| Death and decimation: Whitby devastated by declining marine life | |
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Credit: Christopher Thomond/The Guardian |
“It’s the whole ecosystem – just gone in that area,” said James Cole. The eighth or ninth generation of Whitby fishers in his family, Cole has never seen anything like the death and decimation of marine life that has plagued the waters since autumn, from coral, crabs, seals and sea birds.
He has witnessed “nothing on that scale or that magnitude to cause that type of damage”.
The first worrying report was in October, from fishers in South Gare, at the mouth of the River Tees in Redcar and Cleveland, along England’s north-east coast. |
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“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.” |
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