At Oyster Heaven we have one goal: restore oyster reefs.
But while we work on this, we have a parallel goal that we consider just as important: raise awareness about the importance of marine restoration.
So here are some of the reasons we think everyone should be aware of oysters and marine restoration in general.
Not many people know this, but only 15% of oyster reefs are left in the world.
This is because 150 years ago they were considered just a cheap food and were eaten to near extinction without realizing the massive impact this would cause on the environment – oyster reefs create important habitats for other species that consequently also lost their home!
People tend to be more concerned about animals when they are cute and playful, but even if oysters don’t look very charming, we’d like everyone to care about them as well and understand how important they are for the planet.
In case you are wondering, oysters served in restaurants always come (or should come) from aquaculture.
When we talk about sustainability, we almost immediately think about trees and forests. We all know that trees clean the air and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere. Tropical rainforests are even named “the lungs of the planet”, and we are well aware of the problems deforestation causes.
This is really important and it’s great to be aware of it. But it shouldn’t stop there!
Most people don’t know that oyster reefs can manage CO2 as they use carbon to build their shells, and they filter 200 litres of water per day. They do very similar functions as trees do, only oysters do it in the ocean. In fact, many other molluscs and sea creatures carry out these important jobs and it is thanks to them that the ocean stores 20 times more carbon than land plants and soil combined.
They have a critical role in the environment and very few people are aware of it. So let’s change that! And from now, when we think about sustainability, let’s also think about the creatures that live underwater.
For a long time, our oceans have been used to dump our society’s sewage waste and garbage, polluting the most important element of the planet.
It is time to revert the situation and become aware of the importance of Ocean Health to our lives.
As we are currently in The Ocean Decade, we want to continue to remind that the marine realm is the largest component of the Earth’s system that stabilizes climate and supports life on Earth and human well-being.
To conclude, we can say that the future of our society depends in one way or another on the health of our oceans.
And for our oceans to be healthy again our society needs to invest in large-scale marine regeneration projects to offset environmental footprints and restore these crucial lost ecosystems.
