Pioneering scheme hopes species that thrived for thousands of years in Irish waters can do so again
The dinghy slowed to a stop at a long line of black bobbing baskets and David Lawlor reached out to inspect the first one.
Inside lay 60 oysters, all with their shells closed, shielding the life within. “They look great,” beamed Lawlor. So did their neighbours in the next basket and the ones after that, all down the line of 300 baskets, totalling 18,000 oysters.
They are, however, never to be eaten. Instead they are tasked with reproducing and restoring oyster reefs to Dublin Bay more than two centuries after they were wiped out. “We want them to live long and happy lives,” said Lawlor.
This pioneering project in Dún Laoghaire harbour is betting that a species that thrived here for millennia – before the waters became an oyster graveyard – can do so again.
