MPs call for urgent inquiry into Teesside dredging and mass crab deaths

Environment committee chair says crab die-offs in north-east having profound impact on fishing communities'

The chair of the House of Commons environment select committee has called for an urgent investigation into whether dredging around a freeport development in Teesside has caused mass die-offs of crabs on the north-east coast.

In a letter sent on Tuesday, Sir Robert Goodwill told Therese Coffey, the environment secretary, his committee had heard evidence that the repeated mass deaths were having a profound and long-lasting impact ... on fishing communities".