The Guardian19 Jun 2026Macro
Automatically composed with AI from the cited sources
Twenty thousand oysters sourced from Cornwall’s River Fal and grown on in Anglesey were scrubbed, inspected, and disinfected by 260 volunteers before deployment on the UK’s largest subtidal native oyster reef in the Solent. The Solent Oyster Restoration Project aims to reverse a 96% population decline of Ostrea edulis by installing pontoon cages of mature broodstock and seeding juveniles, with biosecurity removal of parasites and non-natives such as calcareous tubeworms and slipper limpets required prior to release. Dead oysters were ground into cultch for larval settlement.