Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to Section 4 of the report of the Joint agency investigation into Teesside and Yorkshire Coast Crab and Lobster mortalities, published on 31 May 2022, what conclusions have been reached by the Centre for Environment Fisheries & Aquaculture Science investigation commissioned by his Department to (a) ensure better preparedness for any future incident, (b) further investigate the indicative results relating to pyridine, particularly in relation to its formation as part of a ‘normal’ biological process during decomposition and (c) examine the physiological impacts of high levels of algal toxins on crustacean physiology.

The lessons learnt from the incident investigation highlight that effective cross-agency collaboration is essential to an effective investigation. Defra will look continually to improve this process.

Research and development work on pyridine is ongoing. CEFAS is developing and validating a chemical detection test to measure the amounts of pyridine in crab tissues, assessing pyridine levels in crab tissue collected last year from within and outside of the area of impact, and testing the theory that pyridine can be a natural by-product associated with the decomposition process in crabs. The same project will work to better understand the potentially harmful effects of toxins and harmful algae on crab health. This work is highly complex but is expected to be completed in March 2023.