“Their lobsters died,” recounts Cole, as he unloads a meagre catch from his boat, Good Intent, at Whitby fish market.

Then Cole heard from anglers in the same area looking for shore crabs, normally easily caught in rockpools or shallow waters. “They couldn’t find none, they were all dead.”

More worryingly, says Cole: “From there, day on day, it spread up along the coast with the prevailing flood tide.”