Scientists monitoring water in Whitby

Scientists were due to engage in water monitoring activity at the River Esk estuary in Whitby earlier this week.

In a bid to establish whether the health of the estuary is getting better, fish numbers will be verified, the water quality will be tested and the invertebrates and other creatures caught will be counted by aquatic specialists.

Jill McCormick, an environmental monitoring officer for the Environment Agency, said that a survey is conducted on four North Sea coast rivers twice yearly in spring and autumn.

"Our region's coastline runs from the Tweed at the Scottish border, right down to the Humber estuary. We check those two estuaries, and also the Esk and the Tees," she stated.

Ms McCormick added that each river is surveyed twice at several sites in order to compare the average results against the figures from previous years.

This news comes at the same time as the agency's announcement that it has approved plans for a new power station that will use wood chip to provide electricity to half a million homes in Wales.