Europe’s largest native oyster restocking program has been launched today to coincide with World Oyster Day

Oyster farmer and marine biologist Dr Andy Woolmer of Mumbles Oyster Company has teamed up with Kelsey Thompson of Morecambe Bay Oysters’ shellfish hatchery to restock historic oyster beds off Mumbles in Swansea Bay with 4 million juvenile native oysters. Dr Woolmer read a Tweet by Kelsey a week ago, explaining that he had produced 4 million small oysters, which were rapidly outgrowing their home at the hatchery but had no place to go, and so offered his oyster bed off Mumbles in Swansea Bay and its sister farm at Atlantic Edge Oysters in Angle Bay, Pembrokeshire. At quick phone call established a plan of action and, with the help local fisherman Barry Thomas, the first batch of 125,000 oysters were released today, while further batches have been scheduled for the rest of the summer and autumn. Native oyster (Ostrea edulis) populations have declined by 95 percent in the UK since the mid-19th Century, which makes native oyster beds one of the most endangered marine habitats in ...