Shadow environment minister Jim McMahon hears 'heartbreaking stories' from Hartlepool fishers after mysterious shellfish deaths

That was one of the things they told Shadow Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Jim McMahon during his visit to Hartlepool.

Mr McMahon spoke to local fishers in the Fishermans Arms, on the Headland, as he looks to keep up pressure on the Government over the mysterious die offs of crabs and lobsters.

He said: "One of the most difficult things I heard was now parents and grandparents in some cases advising the next generation not to look towards the sea for a livelihood and I just thought that was heartbreaking.”

Mr McMahon, who earlier also visited port operator PD Ports, added: “This issue isn’t going away and can’t go away until the fishing community get answers to the questions they’re asking,” he said.

He said they need a “definitive” answer to the cause of the die-offs saying fishers are having to travel further and further out to try to catch something.

Jonathan Brash, Labour Parliamentary candidate for Hartlepool, said: “This is not the end and together we will keep fighting for justice for our fishermen who are part of our town’s identity.”

A Government report published in January said “it is about as likely as not” that a novel pathogen – a virus or germ - had caused the deaths, though none was identified.

Environment secretary Therese Coffey has rejected calls for any further analysis.

Conservative Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen has also stressed that work to develop Teesside’s new freeport was not linked to the sealife deaths in October 2021.