Environmental watchdogs have launched an investigation after thousands of dead fish wash ashore on beaches in North East England. Thousands of sea creatures have been washing up on Teesside’s beaches with some residents reporting that piles are ‘waist deep’.
Sharon Bell, a Marske-by-the-Sea resident, told WTX News she walked the beach near her home every day and had seen a “steady build-up of soft crustaceans,” in the past few weeks.
Bell said she went to the beach this week and was shocked to see “the seaweed was piled high to waist level, but it was absolutely full, and I mean thousands of dead crabs and alive crabs, all varieties, lobsters as well.”
She told Teesside Media she visited the beach again Wednesday morning, only to find the smell was “absolutely terrible,” as the piles of dead crabs began to “decompose down.”
An investigation has been launched
The UK’s Environment Agency said it was working with the Centre for Environment, Fisheries and Aquaculture and North Eastern Inshore Fisheries Conservation Authority to investigate why hundreds of dead crabs have washed up along the shore in the Tees Estuary and neighbouring beaches.
Jacob Young, who represents the seaside town of Redcar in the UK Parliament, tweeted Sunday that the developments along the coats were “deeply worrying.”
Thousands of dead fish wash ashore
This is not just a few hundred fish, its myriad thousands of dead fish wash ashore on the beach. Including crabs, lobsters and various crustaceans are lying on the beach between Marske and Saltburn, and along the coastline at Seaton Carew and Seaham
Bell said she and her husband spent over four hours trying to put as many of the crabs that were still alive and trapped in the seaweed back into the water.
“It’s just devastating to see them laying there,” she said. “It’s saddening because it is such a beautiful area to live in.”
Bell added she hoped locals would get answers. “If it is a man-made incident and we’ve actually done it then obviously we need to make sure it’s not going to happen again,” she said to WTX News.
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