EFRA Committee to probe NE shellfish deaths
18th October 2022
The cross-party Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (EFRA) Committee is to hold a hearing into the mass morality of shellfish off the Yorkshire coast since last October.
The session will be held on Tuesday, 25 October.
Stakeholders were invited to ‘share information with the committee about this issue’ at: efracom@parliament.uk – but the window in which to do so was a mere 72 hours, with the hearing announced on 11 October and the deadline for responses being 14 October.
The session will ‘look at the different explanations for the cause of the deaths, what can be done to prevent a recurrence and its impact on local communities’.
The hearing announcement notes that there have been ‘conflicting theories’ about the cause of the die-offs. “The government has attributed the cause to a marine ‘algal bloom’, while others have argued that the phenomenon is caused by pollution linked to dredging.”
Committee chair Sir Robert Goodwill, who is MP for Scarborough and Whitby, said: “We need to establish what is causing these disturbing events.
“They have implications for coastal communities in North Yorkshire and Teesside – not least, of course, those engaged in or dependent on the fishing industry. But there could also be wider environmental and economic implications with lessons to be learned.”
This story was taken from the archives of Fishing News. For more up-to-date and in-depth reports on the UK and Irish commercial fishing sector, subscribe to Fishing News here or buy the latest single issue for just £3.30 here.
