Coordinators
Hein Sas
Hein Sas (July 12, 1956) is a freelance consultant and researcher, based in Amsterdam. He has studied experimental physics and after working 20 years in environmental research and consultancy he decided to become independent and devote his professional career, and much of his personal life, to restoring estuarine and marine ecosystems. About 10 years ago, Hein became aware of the -almost total – eradication of native oyster beds in the European marine environment and the ecological disaster which this entailed. So he decided to start raising interest in native oyster restoration and, if possible, helping to fund and develop restoration projects. In 2016 thisled to the creation of the Dutch native oyster consortium, in which Wageningen Marine Research, Bureau Waardenburg and Sas Consultancy cooperate in designing and executing restoration projects. The interest and amount of projects in the Dutch North Sea area has been growing rapidly since then, so Hein is currently setting up a Dutch native oyster network, in which all interested parties, ranging from nature restoration NGO’s, industry, government and science cooperate. Hein regards NORA as the essential organisation through which this type of cooperation can be achieved on a European level.
About the Biosecurity Working Group
NORA is proud to support a Biosecurity Working Group, with the aim of collaborating and exchanging knowledge to reduce the risks associated with oyster restoration in practice.
The NORA Biosecurity Working Group has partnered with the UK- Ireland Native Oyster Network (NON) to develop guidelines for native oyster restoration in practice. These guidelines were initially drafted during a workshop in January 2020, hosted by Heriot-Watt University, and funded by the Environment Agency and an EU Life grant administered via Wetlands International. The guidelines report was published in November 2020. One can download the report here.
The original Biosecurity Working Group thereby finished its work. However, the science as well as the innovations regarding flat oyster disease diagnosis and control are rapidly progressing. Also, scaling up restoration poses new challenges to invasive alien species import avoidance. Hence, NORA has taken the initiative to restart the Working Group. An initial meeting was organised in November 2023 and new meetings are being planned for 2024.
The Working Group is currently being coordinated by Hein Sas. If you would like to join, please take up contact with him (hsas@xs4all.nl).