The beaches where a demonstration will take place against sea life deaths have been announced. The protest organisers have released the list of beaches from Sunderland to Runswick Bay where the action will take place from 11am on Sunday 28 August. The crowds will form a single line along the beaches and at 11.30am their Mexican-style wave will be filmed by a drone.
In October last year and earlier this year the North East beaches were covered with tens of thousands of sea life corpses. The local fishermen’s catch was drastically depleted. An investigation by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) concluded that the cause was an algal bloom.
The local fishermen questioned Defra’s claim and an expert report commissioned by the Whitby Fishermen’s Association pointed out the high levels of the chemical pyridine found in the crab corpses – up to 74 times the level in crabs in Cornwall. Pyridine has been used in processing on the Tees.
The protest organisers blame dredging on the Tees and river mouth for disturbing the polluted riverbed sediment and dumping it into the sea. PD Ports, responsible for dredging the Tees, denies it was doing anything other than routine work.
Dredging is due to intensify in September in preparation for the new Teesside Freeport. The protest organisers say that “two million tonnes are to be dredged imminently from the South Bank quay”.
The demonstration
The demonstration is demanding a reopened, independent investigation into the marine deaths; a halt to dredging while the new research is conducted; and an overhaul of national dredging legislation including sampling, analysis and disposal at sea.
The demonstration beaches will be:
Runswick Bay Skinningrove beach Saltburn Redcar: Majuba car park to far end of Redcar Stretches to South Gare Marske beach North Gare to Seaton and Hartlepool Hartlepool: around the Headland Seaham and Sugarsands beach Seaham: parking at Seaham Hall Beach car park. Meet at 11. Walk down the stairs here at 11.10am Longhoughton. (Participants here are asked to walk down the farm track and not take cars.) Roker - Opposite Activity Centre Roker - cat and dog steps
The demonstration is organised by the Facebook group Reclaim Our Sea.
There will be a Twitter and Facebook storm at the same time, using the hashtag #wavetosaveoursea.
