Update from Tees Valley Monitor
By Tessa Bunney on 11 January 2024For an up to date report by Scott Hunter published in Tees Valley Monitor on 10 January 2024, please click here.
Redcar, October 2023
By Tessa Bunney on 7 October 2023
Release of 822 baby lobsters by Whitby Lobster Hatchery off Redcar, 3 October 2023
Whitby Lobster Hatchery have been rearing juvenile lobsters at their location in Whitby fish market, this year releasing over 8000 lobsters mainly surrounding Whitby harbour. On 3 October the team’s carefully selected and nurtured juvenile lobsters were released at…
South Gare, 2023
By Tessa Bunney on 21 August 2023
John Lampett, scuba diver, snorkeler and underwater photographer, July 2023
” 5 of us snorkelled at the South Gare on Sunday (9 July), the conditions looked good although the visibility was a bit milky probably due the the recent rains and winds . Although not great for photography we still managed to see plenty of life in the shallow water. There were a few harbour crabs and a couple of shore crabs tucked under the…
Hartlepool, April 2023
By Tessa Bunney on 21 August 2023
Scientists from Durham University sampling sediment from the River Tees Estuary from Stan’s boat ‘Sarah Lynn’
Marske-by-the-Sea, April 2023
By Tessa Bunney on 21 August 2023
There aren’t many traditional wooden cobles or double-enders commercially fishing along the Teesside coast these days. There’s one in Redcar and Levi who is a part-time fisherman going out from Marske, a large village between Redcar and Saltburn-by-the-Sea.
There’s a few boats parked up and a long line…
Hartlepool, 25 January 2023
By Tessa Bunney on 21 August 2023
Grab sampling from the Hartlepool based crab and lobster fishing boat ‘Sarah Beth’ with people who really care about what is happening in the North Sea. Two generations of fishermen (Paul and Jamie Widdowfield), marine biologist Joe Redfern and environmentalist Sally Bunce working together – collecting samples and fighting for their livelihoods and the environment. Within days over a million tonnes of toxic sediment was dredged from the Tees and dumped at sea.
Samples…
Redcar, 14 December 2022
By Tessa Bunney on 21 August 2023
Fishermen from all along the Teesside and North Yorkshire coast and environmental campaigners protest at Teesworks entrance, Redcar, 14 December 2022
#pausethedredge
Hartlepool, September 2022
By Tessa Bunney on 21 April 2023
At sea with Jamie and Wid, September 2022
It all started with crabs – Part 3: Battle lines drawn in the sand (December 2021 to March 2022)
By Tessa Bunney on 20 April 2023So now we arrive at the third part of this story, which is where I try to explain what happened in the Spring of 2022, after DEFRA became increasingly unwilling to communicate, and locals and members of the North East Fishing Collective began to feel like they were being stone walled. As you might imagine, it’s a bit complicated, because a lot of it is about why DEFRA was behaving as they were, and to move the story forwards, I have to take a couple of steps back to explain a few things.
Now every…
It all started with crabs – Part 2: Trust eroded (November to December 2021)
By Tessa Bunney on 19 April 2023As the sun starts to warm the earth and beckon in Spring 2023, it’s a shock to think back to October / November 2021 and a time when many people who have been affected by the mass die off of sea creatures on the North East coast were less cynical about authority. I certainly was, and as I can only speak for myself, here’s what I think. In October / November 2021 I was still operating under the belief system taught to me by my parents 40 years ago; that the Government had our backs, and as much as they…
Whitby, May 2022
By Tessa Bunney on 5 April 2023
Out at sea on the ‘Good Intent’ checking their lobster pots. We sailed out six miles to the furthest pots first and then made our way back to Whitby harbour.
The skipper shouted out each time he hauled up a pot which contained a lobster. At six miles out this was almost every pot but as we got closer to land this became less and less.
“The catch rates are down tremendously even in…
South Gare, 19 May 2022
By Tessa Bunney on 30 March 2023
On the morning of 19 May 2022 fishermen from Teesside and the Yorkshire Coast sailed to South Gare near the mouth of the River Tees to protest against dredging off the coast that is causing toxic sludge to pollute the sea.
All along the north-east coast crabs and lobsters have been washing up dead. Fishermen say the unearthing of historical toxins by dredging is to blame, while DEFRA says a natural ‘algal bloom’…
It all started with crabs – Part 1 (24 October 2021)
By Tessa Bunney on 28 March 2023As time has trundled on since 24th October 2021 when tens of thousands of dead and dying crustaceans washed up on the beach between Redcar and Saltburn, there are only two facts which remain indisputable.
The first is that between 25th September and 5th October 2021, a 79 meter long, 3000 tonne suction hopper dredger called the UKD Orca was brought in by PD Ports (the statutory harbour authority) to undertake 6% of its annual dredging quota at the mouth of the Tees Estuary and dispose of this dredged material at Tees Bay A, a spoil site located 7 miles…
Saltburn-by-the-Sea, April 2022
By Tessa Bunney on 19 February 2023
“I go fishing from Redcar with my brother, we have six fleets of 30 pots. After the dredging which was on October the 4th, the catches went down from 45 lobsters out of 180 pots to 7 lobsters and everyone was the same, it was like someone had switched a light out overnight. We’ve never got going since then.” Dave, Saltburn-by-the-Sea
Winkle picking four days a month when the tides are low enough…
Save our Sea coming soon…
By Hello Creative on 6 February 2023