Race to rescue beached lobsters

Conservationists are working with fishermen to rescue lobsters washed up by the “Beast from the East”.

Tens of thousands of marine animals have come ashore on beaches along the UK’S east coast after the recent cold weather. Crabs, starfish, mussels and lobsters are ankle-deep in places along the Holderness coast in Yorkshire. Most of the animals are now dead – except for lobsters, which the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust’s Living Seas team have been working with fishermen to rescue.

Similar scenes have been reported down the North Sea coast including on Norfolk and Kent coastlines.

In part, this is likely to be due to a three degree drop in sea temperature brought by the recent Arctic blast.

Such cold weather causes animals to reduce activity levels, leaving them vulnerable to turbulent seas, which then wash them ashore.

Samantha Herbert