00:00The textured concrete-like cubes made from a carbon-neutral material known as marine crude
00:05are now home to 4,000 European native oysters, forming part of a major restoration effort in the North Sea.
00:12This is the first time the technique has been used at this scale in the UK,
00:17marking a significant step forward in the fight to restore lost marine habitats.
00:22The innovative cubes act as a ballast to secure oysters to the seabed,
00:26shielding them from storms and tidal surges.
00:29Each six-tonne block is engraved with ridges to mimic natural marine surfaces.
00:34Large portholes cut through the centre of each cube creates ideal hiding spaces for lobsters and fish,
00:40encouraging other marine life to settle and thrive.
00:43Across the UK, native oyster populations have declined by 95% over the past 200 years.
00:48The Wild Oysters Project Tine & Weir is a collaboration between the Zoological Society of London
00:52and Groundwork Northeastern Cumbria,
00:54and together we're working to restore native oyster populations off the coast of the Northeast.
00:59We've established a 10,000 square metre restoration trial site off the coast of Whitburn,
01:04with the aim of restoring native oyster habitat, which in turn can help benefit local marine wildlife
01:09and also help improve our coastal water quality.
01:11So we've deployed 20 oyster reef cubes with 4,000 oysters attached onto them.
01:16Alongside this, we've deployed 35,000 spat-on shell and 40 tonnes of repurposed scallop shell culch.
01:23Spat-on shell refers to a larvae that has settled on a shell material.
01:27For our project, we've worked with a hatchery who have done this for us.
01:29The shell is scattered in a nice thin layer on the seabed,
01:32so when the oysters on the reef cubes start to breed next summer,
01:35the larvae will have somewhere surrounding that area to settle on.
01:39A recent study by ZSL and the University of Edinburgh found that oyster reef ecosystems have collapsed across Europe,
01:47making their restoration crucial to coastal health.
01:49The restoration effort has also been powered by the community.
01:54At North Shields Fish Quay, 90 local volunteers cleaned and scrubbed the oysters to remove any non-native species before their deployment,
02:01while a further 100 volunteers helped attach the oysters to the reef structure using specialist reef glue.
02:08The artificial reef cubes and culch were then lowered onto the seabed 1.8 kilometres off the coast using a survey vessel,
02:15following extensive consultation with local stakeholders and fishers.
02:20Over 200 volunteers have helped us to make this all possible.
02:24They've helped us to clean the native oysters and also attach them onto the oyster reef cubes,
02:28ready for their new home out at sea.
02:30The marine environment can be unpredictable at times.
02:32Bad weather comes in, it can throw everything off.
02:34We've obviously got contracts lined up with vessels and suppliers and delivery dates.
02:38It's really, really satisfying and a little bit emotional to see all these reef cubes finally go into the sea.
02:44This groundbreaking project brings hope that oyster reefs,
02:48once a cornerstone of healthy coastal ecosystems, could return to UK waters,
02:53supporting cleaner seas, richer biodiversity and more resilient coastlines for generations to come.
02:59Fantastic!
03:00Thank you!
03:06money
03:08We've got a discussion which gives you a closer one hour and done it.
03:11It's good to follow.
03:13Besides problème, in order for Einsatzort is still here in you.
03:16Cause still isn't our best distances so nearly asane but it's beautiful.
03:18We've got views by Nossa Sena that looks a lot like more than a shelter.
03:23We've got a nearer than sol.
03:25Last harvest is not as high as the water,
03:26but it's not like not as our hospitals.
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