findings of the report, it is crucial that authorities get to the bottom of the mass die-off of marine life, which has decimated fishing livelihoods, in an open and transparent way .

If anything, pictures of piles of dead crabs washed up on beaches is a reminder of just how precarious biodiversity is.