This year saw the first steps towards restoring native oysters in Chichester Harbour. For hundreds of years, Chichester Harbour was famed for its oysters. Native Oysters (as distinct from Pacific Oysters - a fairly recent invasive species to the harbour), supported a thriving fishing industry  its peak during the 19th century it is esti­mated that over 3 million oysters a year came to market through Emsworth Harbour, but native oyster populations have plummeted by 95% across Europe due to a number of factors including over-fishing, habitat loss, predation, pollution, and invasive non-native species.

Chichester Harbour Conservancy is focused on nature recovery, and is a proud partner in the Solent Seascape Project. This ambitious project to restore the Solent's seascape to a productive, thriving ecosystem focuses on four habitat areas - saltmarsh, seabirds, sea-grass and native oysters.

Why restore native oysters? Oysters bring significant environmental benefits including for water quality - one oyster alone can filter up to 200 litres of water per day. They also re­move nitrogen, sequester carbon and provide habitats for other marine life.

With a target of restoring four hectares of oyster habitat across the Solent, new oyster reefs have already been created in the Hamble and Langstone Harbour, and this summer saw the first scoping work towards creating new habitat here in Chichester Harbour. This was usintoyster coupelles', small structures which sat on the seabed for the sum mer to catch oys­ter larvae. These have been removed and will be analysed by the Solent Seascape Project scientists at the University of Portsmouth. The results will provide an indication of the exist­ing native oyster population within Chichester Harbour, providing baseline data for future habitat restoration work.

ind out more about the Solent Seascape Project at www.solentseascape.com  and Chichester Harbour Conservancy's nature restoration work at www.conservancy.co.uk

The Ems January 2025

A Solebt Seascape project "Oyster reef restoration" which took place in the River Hamble: