UKSA launches the Isle of Wight’s first oyster regeneration project
In September 2023 UKSA created the Isle of Wight’s first oyster nursery in partnership with the Blue Marine Foundation, with funding from Cowes Harbour Commission.
Supporting this important Solent wide project, we are delighted to be aiding the restoration with the breeding and growing of oysters in high densities, which are hanging in baskets in the water beneath our pontoons.
This oyster nursery facilitates the safe growth and nourishment of juvenile oysters and once they mature and start breeding, the release of millions of larvae into the Solent. It also provides refuge for other marine life including endangered European eels, young seahorse and sea bass.
Oysters are ecosystem engineers and provide a range of benefits to the environment and people such as improving water quality, with a single oyster able to filter up to 200 litres of water every day! They also act as a natural defence to coastal erosion.
Our Further Education students check in on our oysters each month, measuring and weighing them and sending the stats back to the Blue Marine Foundation for logging.
Native oysters are classified as a priority species in the UK
Between 1972 and 2006, the Solent supported the largest native oyster fishery in Europe, however the oyster population has declined significantly and the fishery collapsed in 2013. Native oyster reefs in the UK have declined by 95 percent due to overfishing, pollution, disease, habitat loss and other pressures.
Native oysters are classified as a priority species in the UK’s Biodiversity Action Plan and restoration is a high priority at a national, European and global level with an estimated 85 percent of oyster beds and reef habitats lost worldwide.
Since 2015, Blue Marine Foundation has restored over 150,000 oysters using innovative nursery systems and creating oyster reefs, and has developed a strong working group in the Solent.
“It’s been a long journey since our first conversations with the Blue Marine Foundation but we’re delighted to be announcing the first oyster regeneration project for the Isle of Wight with our first oyster baskets being installed in the coming weeks.
“UKSA is currently working through its plans for sustainability goals as an organisation and this project is a great start to making a difference in the marine environment UKSA calls home.”
Ben Willows, CEO of UKSA
“It’s fantastic to be able to help others who live and work in the Solent take restoration matters into their own hands, after all it is the playground for many like UKSA.
“We can’t do it all alone, the buy-in from our working group and local communities really is key to driving this kind of work forward at scale. I’m really looking forward to seeing what other creatures inhabit the oyster nursery with this first Isle of Wight project.”
Dr Luke Helmer, restoration science officer at Blue Marine Foundation
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