RESIDENTS in Musselburgh got the chance to find out how they could help with a “groundbreaking” initiative to deploy native oysters into the Firth of Forth in East Lothian.

Restoration Forth is a major marine restoration programme working with communities to restore seagrass habitats and European flat oyster populations in the area.

A citizen science event, when local people could sign up as oyster volunteers, took place recently at the Fisherrow Centre on South Street.

For the first time in 100 years, native oysters have been deployed into the Firth of Forth – the first of a total of 30,000 oysters which will be reintroduced by the project to create a new oyster reef in the estuary, providing a habitat for many other species including fish, crabs, sea snails and sponges.

The oysters also filter water and improve water clarity, meaning more light can penetrate through to the seabed, allowing plants like seagrass to photosynthesise and grow.

Native oysters have been deployed into the Firth of Forth for the first time in 100 years. Photo: Maverick Photo Agency

Native oysters have been deployed into the Firth of Forth for the first time in 100 years. Photo: Maverick Photo Agency

Partners delivering Restoration Forth include WWF, Edinburgh Shoreline, Fife Coast & Countryside Trust, Heriot-Watt University, Marine Conservation Society, Project Seagrass, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, Scottish Seabird Centre, The Ecology Centre and The Heart of Newhaven Community.

Restoration Forth is funded by Aviva, the ScottishPower Foundation, and the Moondance Foundation; this project is also supported by the Scottish Government’s Nature Restoration Fund, through Scottish Marine Environmental Enhancement Fund (SMEEF) facilitated grants.

Restoration Forth said: “Historically, enormous native oyster beds provided an important source for food and livelihoods in the area. However, this marine species had been lost due to overfishing and industrial development.”

The native oysters being introduced to the Firth of Forth were sourced from Little Loch Broom and treated onsite to adhere to stringent biosecurity protocols before deployment, said Restoration Forth.

Last year, the first seeding of seagrass was successfully carried out in three locations along the Firth of Forth coast.

Native oysters have been deployed into the Firth of Forth for the first time in 100 years. Photo: Maverick Photo Agency

Native oysters have been deployed into the Firth of Forth for the first time in 100 years. Photo: Maverick Photo Agency

“Citizen science is when the public join forces with scientific research teams to contribute to a project. This could be collecting or analysing data, writing reports or even taking photographs. There are lots of ways to get involved,” said the Restoration Forth team.

“We are looking to the community to guide and shape what monitoring will take place, and are collecting ideas for what kind of intertidal oyster citizen science activities people would like to get involved in. No prior knowledge of oysters or experience in citizen science is necessary.”

A spokesperson for WWF-UK said that the event was “interesting”, with people who attended providing “lots of useful local knowledge and insight into how they might like to get involved in the project”.

They added: “We also provided attendees with the opportunity to register their interest in getting involved and had a number of sign-ups as oyster volunteers. We have lots of opportunities upcoming this year to get involved in oyster restoration work; if anyone would like to get involved they can email anna.inman@mcsuk.org for more information or to sign up as an oyster volunteer.”