A large number of native oysters are set to be deployed on the Langstone Marine reef in The Solent, following preparation work by volunteers and the BLUE Marine Foundation.
During preparation time the organisers were joined by BSAC Expedition Officer, Andy Hunt, on behalf of the Operation Oyster environmental project.
Andy rolled up his sleeves and mucked in to help with the sorting, cleaning and recording of the stock of juvenile native oysters received from hatcheries around the rest of the UK.
He was in good company, as about 40 other people had volunteered to prepare approximately 30,000 native oysters ready to be placed in the sea. Several thousand oysters were processed each day over the course of a week.
This was an extremely important opportunity to catch up with Dr Luke Helmer who has been particularly helpful with scientific input to BSAC Operation Oyster. This short video explains how the Solent oyster is being reintroduced, and the benefits this will deliver:
BSAC hope to return to BLUE’s reef restoration project in Langstone Harbour with teams of citizen science divers to support BLUE in their monitoring activities of the site.
