A Lancaster University Professor is part of an independent panel of experts appointed by DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs) to investigate an incident where large numbers of crustaceans died off the coast of North East England.

Crispin Halsall, a Professor of environmental organic chemistry at Lancaster Environment Centre, who is an expert on chemical pollutants and their fate in the environment, was selected by DEFRA to join the Crustacean Mortality Expert Panel (CMEP), which consisted of experts from academia and industry.

Membership of CMEP includes:

· Gideon Henderson – DEFRA Chief Scientific Adviser

· Eileen Bresnan – Marine Scotland

· Jan Brooke – Environmental consultant

· Keith Davidson – Scottish Association for Marine Science

· Mike Dearnaley – HR Wallingford

· Mark Fitzsimons – University of Plymouth

· Alex Ford – University of Portsmouth

· Tamara Galloway – University of Exeter

· Crispin Halsall – Lancaster University

· Tammy Horton – National Oceanography Centre

· Mark Inall – Scottish Association for Marine Science

· Marian Scott – University of Glasgow

· David Wilcockson – Aberystwyth University

Professor Halsall said: “My contribution was to lead the investigation into the potential role played by chemical pollutants on the Teesside crustacean die-off events. The crustacean die-off is a very complex and sensitive issue, which affects the local communities and fishing industries, and so it is vitally important for the matter to be independently investigated, which is why I was happy to contribute to the expert panel convened by DEFRA.”

The panel’s findings were published on January 17 and can be found here.