Italy Marine Ecosystem Restoration Project – MER

European flat oysters (Ostrea edulis) were common in the Adriatic Sea and extensive reefs were reported until the early 1800s. Due to habitat disturbance and overexploitation, flat oysters are now scattered and only by-caught in fisheries. The large-scale project “Restoration activities of natural oyster beds in the Adriatic Sea” (2023-2026) in Italy is financed by the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (Next Generation EU) in the framework of the Marine Ecosystem Restoration project (MER). It aims at restoring wild native oyster habitat along the Italian Adriatic coast.

The restoration activities have been realised in seven separate locations in the Northern and central western Adriatic Sea.

Region	Site code	Site name	Coordinates (WGS84)
Region	Site code	Site name	Lat N	Long E
Friuli-Venezia Giulia	#1	Condotta Lignano	45,629	13,189
Veneto	#2	ZSC Tegnùe di Chioggia	45,224	12,497
Veneto	#3	Zona di Sicurezza terminale GNL Adriatico	45,079	12,569
Emilia-Romagna	#4	ATB Fuori Riccione	44,024	12,711
Marche	#5	Casteldimezzo – Monte Castellaro	43,979	12,891
Marche	#6	Porto Recanati – Porto Potenza Picena	43,418	13,746
Abruzzo	#7	Cologna	42,721	14,059

The project interventions are now in their final stage. So far, the project has deployed 32.600 square meters of various substrates and structures on a cumulative 23 ha surface and 14 tons of adult oysters in elevated cages – both from sustainable fishery and aquaculture – to enable larval supply and recruitment settlement.

Monitoring activities (e.g. wild species distribution, health, genetics) are being carried out throughout the project duration. A second oysters’ deployment will take place in all sites in early 2026. Moreover, 7 oceanographic stations (one per site: CTD and ADCP sensors, underwater cameras) have been installed to collect environmental data.

Start date of project planning: September 2022.

Start date of active restoration activities: September 2024.

Primary objective: Restore self-sustaining native oyster habitats.

Secondary objectives: Increasing the biodiversity value of the site and delivering ecosystem services (support to marine-coastal biodiversity, erosion mitigation, CO2 sequestration, improvement of water quality and biomass production services).

Project partner organisations: Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research, ISPRA (leading the project definition and implementation), Ministry of Environment and Energy Security (administration responsible for the project under Next Generation EU Fundings).

More information and ISPRA-Video:
https://www.isprambiente.gov.it/en/