The oyster is their world thanks to new project

OYSTERS may be wellknown in certain quarters for having alleged aphrodisiac qualities. What may not be so well known is their positive impact on the environment. They help keep the surrounding water clean and encourage marine life to an area by providing food and a habitat for many other marine creatures.

And now the UK’s first oyster restoration hatchery has been opened in a bid to provide a million oysters a year.

The native oyster has become almost extinct in the Solent and many other areas of Europe, having declined by more than 90 per cent since the 1800s.

Oyster reefs were once abundant around the British Isles and the oyster fishery in the Solent was once the largest in Europe.

But a combination of overextraction, disease, pollution and invasive species saw the collapse of the oyster population and the area’s fishery.

It is hoped the new project will also encourage an increase in fish stocks around the Solent.

Furthermore, the hatchery will also allow further research into ensuring that the oysters are disease-resistant.

This whole project is an absolute boon for the region’s biodiversity.

And while it proves that science is indeed incredible – capable of hauling a species back from the brink of extinction – that know-how needs to be pressed into action for the greater good with the help of financial backing.

As we have seen with the global efforts to create a Covid19 vaccine, we can cooperate to utilise these marvellous breakthroughs for the good of all, not just for one country or another.

If we are to reverse the damage we have wreaked on our planet, we will need to work together more and more.

The News’s Going for Green campaign is encouraging people to do what they can for the environment, but we as individuals can only do so much.