Tutti i cuccioli di foca con tea di fiume sono morti quest’anno, dicono gli ambientalisti

We don’t have to look far:

In the 1970s, I was tasked with organising boats as platforms for Imperial Chemical Industries scientists to investigate the state of the Tees. Careful efforts at cleaning up industry led to an improvement in the water quality, allowing salmon to return to the river. But the mud was an entirely different story. I recall the most senior scientist saying emphatically: “This mud must never be disturbed.”

And it’s that mud that fishermen like me believe is the cause of today’s mass die-off of sea life. The mud is sediment deposited over 100-plus years – organic material from the growing town of Middlesbrough alongside the deposit of chemicals dumped in the Tees as byproducts or waste products from heavy industry. It is inconceivable that some think it is fine to dump millions of tonnes of seriously contaminated mud into the North Sea. The ramifications of these actions will be felt for decades to come, and it’s devastating. The failure of our elected representatives to resolve this is unacceptable.

Peter R Race
Marske-by-the-Sea, North Yorkshire

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/14/failure-to-tackle-teessides-toxic-legacy-is-devastating-for-sea-life-and-livelihoods