Save the Date – Monitoring Guidelines Consultation Launch

Break out group at the Monitoring Workshop at the University of Portsmouth in December 2019.

The NORA Monitoring Working Group has been working with the Native Oyster Network UK and Ireland to develop guidelines for monitoring European native oyster restoration projects. With common metrics, it is hoped that lessons can be more effectively learned across …

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NORA Genetics Workshop Summary

NORA was delighted to welcome 65 experts and interested participants to the online NORA Genetics Workshop on 25th February 2021. The workshop was chaired by Pierre Boudry of Ifremer and an overview of current and planned research on Ostrea edulis of relevance to …

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NORA Production Working Group Workshop Report Available

Wordclouds (by Mentimeter) illustrating the range of information participants believe should be shared about native oyster production.

The NORA Production Working Group met for an oyster production industry/oyster restoration cross cutting workshop on December 4th 2020. Thirty-one experts discussed areas of communication that could be improved between the two groups and communally explored ways to overcome barrier of …

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NORA and the Native Oyster Network – UK & Ireland, launches Biosecurity Guidelines for Native Oyster Restoration

European Guidelines on Biosecurity in Native Oyster Restoration, November 2020

Native oyster restoration seeks to reverse through human activity, the damage sustained by oyster reefs over the past few centuries. This positive activity, which sees native oysters and their habitat returned to waters where they are currently absent or have …

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Native Oyster Network: UK and Ireland launch “European Native Oyster Habitat Restoration Handbook”

European Native Oyster Habitat Restoration Handbook, November 2020

The European Native Oyster Habitat Restoration Handbook- UK and Ireland is the ultimate “how to” guide to native oyster restoration in the UK and Ireland. The result of a collaborative effort across the Native Oyster Network- UK and Ireland, drawing …

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Announcing NORA Historical Ecology Working Group Workshop

Opening of the Oyster Market Billingsgate. (Credit: Illustrated London News 1843, Credit: The British Library)

The NORA Historical Ecology Working Group will be meeting online on Monday 30th November and Tuesday 1st December 2020, from 10am-3pm CET (9am-14.00 GMT). The workshops are open to existing project partners and to new participants, who would like to bring new …

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Laying Cultch: a Case Study from the Essex Native Oyster Initiative

Aggregate cultch being laid at the Essex Native Oyster Restoration Initiative site in the Blackwater Estuary, Essex, UK. (Photo: ZSL and ENORI)

The Essex Native Oyster Restoration Initiative (ENORI) is a collaboration between oystermen, government, conservationists, and academia, working towards the Essex estuaries having self-sustaining populations of native oysters. The Blackwater, Crouch, Roach and Colne Estuaries in Essex were designated as a …

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Keynote Speakers for NORA 3 Online Confirmed

Pierre Boudry, Ifremer; Anne Birch and Laura Geselbracht, The Nature Conservancy (TNC)

The NORA 3 Online organising committee are delighted to announce the conference Keynote Speakers: Pierre Boudry, Anne Birch and Laura Geselbracht. Pierre Boudry is Head of the Research Unit Functional Physiology of Marine Organisms at the French Research Institute for …

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NORA Outreach Working Group Shares Experiences in Developing Information Boards

Sharing information via information boards or posters can be an effective way of communicating with a broad audience. (Photo: NORA 2 conference)

The NORA Outreach Working Group invites you to join them for their third bimonthly meeting, the first after the summer break, in which experts from the UK and Germany will share their experience in developing information boards on the seafront. …

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Aquaculture Europe 2020: Abstract deadline extended

Announcing a Session titled Shellfish Restoration and Conservation at the upcoming Aquaculture Europe 2020 in Cork, Ireland (Sept 29th – Oct 2nd). Abstracts due via www.aquaeas.eu, and the submission deadline is June 1st, 2020.   “Shellfish (oysters, clams, mussels) have seen a decline in population numbers providing incentive …

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Call for collaborators to test spatting pond protocol

Spatting pond with settlement “hats” and live native European oysters. Photos: Åsa Strand

The European flat oyster, Ostrea edulis, is an important species both for commercial purposes (aquaculture and fisheries) and from an ecological perspective. Both aquaculture of the species and restoration efforts, are, however, hampered by limited access to spat. Consequently, there is …

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NORA 3rd conference: Save the date and call for abstracts

Photo: Bureau Waardenburg Ecology & Landscape, Floor Driessen

The Dutch partners and NORA Secretariat are glad to announce that “NORA Moving Forward” will take place in Rotterdam, the Netherlands from 3 to 5 November 2020. The conference will include plenary sessions, speed presentations, working group meetings and PhD sessions. And excursion to Yerseke, the Dutch centre for …

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ZSL launches national native oyster quest to find forgotten British treasure

Celine Gamble, ZSL’s Native Oyster Network Coordinator

Wildlife photographers across the UK are being challenged to capture underwater images of the rare European native oyster (Ostrea edulis), as international conservation charity ZSL (Zoological Society of London) launches a national native oyster hunt to galvanise support for the …

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NORA and UK-Ireland Native Oyster Network develop Best Practice guidelines for biosecurity in European oyster restoration projects

Workshop report NORA and UK-Ireland Native Oyster Network co-hosted a workshop on Biosecurity in Oyster Restoration at Heriot-Watt University, Edinburgh in January 2020. The aims of the workshop was to discuss and agree recommended biosecurity protocols relating to oyster restoration …

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