Driven by EU legislation and government interests worldwide, nature-inclusive design (NID) solutions aimed at conservation and restoration are becoming increasingly important in marine infrastructure projects. One such example is NIDs based on European flat oysters (Ostrea edulis), which are ecosystem engineers that create reefs, providing shelter, food and breeding habitats for a wide range of marine species. Oyster reefs used to be widespread in Europe, but fishing and harvesting destroyed most of them, suppressing their important role in the ecosystem. Offshore marine infrastructure, such as wind farms and artificial islands, can serve as suitable sites for restoration or construction of oyster reefs, as part of their nature-inclusive design. However, no methodologies yet exist both for the functional large-scale restoration of flat oyster reefs at sea and for their construction based on integration into offshore marine infrastructure, and simultaneously applicable to the Belgian part of the North Sea. Consequently, important fundamental research questions remain unaddressed.
The overall objective of Reefcovery is to provide fundamental insights into large-scale restoration and construction of European flat oyster reefs using nature-inclusive-design solutions (oyster NIDs) in offshore marine infrastructure.