Native Oysters Return To Belfast After A Century's Absence

Belfast, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Dec, 2023) Long gone from Belfast's famed harbour where the Titanic was built, oysters are making a comeback thanks to a nursery installation project aimed at boosting marine life and water quality.

Until the early 1900s, the narrow Belfast Lough channel was home to large oyster reefs but overfishing, disease and pollution gradually decimated the population, according to the Ulster Wildlife group.

"We're bringing back a lost habitat," the group's marine conservation manager David Smyth told AFP on a harbour quay in the shadow of a noisy downtown highway and towering commercial buildings.

Extensive native oyster beds were abundant in European seas, and humans have been harvesting them since the Stone Age.

But the group estimates that oyster populations have declined by 95 percent since the 19th century, with native oyster reefs now one of the most threatened habitats in Europe.