Mission, Role & Strategy

Mission & Objectives

Network Role

Strategy

Mission and Objectives

At its constitutional Berlin conference, NORA’s mission statement was formulated as follows: 

The Native Oyster Restoration Alliance (NORA) supports the protection and ecological restoration of Ostrea edulis, the native European oyster (also knows as the flat oyster) and its habitat in areas of its current or historical distribution. NORA works to overcome existing barriers to the conservation, restoration and recovery of the European oyster by providing a platform for the NORA community to collaborate and participate in knowledge exchange. NORA seeks to support responsible restoration practice, in compliance with biosecurity and sustainability.

At the Berlin conference, NORA’s guiding principles were also formulated in the The Berlin Oyster Recommendation.

In summary, these are:

  1. Produce sufficient oysters for restoration of oyster reefs 
    Action should be undertaken to support existing hatcheries, spatting ponds and spat collector techniques and to establish new hatcheries and spatting ponds for the production of robust and genetically diverse Ostrea edulis seed. Broodstock sanctuaries should be established and used for local reinforcement/ recruitment.
  2. Identify and create suitable sites for restoration of oyster reefs
    Sufficient undisturbed and suitable areas should be identified for the restoration and protection of Ostrea edulis in all regions of its indigenous range. This includes the restoration of suitable substrate in some areas. 
  3. Provide suitable substrate for successful recruitment
    Extraction of Ostrea edulis shells from the marine environment for other usages should be stopped. The addition of suitable substrate will ease recruitment of larvae.
  4. Respect Bonamia-free areas 
    The invasive parasite Bonamia ostreae is present in many European ecoregions. Research to better understand the biology of the Bonamia parasite and infection dynamics should therefore be encouraged and biosecurity protocols must be strictly followed in Bonamia-free areas. Any area where there is functional extinction of Ostrea edulis should be treated as a Bonamia-free area. For Bonamia-infected areas, techniques should be sought to take advantage of any disease tolerance that has developed in broodstock from high disease load areas, without transferring pathogens.
  5. Create common monitoring protocols 
    Monitoring protocols that will provide comparable results for projects throughout Europe and for restored sites should be developed and followed. Where possible, monitoring should include the assessment of ecosystem services on a habitat and ecosystem scale.
  6. Preserve genetic diversity 
    Established hatchery and pond production protocols should be adapted to preserve the extant genetic diversity of native oysters in Europe.

Mission and principles underly all of NORA’s activities.

Native oyster reefs constitute a rich nearshore/offshore marine habitat, providing a wide range of ecosystem services, even beyond the habitat area. Hence, native oyster reefs promote and enhance biodiversity and productivity where these are still present. 
Human disturbance has caused a widespread and strong reduction of the reefs, in European waters. This gives rise to NORA’s key objective: 

To enhance protection and active restoration of the Ostrea edulis habitat and the functions that it fulfills in European marine waters.

This objective is coherent with the European marine policy, as expressed in:

  • The EU Nature Restoration Regulation 
  • The EU Biodiversity Strategy
  • The EU Mission Restore Our Ocean and Waters by 2030

NORA’s objective also supports the aims of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, the UN Decade Ocean Science for Sustainable Development and OSPAR’s listing of Ostrea edulis as threatened and declining species/habitat.