– This is starting to look apocalyptic, wrote former member of the British Parliament, Anna Turley.
The statement came after thousands of crabs, lobsters and other shellfish began washing up on English beaches in October 2021.
The mass death, which was first reported by the newspaper The Independent, spread over at least 70 km of England’s north-east coast and continued until December of the same year. Several similar incidents were also registered in 2022.
Climate activists and local fishermen blamed commercial industrial fishing for the incidents. Investigations carried out by English scientists, supported by the English fishing industry, hinted that the pollutant pyridine could be the cause of mass deaths among crabs.
New research now casts doubt on the earlier findings.
May disappear
“New pathogen”
An expert panel made up of scientists and experts from the fishing industry has concluded that a potential new pathogen, a disease or parasite, could be the cause of the death of thousands of crabs and lobsters. This appears in a the report:
“A new pathogen is considered the most likely cause of the mass death. Such pathogens have caused mass mortality events and declines in crustacean populations around the world.”
One of the reasons why the experts suspect a disease or parasite was that the crabs were lying twitching on the beaches, which is described as very unusual:
“It is a pathogen known to cause similar symptoms to those observed in England, including the unusual twitching behaviour.”
In doubt
Nevertheless, the experts say that they have not been able to identify a “clear and convincing single cause for the unusual mortality of crustaceans”
“No significant pathogen was identified in the northeastern crabs, but full molecular screening was not performed. The panel believes it is as likely as not that a new pathogen in British waters caused the unusual mass die-off among the shellfish.”
Probably not pollution that is the cause
But the report concludes that it is “highly unlikely” that pyridine or other industrial chemicals were the sole cause.
“The presence of a toxic substance may explain the twitching, but no source of sufficient quantity of any toxic material could be identified.”
“Although a number of chemicals, including pyridine, are known to be toxic to crustaceans, the wide geographical spread and long duration of the event would require the sustained release of very large volumes, which is considered a very unlikely cause.”
