~ PRESS RELEASE ~

On Saturday 19th November at 6pm, people will gather at the iconic Saltburn Pier to once more be the voice of our sea.

This WAVE OF LIGHT will symbolise hope and achievement but also let those in power know there is still much to be done.

An independent enquiry has been called for but IMMEDIATE action is needed if we are to halt the continued decimation if our North East waters.

#PAUSETHEDREDGE

We will send our Wave of Light the length of the pier to meet the waves before bringing to life marine-themed beach art on the sand below using mobile phone lights and lanterns provided by GUARDIANS OF THE  SEA.

This will be captured from above by drones hovering in the night sky.

THIS MAGICAL EXTRAVAGANZA OF LIGHT WILL BRING OUR DEAD CRUSTACEANS BACK TO LIFE

The report from NEWCASTLE UNIVERSITY produced clear evidence that dredged sediment contaminated with historical toxic chemicals is causing our marine environment to die.

Sir Robert Goodwill acknowledged this in his summing up of evidence provided at the Environmental select committee hearing on the 25th October.

YET STILL SOUTH TEES DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION

CONTINUES WITH THEIR DEEP DREDGING OF

125,000 TONNES OF HIGHLY TOXIC SEDIMENT

WITH A FURTHER 1.7 MILLION TONNES  SOON TO BE DISPOSED OF AT SEA.

SALLY BUNCE of Reclaim Our Sea said:

“Whilst this dredge at the South bank quay has been deemed too toxic for marine disposal, evidence produced by university academics clearly showed the dredge site to be more damaging to the marine environment than the spoil disposal site.

For 10 weeks, a dangerous plume of toxic sediment has been allowed to moved freely around the River Tees and out to sea.

The impact of the 1.7 million tonnes which has been licensed for  marine disposal this winter will be devastating to a far wider coastal community, with tourism also a potential victim “

ROWAN MCLAUGHLIN co-ordinator of SOUTH TEES GREEN PARTY said:

“Although we have secured a new investigation into last year’s mass crab and lobster deaths we won’t stop fighting until we know our seas are safe from the poisons of the past.

We must #PAUSETHEDREDGE until we are sure it won’t do more irreparable damage to the North East coast and livelihoods.“

ADRIAN NOBLE, a Whitby fisherman, said:

“The lobster are dying again. I’m bringing in empty pots. It’s heart–breaking. 

We are also seeing pots with dead lobsters. 

Those which are alive are dying before I can get them to shore …something is killing the sea again.“

STAN RENNIE, a Hartlepool fisherman, said:

“I don’t understand how the evidence provided by academics has not made them pause the dredging and test for Pyridine.

It is still a dead zone…no crabs, lobster or prawns…no sign of an algal bloom either.

They are killing our marine ecosystem.

Generations of fishing has come to an end for me and my family…let’s hope it isn’t to late for the sea.”

RECLAIM OUR SEA are calling for an IMMEDIATE  pause on all capital dredging within the River Tees until independent analysis of the Tees sediment has been completed and safer methods of completing this work are found.

#PAUSETHEDREDGE

Scan this code for event promotional video:

Or to view this video on YouTube visit:

https://youtu.be/7gCy37Ke8QQ

Contact: Sally Bunce

Mobile: 07724 744564

Email: sallybunce@ymail.com

~ END ~

• – an “In My View “ article by NIGEL WARD, responding to what seems like a million questions about the “Reclaim Our Sea” movement and why it looks to be picking up steam.

~~~~~

Background

In the broadest possible brushstrokes, a war of wills has broken out between, on the one hand, members of coastal communities in the North East who have been witnessing first-hand the almost apocalyptic decimation of crustaceans, fish and seabirds, alleged (by the government) to be a consequence of naturally occurring ‘algal blooms’.

And, on the other hand, big business (assisted by ‘government’ – as personified by Tees Valley Mayor Ben HOUCHEN), determined to ‘revitalise’ the Tees catchment area by dredging the estuary to create deep-water berthing for mega-ships drawn to a Freeport, with all its ancilliary industrial opportunities and promises of future prosperity – even at the risk of releasing highly toxic pyridine or other contaminants presently ‘sealed’ under decades of sediment.

Previous articles offer more detail:

• http://nyenquirer.uk/reclaim-our-sea/
• http://nyenquirer.uk/houchens-untreated-sewage/
• http://nyenquirer.uk/tsunami-coming/

On the face of it, big business holds all the cards; state commitment, heavy investors, the glittering promise of profits and opportunity.

Against this formidable array, the campaigners have independent scientific studies – and People Power.

This ‘must see’ Ch.4 report sets out the scale of the confrontation:

The Campaign

On Sunday 2nd October 2022, shorelines and riverbanks at forty-four locations (from the North East to the Bristol Channel and from the Orkneys to Guernsey) drew crowds of peaceful protesters bound by the common aim of setting a higher value on the wellbeing of the sea than on corporate profit dressed up as ‘trickle-down’ prosperity.

On a personal note, let me declare my position: I am no tree-hugger. I am no conspiracy theorist; I am a realist. I grew up on this coast. It defines my childhood. I learned to swim in the North Sea; and to dive. For over seventy years, I have walked with many dogs along many miles of these shores; and ridden many horses. I live in Whitby. I will die in Whitby. By the sea.

That is why I support the “Reclaim Our Sea” campaign. I am very far from alone:  

Even at sea level, it is clear who holds the moral high ground.

So, why are we waving?

We are waving because we believe our environment is quite literally vital – alive – certainly far more so than material gain or self-aggrandisement.

We are waving because the sea defines our habitat. We are an island people; the sea is sacrosanct.

We are waving because all life is one life.

We are waving because, though we would welcome a vibrant economic future for the people of Teesside, we insist on it being achieved safely and humanely.

If it is not “financially viable” to dredge out deep-water berths in the estuary without contaminating the sea and the coastline, Mayor HOUCHEN, then you have chosen the wrong location.

Build your dream where it is safe to do so. Plan a different route to your knighthood or peerage.

What now?

This was the second wave.

Did you ever hear anything about the seventh?

They will be hearing all about it in Westminster.

An APPEAL by NIGEL WARD.

~~~~~

Following huge support for the “Reclaim Our Sea” event on Sunday 28th September 2022 (see my report here), the public protest against DEFRA’s implausible conclusion that naturally occurring ‘algal blooms’ bear the responsibility for the colossal number of dead crustaceans and other sealife washed up on our beaches has been challenged by a new independent report commissioned by the fishing community, published just in time to turbo-charge a nationwide event set to take place at noon on Sunday 2nd October 2022 at the following already confirmed locations:

• Brighton
• Cleethorpes – Brighton Slip
• Crimdon
• Dover
• Essex
• Fforest Fields Campsite, Powys, Mid-Wales
• Fish Sands/Headland – Hartlepool
• Hastings
• Little Haven Beach – South Shields
• Middleton Beach – Hartlepool
• North Gare
• Numerous beaches in Ayrshire
• Pevensey
• Prestwick beach, South Ayrshire
• Redcar – near Park Hotel
• River Wye
• Roker
• Saltburn
• Scarborough (North Bay – The Sands)
• Scarborough (South Bay – RNLI Station)
• Seaburn
• Seaham
• Seaton Carew (opposite The Green/Norton Hotel)
• Seaton Carew (opposite the Staincliffe Hotel)
• Shingle Street , Suffolk
• Skinningrove/Cattersty
• Staithes Harbour/Beach
• Suffolk
• Sugarsands Northumberland
• Sussex
• Tynemouth
• Uist (Outer Hebrides)
• Weston-Super-Mare
• Whitby West Pier Slipway
• Whitley Bay
• Whistable

Meanwhile, no response to my email has been forthcoming from Tees Valley Mayor Mr Ben HOUCHEN [Con.] [see my article “Ben HOUCHEN’s Untreated Sewage”, here], whose determination to proceed with massive dredging operations in preparation for his ‘flagship’ Freeport proposal appears undiminished. Perhaps unsurprisingly, a Freedom of Information request to Tees Valley Combined Authority (TVCA) belatedly discloses that the demolitions of various structures preparatory to the Freeport development have apparently taken place without any Environmental Impact Assessments having been undertaken.

Seemingly the environment does not occupy an elevated position on Mr HOUCHEN’s priorities list.

Nevertheless, the evidence is mounting in support of the view that the toxic chemical pyridine is by far the more likely cause of apocalyptic crustacean and other sealife mortalities.

The North East Fishing Collective (NEFC) commissioned independent scientific analysis (by Durham, Newcastle, Hull and York Universities) of sediment dredged from the River Tees to identify the presence of pyridine and examine its effects of on crustaceans and other sealife.

The findings, released on Thursday 29th September, are based on research which has been underway since July.

DEFRA’s ‘algal bloom’ hypothesis is simply no longer plausible.

Encouragingly, regional newspapers are covering campaigners’ concerns:

https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/people/biologists-concern-as-lobster-eggs-turn-to-slime-off-yorkshire-coast-3841035

https://www.yorkshirepost.co.uk/news/people/mass-marine-deaths-reported-on-north-east-coast-again-as-dead-creatures-wash-up-on-saltburn-and-marske-beaches-3852292

https://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/news/22483332.shocking-pictures-show-dead-marine-life-teesside-beach/

Please watch organiser Sally BUNCE explain the issues in this video:

And PLEASE support your local HUMAN TSUNAMI.

Rendezvous locations can be located on local Facebook Groups and Pages and elsewhere on social media.

• – an “In My View” article by NIGEL WARD – a (low) opinion piece – revealing another example of how political expediency eclipses all else – including the wellbeing of our maritime environment and  those who draw from it a responsible and sustainable livelihood.
  

~~~~~

Readers of the Enquirer from the Scarborough area and points south may not be especially familiar with the name Ben HOUCHEN (36), Tees Valley Mayor [Con.] (pictured above), the North East’s new ‘Golden Boy’ of Conservative opportunism. He has been glowingly described as the protégé of the Rt.Hon. Sir Robert GOODWILL [Con.], the former Minister of Fisheries and incumbent MP for Scarborough & Whitby, whose support for the shellfish industry has been conspicuous by its asbence in recent weeks.

Mr HOUCHEN certainly has some brass; but ‘Golden Boy’ may be about todiscover that only fools take brass for gold.

I came across Mr HOUCHEN on the back of my interest in, and support for, the “Reclaim Our Sea” WAVE campaign for a proper and exhaustive investigation into the cause of the staggering mortality rates amongst crabs, lobsters and other crustaceans along the coast from Seaham down to Whitby. Linked to the highy abnormal die-off of unknown thousands of crustaceans, seabirds too have been washed ashore in disturbing numbers. The ‘official’ explanation for the die-off – algal bloom – has been dismissed by two independent investigations and the real culprit seems to be high concentrations of the toxic chemical pyridine, released from seabed sediment by the massive dredging operations carried out in preparation for the proposed Teeside Freeport.

The Enquirer has featured two appeals recently (well worth revisiting) in support of the “Reclaim Our Sea” WAVE campaign to suspend dredging until the cause of the sealife mortalities has been positively identified and necessary mitigation devised and implemented:

• http://nyenquirer.uk/reclaim-our-sea/
• http://nyenquirer.uk/tsunami-coming/

Mr HOUCHEN is a fervent proponent of the proposed Teeside Freeport – he no doubt wishes to turbo-charge his political ambitions by staking claim to being “the man who brought prosperity back to the North East”. (The Tees Valley area comprises the five Boroughs of Middlesbrough, Stockton-on-Tees, Darlington, Hartlepool, and Redcar & Cleveland).

This may be laudable – but it does not justify using dirty smear and slur tactics against campaigners? Probably not. So when I saw Mr HOUCHEN’s horrid little Tweet (see below), I decided to ask him what his game was.

To summarise that Tweet, Mr HOUCHEN asserts:

• that “activists” (he means campaigners) have bullied RSPB staff into supporting their cause with a statement given under duress;
• that the dredging activities preparatory to the creation of the Freeport are justified (by placing profit ahead of the environment);
• that “some” campaigners have been impersonating Police Officers (a criminal offence);
• that the RSPB statement was not ‘official’ (cleared by the RSPB national head office);
• that campaigners had produced no evidence to validate their concerns.

Having seen the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) statement to which Mr HOUCHEN refers, I wrote to him to give him his ‘Right of Reply’ ahead of publication of this article:

Subject:	Media Request – Right of Reply
Date:	Fri, 9 Sep 2022 11:53:57 +0100
From:	Nigel Ward
To:	Mayor@teesvalley-ca.gov.uk

Mr Ben HOUCHEN – Tees Valley Mayor

IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST

Ben,

My name is NIGEL WARD. I am a regular contributor to the North Yorks Enquirer. I also provide evidenced background material to Private Eye magazine.

I write to request a comment from you (your ‘Right of Reply’) in respect of a comment published on social media under your name:

In the interests of openness and tranparency, I can inform you that the North Yorks Enquirer has had sight of a more recent RSPB email contradicting your comment.

Specifically, it denies any attempt at ‘hounding’, bullying or coercion and re-iterates unqualified support for the Wave campaign.

Before reporting on the matter, I wish to give you the opportunity to qualify or withdraw your allegations. Or provide an appropriate apology to the campaigners. You may wish to substantiate your allegation that “some” campaigners have impersonated a Police Officer – a criminal offence.

Please provide your response (not exceeding 250 words) either directly to me or to the North Yorks Enquirer at:

letters@nyenquirer.uk

My press deadline is close-of-play (5:00pm) on Monday 12th September 2022.

My report will include such comment as you are willing to provide, or the fact that you have failed to respond, whichever is the case.

Please be so good as to provide, in e-format, a current image of your likeness, in landscape aspect, not smaller than 620 x 350 pixels. Thank you.

My regards to you for a fine and relaxing weekend. I look forward to hearing from you.

Nigel

Mr HOUCHEN has not responded. But an inside source assures me that he did indeed read my email – and forwarded it to his Legal Department (from whom I have also heard nothing).

Quelle surprise.

Now let us take a look at the official RSPB statement on this vitally important issue:

On request, RSPB Head Office has since confirmed:

“ This is an official statement and did come from us – it was issued by the England comms team with support from local staff.”

A local RSPB Officer has also confirmed that:

“We’ve had no contact with Ben Houchen so he’s just making assumptions on his own…There’s been no bullying. I guess he just doesn’t like what we’ve said…Our position is clear and has not changed.”

I subsequently discovered (courtesy of BBC Radio 4) that Mr HOUCHEN had been running off at the mouth about the campaigners being “conspiracy theorists” who propagate nonsense:

“It’s not just pyridine, they think it’s Agent Orange apparently from secret factories in the Second World War. We’ve also been told that it’s Russian submarines trying to cause problems for the UK government.”

We seem to have on our hands a politician who habitually tells porkies in service of his own agenda – hardly a novelty. Yet it seems fair to say that Mr HOUCHEN has gone to some lengths to infuse himself with every available byte of information about untreated waste. One could say he has internalised it.

One might even say he is full of it.

It turns out that there is quite a back-story to Mr HOUCHEN – and who better to tell it than our old chums at Private Eye?

(Readers who struggle with the small font size may wish to download the article in PDF-format, here).

It needed only a very swift Google to elicit the following headline from the Mirror, casting further aspersions on the integrity of Mr HOUCHEN, to lower my opinion a further notch:

Mr HOUCHEN’s determination to be a ‘mover and shaker’ in the North East seems to have been hampered along the way by some ‘absolute beginner’ mistakes.

The following report from The Times shows him in a very poor light indeed.

First lesson, Mr HOUCHEN: Google has a long memory.

Second lesson: the simple courtesy of a response is often the best policy.

Meanwhile, turning to topics of far greater importance than the aspirations of just another Tory greasy-pole climber, the Enquirer will presently be publishing details of the next WAVE “Reclaim Our Sea” event – a human WAVE spanning the shorelines and riverbanks of the entire UK.

Campaigners are asking supporters to download (HERE) and print out (in black-and-white or colour) the following generic poster in which local details may be added, in marker-pen, for display in local shops and homes in A2, A3, A4 or A5 format.

For further background, please review this highly-informative MUST READ Metro report.

Then watch organiser Sally BUNCE’s video, below.

See also:

• – a brief report on a unique event spannging from the Tyne to the Esk – a mass peaceful protest against the inevitable environmental consequences of 1.9 million tons of dredging and disposal of toxic waste in our immediate coastal waters.

~~~~~

On Sunday 28th August 2022, at 11:30am, well over a thousand peaceful protesters created a human wave along the beaches and shorelines of the north east, from the Tyne to the Esk – a wave motion passed along the line from north to south, creating a powerful visual symbol of support.

News of the event has travelled far and wide, with re-Tweets of support from Prince Charles, Jeremy Corbyn and a number of pop celebrities.

Tees Valley Mayor Ben HOUCHEN may even be smelling the coffee!

What’s next?

In late September, organisers of “Reclaim Our Sea” are taking the theme of #wavetosaveoursea to another level and intend to span the entire UK coastline and inland rivers, creating a veritable TSUNAMI of support. If you care about sea life and safe bathing, please get involved.

For full details of the intent behind Sunday’s action, please review our earlier appeal “Reclaim Our Sea”.

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/reclaimoursea
Twitter @saveourseas11 #wavetosaveoursea

Expert Spokesperson:

SALLY BUNCE sallybunce@ymail.com

Spokes Contacts:

ALISON PAKE Alison.pake@gmail.com
JANE HARDY janehardyswims@gmail.com

Many thanks to supporters for sharing video/photos.

Literally tens (perhaps hundreds) of thousands of dead crustaceans have been washed up on North Yorkshire and Cleveland beaches, contaminating other marine life and seabirds.

Please contact the organisers for further details. Thank you.

WHERE: North East beaches and coastline

WHEN: Sunday 28th August 2022 at 11.00 – gather for 11.30am start.

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/reclaimoursea
Twitter @saveourseas11 #wavetosaveourseas

Expert Spokesperson:

SALLY BUNCE sallybunce@ymail.com

Spokes Contacts:

ALISON PAKE Alison.pake@gmail.com
JANE HARDY janehardyswims@gmail.com

HALT THE TOXIC SLUDGE

• We are calling on people to send a clear message to those in power that the blatant killing of our seas, ancient fishing industry and iconic marine creatures MUST STOP.
• On Sunday 28th August at 11.30am a HUMAN CHAIN will be created along the north east beaches and coastline. As a show of support and solidarity to raise awareness of pollution in the sea brought about by the dredging and subsequent release of sewerage in to local waters, we will link hands as one and together create a wave motion that will travel north to south along our North East shores.

Following the dredging of 148,000 tons of sediment from the mouth of the River Tees by a vessel called the UKD Orca, the coastline stretching from Hartlepool to Bridlington experienced a mass die-off of crab and lobster.

Hartlepool and Redcar suffered the greatest impact with further crustacean die-off events throughout the following winter and this spring and summer.

Stocks of crabs have never recovered and lobster catches are still 70% below year-on-year figures.

Seal pups from the impacted area struggled to find food with many starving to death.

DEFRA carried out an investigation which was closed in March 2022 with no definitive cause having been found. A harmful algal bloom was put forward as the most likely cause despite die-offs continuing throughout the winter.

However, an independent Report by marine pollution specialist Tim Deeree Jones (see here) discredited this theory and provided hard evidence that a chemical called pyridine found within the affected crabs, at levels 70 times higher than normal, was a more obvious cause.

Of more concern is the 1.9 million tons soon to be dredged from a highly contaminated part of the Tees – and dumped at sea.

The location is called the South Bank quay and will form a vital part of the government’s flagship Freeport, which is being driven forwards by the South Tees Development Corporation and Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen [Con.].

In the 1960s, 550 million tons per day (link here) of chemicals and raw sewage were discharged into the River Tees.

Whilst the water itself has been brought back from the dead and salmon now swim up the Tees to spawn, the sediment has locked in these decades of toxic waste . . . and this is about to be unleashed back into our ecosystem when the dredging operation (which will last for 5-and-a-half months) begins later this year.

SSSI sites are located within the dredge footprint.

A breeding colony of harbour seals lives within the direct impact zone.

But, worryingly, we are dumping sediment contaminated with arsenic, lead, cyanide and hydrocarbons (to name but a few) into an already ailing marine environment – and into our food chain.

There are fears the tourist industry will be affected right down the north east coast.

RECLAIM OUR SEAS & WAVE TO SAVE THE SEA

On Sunday 28th August 2022, we are calling for members of the public to go to their local beach at 11:00 a.m.

At 11:30 a.m., we will face the sea and form a human chain of support and solidarity for the sea, the creatures who live in it and the ancient fishing industry which has been decimated.

People will link hands and create a wave travelling north to south along the chain.

This has been a powerful symbol used successfully over the years to empower ordinary people and make those with power to act.

THE DEADLY COST OF FREEPORTS SOUTH TEES DEVELOPMENT CORPORATION are soon to begin a 5½-month dredging operation at its South Bank quay site. They will dredge 2 million tons of sediment from this highly contaminated location to enable creation of the Freeport.

100,000 tons was found to be so toxic it cannot be disposed of at sea, yet a further 1.9 million tons has been licensed for marine disposal by the Marine Management Organisation.

Objectors to this decision have discovered current dredging and sampling legislation to be woefully inadequate and lacking regulation.

RECLAIM OUR SEA is calling for:

1. A halt to further dredging until a cause of the on-going marine die-off is found.

2. Re-opening of the original DEFRA investigation with it being carried out by independent scientists.

3. An overhaul of legislation relating to the sampling and disposal of dredged sediment.

FOR DECADES, 550 MILLION TONS PER DAY (!) OF RAW SEWAGE AND CHEMICALS WERE DUMPED IN THE RIVER TEES…THIS HAS LAIN DORMANT – UNTIL NOW.

WE NEED TO ACT BEFORE WE RETURN OUR WATERS AND BEACHES TO THEIR TOXIC PAST.