Native oysters breed in Dornoch Firth for first time in more than a century

Summary

Native European flat oysters have bred naturally for the first time in the Dornoch Firth, north of Inverness, after more than a century of local extinction.
The Deep project, launched about 12 years ago, has deposited some 140,000 adult oysters in the firth, taken from the Loch Ryan fishery near Stranraer.
Native oysters were fished to extinction around much of the British coast in the decades after the Victorian era, when the Firth of Forth alone landed 30m a year.
Conservationists hope about 4 million oysters will colonise the site and want the population self-sustaining by 2031, while remaining anxious about overfishing and pollution.
The project's success has encouraged around a dozen newer oyster restoration schemes around the UK, including in Argyll, Essex, the Solent and the Firth of Forth.

Prof Bill Sanderson, who leads the Deep project, called the natural reproduction in the Dornoch Firth a very significant milestone.
Deep research associate Gurjameer Ramday said warmer seas over the last two years helped the baby oysters, and that the find shows targeted restoration can work.
Sanderson and colleagues forecast the population could take a decade or more before it is large enough to be fished.
Conservationists criticised government policies on drag-net fisheries that scour the seabed.
Sanderson said the project has to continue until baby oyster production exceeds the numbers eaten by crabs and starfish.

Return of the wild oyster: conservationists bring shellfish back from local extinction off Scottish coasttheguardian.com· 3h
A Guardian feature reports that wild native oysters have bred for the first time in the Dornoch Firth after more than a century of local extinction, through the Deep restoration project run by Heriot-Watt University, Glenmorangie and the Marine Conservation Society. Prof Bill Sanderson calls the natural reproduction a very significant milestone, hoping 4m oysters will colonise and the population become self-sustaining by 2031, though conservationists remain anxious about overfishing, pollution and drag-net fisheries.