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A major international conference gets underway this week in Stirling. From 23rd to 27th August experts from all over the world will debate current thinking around the future of shellfish – a resource that has been under appreciated for too long – and particularly what can be done to restore Scottish oyster populations in the Forth.
Dr Janet Brown, who has organised the conference, hopes that the conference will “highlight the real value of shellfish, not simply as something both delicious and health giving to eat, but as ecological stepping stones to a richer and more productive marine environment”.
Janet hopes the conference will help efforts throughout the UK in native oyster restoration, and in particular her own plans for a community project for native oyster restoration on the Firth of Forth. She said: “Oysters were once extremely common in the Forth, but were thought extinct and in need of reintroduction. However, Dr Liz Ashton found two live oysters at a secret location in 2009, so this is now a ‘restoration project’!”
Shellfish have their role to play in issues that affect everyone, including reducing climate stress, coastal protection, habitat provision, and water purification. Dr Melanie Austen of Plymouth Marine Laboratory will open the conference with such topics. At a time when Scottish shellfish production has increased dramatically it is timely to have Dr Robert (Skid) Rheault, Director of the East Coast Shellfish Growers Association, USA discuss the contributions that shellfish farmers make.
The conference is part of a series, the International Conference for Shellfish Restoration, which is being held in the UK for the first time in its 26 year history. The theme for this year’s conference is ‘Shellfish: Our Undervalued Resource’, which aims to highlight the importance of shellfish in our everyday lives. One of the invited speakers, Dr Mark Spalding from The Nature Conservancy, will highlight the loss of oyster reefs worldwide and ideas on how to redevelop reefs will come from Prof. Gef Flimlin of Rutgers University New Jersey, USA who will share how he has set up some remarkable community projects.
The Provost of Stirling will co-host a reception on the first evening of the conference. Shellfish farmers from Scotland will be attending thanks to generous support from a wide range of sponsors.
Full particulars about the conference are available on www.aqua.stir.ac.uk/shellfish2011.
The conference is being generously supported by the Crown Estate, Marine Scotland, Seafish and MASTS as well as by SNH, SEPA, SARF, the Fishmongers’ Company and Stirling Council.
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