Fisheries agency concludes it’s ‘very unlikely’ pyridine behind UK crustacean deaths after new tests

Re-analysis of tissue and sediment collected from a mass crustacean mortality event in late 2021 and early 2022 in northeast England has found low levels of pyridine in the samples. Some scientists had blamed historical industrial discharges of the chemical for the die-off.

In the autumn of 2021, a mass mortality event began that led to mostly crabs and lobsters living along Teesside’s coastline dying. The event triggered a major pollution investigation which involved collecting samples to test for potential pollutants and biological contaminants to determine the cause. A cross-agency response incorporated the assessment of various agents proposed to be causative, including hazardous chemicals such as cyanide and pyridine, crustacean diseases and algal blooms.