Artificial oyster reefs being introduced in Scotland will restore a population made extinct by overfishing in the 1800s

  • 20,000 oysters will be placed on waste shell reefs to recreate the natural coral
  • If successful, oyster numbers will be increased to 200,000 over three years
  • The initiative will increase biodiversity and help purify the surrounding seas

Oysters are to be reintroduced in the Highlands more than a century after they were fished to extinction in the region.

Twenty thousand oysters will be placed on artificial waste shell reefs to recreate the natural coral - the first time this has been attempted anywhere in Europe. 

Last year, 300 oysters were placed in Dornoch Firth's protected waters to confirm the species could survive.

They thrived, paving the way for the Dornoch Environmental Enhancement Project (DEEP) to recreate natural reefs.

Investment: From this month, 20,000 oysters will be carefully placed on the first of these reefs, specially created from waste shell, to mimic their natural habitat

Investment: From this month, 20,000 oysters will be carefully placed on the first of these reefs, specially created from waste shell, to mimic their natural habitat

Oysters will be carefully placed on the first of these reefs in Dornoch Firth this month.

The artificial reefs were created from waste shells to mimic the osyters' natural habitat.

The native oysters, all grown in the UK, painstakingly cleaned and checked for disease and unwanted 'hitchhikers', will be regularly monitored.

If the trial is successful, scientists hope to boost oyster numbers to 200,000 over three years.

Over five years, the population will be built up to four million and spread over 40 hectares, restoring the self-sustaining oyster reefs that existed in the Firth until they were fished out in the 19th century.

The initiative is a combined effort by the whisky company Glenmorangie and its partners in the project: Heriot-Watt University and the Marine Conservation Society.

Hamish Torrie, Glenmorangie’s Corporate Social Responsibility director, said: 'We are very excited to move DEEP to its next stage and have been hugely encouraged by the enthusiastic support that our meticulous, research-led approach has received from a wide range of Scottish Government agencies and native oyster growers – it is a truly collaborative effort.

'We are all very proud that in our 175th year, the distillery has such a pioneering environmental project right on its doorstep.'

Glenmorangie said that established reefs in the Firth will increase biodiversity and act in tandem with the distillery’s anaerobic digestion plant, to purify the surrounding seas of their distillation.

Dr Bill Sanderson, associate professor of Marine Biodiversity at Heriot-Watt, said: 'This is the first time anyone has tried to recreate a natural European oyster habitat in a protected area.

'Working closely with Glenmorangie, we hope to create an outstanding environment for marine life in the Firth – and act as a driving force behind other oyster regeneration work across Europe.'

Innovative: Heriot-Watt University student Seb Jemmett with oysters destined for the seabed. Glenmorangie said it is the first time such a project has been attempted in Europe.

Innovative: Heriot-Watt University student Seb Jemmett with oysters destined for the seabed. Glenmorangie said it is the first time such a project has been attempted in Europe.

The project partners said that the success of DEEP would offer many benefits to the marine environment.

As well as helping to improve the water quality, native oysters also create microhabitats for other marine life, which increases an area’s biodiversity.

Oyster reefs are amongst the most endangered marine habitats on Earth – and scientists hope that the research conducted as part of DEEP might one day enable conservationists around the world to reintroduce the species to other areas where it has become extinct.