Natur am Byth! Môr Native Oyster Restoration

Natur am Byth! Môr Native Oyster Restoration is led by the Marine Conservation Society. This project is one of the many species restoration projects within the Natur am Byth! Programme led by Natural Resources Wales working in partnership with nine organisations across Wales and funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and supported by Welsh Government. Natur am Byth! Môr (development phase 2022-2023 and delivery 2023-2027) is restoring native oysters to the Milford Haven waterway and builds on previous efforts including the Wales Native Native Oyster Restoration Project (WNORP).

Natur am Byth! Môr has deployed 90,000 native oysters (estimated 50,000 above 50mm and 40,000 20-50mm) seeking to provide conditions that can boost natural reproduction. Through working with additional separately-funded projects, we have deployed an additional 250,000 spat on shell in 2025 with another 200,000 due in 2027. These spat on shell were produced from indigenous Milford Haven broodstock reared in the hatchery by Bangor University School of Ocean Sciences with a grant from the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority through the Wild Coasts project funded by Welsh Government (2025 deployment) and the Local Places for Nature: Coastal Capacity Building Fund awarded by The Wales Council for Voluntary Action (2027 deployment).

Monitoring of restoration areas has taken place annually by drop-down video with some diving. Native oyster “hotels” (cages) slung beneath a pontoon at Rudder’s Boat Yard have provided a good tool for community awareness raising and the main focus for the engagement programme and citizen science. Additional monitoring of the spat on shell is being aided by the Atlantic Coast Programme funded by Fat Face and the Fat Face Foundation.