The restoration project on the Solent is part of a broader national and European-wide effort to reverse the collapse of the native oyster reef ecosystem, and encompasses the knowledge, support, and efforts of marine scientists, NGOs, and coastal communities alike. It’s all part of the wider plan to bring the Solent back to the vitality it once enjoyed, before the negative impacts of anthropogenic activity took hold. Oyster populations in the Solent are at a fraction of what they once were, when its thriving ecosystem supported an entire industry. As a “seabed engineer”, oysters play a major role in supporting other marine life, too. It’s the aim of the project then to not only restore the Solent’s oyster reef to a former glory, but with it, revitalise a habitat that was once teeming with marine life. “Each adult oyster can filter up to 200 litres of seawater a day. Back when this was a thriving ecosystem, that would have amounted to around 50 billion pints of seawater each day,” said Dr Helmer. “Not only that, but they can release over one million larvae, helping to clean the Solent, expand the population, and support a web of marine life. “Restoring them is essential for biodiversity, for the health of our coastal waters, and for people who live and work near them.”