There is evidence of humans harvesting oysters dating back to Neolithic times to be found in shell middens throughout Europe.
The Romans started cultivating Ostrea edulis in ponds over 2000 years ago and some of their aquaculture techniques are still in use today.
During the late 1700s and the 1800s, native oysters were seen as the “poor man’s” food.
Millions were harvested each year to feed the growing urban populations of the Industrial Revolution.
The measure then of how rich you were was not how many oysters were in your beef and oyster pie but how much beef.
Up until the mid to late 1800s, Scottish waters supported profitable native oyster fisheries.
For example, the oyster “scalps” in the Firth of Forth at that time covered an area larger than the City of Edinburgh.
In their heyday, the beds yielded up to 30 million oysters annually. Nowadays we are more use to the Pacific Oyster being grown in Scotland, as seen below.
click here to find out more.
This less visible ecosystem crisis has occurred relatively recently beneath the ocean’s surface.
A study revealed that 85% of global oyster reefs have been lost over the last 150 years.
Of those remaining, over one third are so depleted that they no longer function as ecosystems.
However there is hope. With a successful project in May 2017 boasting the official return of European oysters to Scotland’s Highland coastal waters after a century’s absence.
The Dornoch Environmental Enhancement Project (DEEP) a project led by Heriot-Watt University,
Glenmorangie Distillery (on the banks of the Firth at Tain),
and the Marine Conservation Society.
There is a local community project Restoration Forth which has just had its 1st year anniversary!
find out more about the project
