Over 30,000 oysters return to Firth of Forth in award-winning conservation project

dailyrecord.co.uk:

More than 30,000 oysters have been returned to the Firth of Forth after a century’s absence as part of an award-winning Scots conservation project.

Restoration Forth, a WWF Scotland scheme, picked up the Coast and Waters Award for their incredible efforts at Thursday night’s Nature of Scotland Awards in Edinburgh.An “amazing” 85 per cent of oysters returned to the sea by conservationists over the last three years have survived, experts say.

The project has also seen more than 150,000 seeds of unique underwater seagrass planted.Considered a "wonder plant", seagrass meadows are a haven for marine life as well as absorbing carbon from the atmosphere.

Restoration Forth beat off stiff competition from other eco projects to claim the Nature of Scotland gong at RSPB Scotland’s glitzy annual bash, held at the Edinburgh International Conference Centre.Naomi Arnold, Restoration Forth Project Manager at WWF, said: “We’re over the moon that Restoration Forth has won the Nature of Scotland Coasts and Waters award - it’s truly an incredible honour to be recognised alongside such inspiring projects.