More than 15m oysters to be released in the North Sea for UK rewilding project
1mon 18h ago by slrpnk.net/u/punksnotdead in scotland@slrpnk.net from www.theguardian.com
cross-posted from: https://feddit.uk/post/47673544
More than 15m juvenile oysters are to be released into the North Sea in one of the biggest rewilding projects in UK waters.
The scheme, which will use a unique rearing process, hopes to re-establish a huge oyster bed around Orkney that experts say will create a “trophic cascade” of climate and ecological benefits.
Richard Land, the marine expert leading the project, said it would have a knock-on impact on the entire ecosystem. “It won’t just benefit fish and the bay, it will benefit sea mammals, seabirds and the whole environment.”
Dale Vince, the founder of the Green Britain Foundation and one of the backers of the scheme, said research suggests oyster reefs can sequester significant amounts of planet-heating CO2. He said this project could see the restoration of about 15m oysters in a new bed covering more than 100 hectares (247 acres) – potentially sequestering up to 76 tonnes of CO2 each year.
But those behind the scheme said the real goal was to stimulate the natural spawning of beds, which once established around coastlines could dwarf that figure for carbon capture “by over a 1,000-fold per annum after about 15 years”.