Superhero oysters land on new conservation reef

Underwater reef ‘the size of a football pitch’ becomes home to 10,000 native oysters - in bid to restore the threatened species & support marine life
A newly created reef, the size of a football pitch became home to 10,000 European native oysters today (2 October) - marking a landmark moment in the restoration of the native species to UK shores.
The hard-working molluscs - which will also help to create healthy and resilient coastal waters - were laid by conservationists from the Wild Oysters Project onto a newly built 7,500sqm living reef in North East England, following years of planning to restore the species.
Our partnership with Blue Marine Foundation, British Marine and local delivery partner Groundwork North East and Cumbria, the Wild Oyster Project team has spent the past week carefully depositing over 750 tonnes of cultch - made up of old stones and scallop shell - onto the seabed off the coast of Whitburn, forming the foundation for a new underwater marine ecosystem.
The project’s, which was made possible thanks to £1.18 million raised by players of People’s Postcode Lottery, newly laid oysters will inhabit local waters alongside oyster nurseries set up underneath local marina pontoons as part of the project in 2021 - which acted as maternity wards for young oysters and an important pilot site for the project.
Celine Gamble, ZSL’s Wild Oysters Project Manager, said: “Today marks an important milestone in our journey to restore native oyster reefs to British coastlines. We’re optimistic that the 10,000 oysters will thrive, reproduce and grow on the new reef, which is the size of a football pitch, and we look forward to carefully monitoring their progress over the coming months.”
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