Last summer, around 200,000 small oysters were lowered onto stones into the sea for the pilot project, thirty kilometers off the coast of Ostend. These flat oysters are almost completely extinct in our country due to overfishing. However, they are very important for biodiversity. Until 150 years ago we had large oyster reefs off our coast.
Thomas Kerkhove, Institute for Natural Sciences: “Up to 25% of our North Sea area was covered with oyster reefs. And they form a very important habitat for all kinds of other species: crabs, lobsters, fish species. They find a home there, they grow up there, they find food there. Those oyster reefs have been completely fished away, which has changed the entire ecosystem.”