April 29, 2021
PORTSMOUTH, UNITED KINGDOM (AFP) – Decimated by over-fishing and pollution, British oysters could make a comeback as a hatchery in the Channel port city of Portsmouth is helping to revive a native species.
At Portsmouth Universityâs Institute of Marine Sciences, huge piles of empty oyster shells are stacked in the courtyard, ready for the young oyster larvae to move in.
“In the wild environment, the oysters will be reproducing roughly May through to September, and weâre hoping that that will be mimicked here in the hatchery,” said Blue Marine Foundation scientist Luke Helmer, which co-launched the project in 2015 with the university of Portsmouth.