A regional daily has made a front page plea to fix its patch’s fishing crisis.

The Northern Echo has issued the call 10 months on from a spate of dead crustaceans and a mystery illness affecting dogs first being reported on the North-East of England’s coastline.

The issue sparked a protest on beaches in the region by campaign group Reclaim Our Sea at the weekend.

The Darlington-based Echo splashed on the protests on Monday, posing the question ‘Who is going to sort this?’ on its front page.

In an accompanying story, reporter Patrick Gouldsborough wrote: “North-East fishermen are still feeling the affects of the marine life crisis nearly a year after their proud industry was nearly wiped out – and they feel more should be done to help them.

“The rapid decrease in sea life coincided with ‘apocalyptic’ piles of dead crustaceans washing up along the coastline and a mystery dog illness, which was first reported in October last year, leading to a growing discontent among the fishing industry.

“A report from DEFRA found that a ‘naturally occurring harmful algal bloom’ was the cause of the deaths last year, despite a range of other possibilities and theories being suggested.

“Ten months on from the first issues being reported, fishermen are still reporting catch levels significantly below the levels they were seeing last summer.”

Sally Bunce, from Reclaim Our Sea, told the Echo: “We can’t expect to dump waste in the sea and not expect an impact.

“There was a mass die-off of our wildlife in the sea, which happened in October. If there is another one, it could be catastrophic. There needs to be more studies and needs to be a change.”