2023 Marine Futures Interns Blog Week 15: Oyster Work at Spurn Point

This week, I joined Laura Welton, the Native Oyster Restoration Officer at Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, and assisted her with some oyster work at Spurn Point National Nature Reserve (NNR).

Oyster work for Wilder Humber

Having previously helped with seagrass seed collection at Spurn NNR, I was excited to have the opportunity to return and assist with native oyster restoration work. These projects are ongoing as part of a five-year seascape restoration project, delivered through a partnership between Yorkshire Wildlife Trust, Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust and Ørsted. The overarching partnership programme is named ‘Wilder Humber’, and it aims to restore a combination of seagrass, saltmarsh, sand dune and native oyster habitats within the Humber estuary.

Beth measuring oysters with the callipers.

We spent the first part of our morning measuring some oysters at the field station. We measured the length, width, growth and weight of each oyster using callipers. As oysters grow, they produce a lighter-coloured ‘band’ of shell, which allows you to see new growth. These measurements will allow Laura to compare the growing rates of oysters within mesh bags and those loose within the trestles.

Once we had finished measuring our oysters, we headed out to Spurn Point to access the trestles. We worked in pairs to sort through the trestles, removing any dead oysters, counting the remaining oysters, and re-sorting them within to ensure they weren’t packed in too compactly. We also made sure to remove any of the invasive pacific oysters that had begun growing on or within the trestles. We also made sure to remove any crabs, including an adorable edible crab who posed for a photo.

Once the oysters have reached an optimum size, Laura will begin releasing them from the trestles and relaying them at several sites across the Humber. This should form the foundations of an oyster reef. Hopefully over time the oysters will reproduce and continue to thrive naturally in the wild as they historically did in the Humber!

Sian organising oysters within their trestles

Why are native oysters important?

Native oysters are filter feeders, using their gills to feed on phytoplankton and remove excess nutrients within the water. Adult oysters are capable of filtering 200 litres of water per day, which can play a huge role in improving water quality. The habitats provided by oysters are also great at supporting crustaceans and sponges, and provide a nursery habitat for fish. Restoring these native oysters will therefore play a role in improving biodiversity within the Humber estuary.