Restoring Europe’s Lost Oyster Reefs

Oysters shape coastlines by filtering seawater, building reefs and supporting marine ecosystems. But overfishing, pollution and habitat loss have pushed Europe’s native flat oyster to the brink of extinction. Now conservationists are racing to bring the endangered species back. RAZOR’s Reya El-Salahi joins the Yorkshire Wildlife Trust as they attempt one of the UK’s most ambitious oyster restoration projects. The team is testing a pioneering technique called ‘remote setting’ to rebuild oyster reefs at Spurn Point peninsula in the Humber Estuary. In the Scottish Highlands, RAZOR visits a cutting-edge hatchery breeding European flat oysters at unprecedented scale. The Oyster Restoration Company is building the world’s largest native oyster broodstock library to safeguard the species’ genetic diversity. It’s hoped these efforts will not only restore Europe’s native oyster populations, but also become a global model for a nature-based solution to coastal restoration.