Experts - Site Selection

E-Mail: rachel.millar@ulsterwildlife.org

I am interested in how the physical environment affects whole organism responses and species interactions. My work involves bivalves in general, as well as other species that frequently occur within bivalve beds. I have previously been involved with research involving ecological impacts and invasion success of the Pacific oyster, as well as documenting flat oyster population recovery. I am also interested in documenting how environmental conditions affect the population develop of bivalve populations.

E-Mail: patrickjoyce@cuhk.edu.hk
Web: paddy-joyce.netlify.app

I'am currently employed as a Science Officer with the Shellfish Centre Wales based at Bangor University. I have worked with native oyster population dynamics for more than 20 years. My particular expertise is the passive / benign approach to bivalve restoration. I have extensive experience in establishing, monitoring and augmenting both subtidal and intertidal native oyster, pearl oyster and horse mussel populations. I' am a predictive population modeler of invasive bivalve species, with Magallana gigas and Pinctada radiata species of interest. I'am currently working on the DAERA funded; Native Oysters Northern Ireland project (NONI) and the Ulster Wildlife Trust Blue Carbon Habitats project. I, am also connected with the Zoological Society of London "Wild Oysters" restoration hub at the Conwy Estuary Wales.

E-Mail: d.smyth@bangor.ac.uk

I am involved in native oyster restoration, monitoring, ecosystem service quantification and outreach in the Netherlands, and to restoration in the USA and Australia. I contributed to the first active restoration pilots and the description of the first native oyster reef in the Dutch North sea. I am part of the Dutch Flat Oyster Consortium that is active in putting native oyster restoration on the policy agenda together with partners. I am also involved in designs of offshore wind farms, where populations of native oyster are actively promoted as well as new restoration techniques for oyster reef restoration.

E-Mail: k.didderen@buwa.nl
Web: https://www.platteoester.nl

We produce Ostrea edulis for both the table and restoration market on our disease free farm in Wester Ross, Scotland. We have been involved in the on growing of the 'Native' since we started the farm and as a result have a great respect for this little creature and appreciate the challanges involved in their cultivation. We are a key supply chain partner of the Glenmorangie DEEP project and are working closely with that project to deliver significant volumes of part grown stock for relaying in the Dornoch Firth. We are also greatly interested in preservation of existing wild Scottish population and are working with others to identify, protect and enhance these.

E-Mail: info@maorachbeag.scot
Web: https://scottishshellfishcompany.com/

E-Mail: alison.debney@zsl.org
Web: www.zsl.org

As one of the initiators of native oyster restoration in Dutch waters, I am currently functioning as an informal network coordinator, operating between the various restoration projects and related organisations. With the purpose of stimulating cooperation and exchange of information, in order to speed up the learning curve we have to go through. As member of the NORA Advisory Board I also attempt to stimulate cross-border cooperation and information exchange at a European level.

E-Mail: hsas@xs4all.nl

E-Mail: afrankic@gmail.com
Web: www.umb.edu/GHP

I'm a marine ecologist and scientific diver studying the ecological functioning of marine habitats of high biodiversity, especially biogenic habitats formed by shellfish, the effects of anthropogenic impacts and the development of novel approaches for impact amelioration and ecological restoration. I have expertise in the aquaculture of biogenic reef forming bivalves (oysters, horse mussels) with the purpose of ecological restoration, site selection of restoration and translocation and monitoring of success using biodiversity of the associated community, survival and recruitment as metrics. In the past I have worked in several shellfish restoration projects such as the Modiolus Restoration Plan in Strangford Lough (Northern Ireland), monitoring condition and recovery in horse mussel Modiolus modiolus populations following restoration, and the Dornoch Firth Environmental Enhancement Project (DEEP) in Scotland for the reintroduction of the native oyster Ostrea edulis, largely working on site selection and historical ecology.

E-Mail: josemaria.farinas-franco@gmit.ie

E-Mail: abratos@unidu.hr

My main focus is on conducting outreach to the public developing 1) educational material e. g. for German highschool students and teachers, 2) information material for interested visitors e.g. info boards and flyer, 3) an interactive online platform to increase the knowledge on the native oyster and its valuable ecosystem functions.

E-Mail: Corina.peter@awi.de
Web: https://www.awi.de/forschung/biowissenschaften/oekologie-der-schelfmeere/schwerpunkte/europaeische-auster/proceed.html

Stéphane is a marine biologist, working at Ifremer near Brest, in France. His current research is focused on the ecology and ecophysiology of temperate marines bivalves especially the flat oyster, the pacific oyster, but also the pectinids (Black and Great scallops). In another life during his PhD, he has also worked on the pearl oyster ecology in French Polynesia. Most of his projects is connected with conservation, restoration, aquaculture & fisheries. He is in charge of a national long term monitoring program on the pacific oyster reproduction (VELYGER) and a regional project on the flat oyster ecology & restoration (FOREVER). He is also involved in a new project on the black scallop ecology (MASCOET). Locally, Stéphane co-animates a regional research site (ZABRI) in relation with the International Long Term Ecological Research Network (ILTER). He is also a scientific diver and cannot conceive his work without going regularly at field !

E-Mail: Stephane.Pouvreau@Ifremer.fr
Web: https://www-iuem.univ-brest.fr/lemar/?lang=en

Senior lecturer in Comparative and environmental animal physiology in the University of the Basque Country (North Spain). My research (since 1989) is focused on the physiological energetics of marine bivalves. This includes multidisciplinary analysis (physiology, cell biology, genomics) of the effect that exogenous variables (temperature, salinity, food availability) exert on the physiological performance, growth and reproduction of the bivalves at individual scale. In the last 10 years, my research is focused on the physiological and genetic basis of the endogenously determined inter-individual differences in growth rate in both hatchery produced and wild populations of bivalves.

E-Mail: irrintzi.ibarrola@ehu.eus

I am an applied ecologist working in marine and freshwater habitats to understand the consequences of individual variation in behaviour, survival, growth and reproduction of organisms in a population, community and evolution context. A great deal of the research in my group at Essex is on shellfish and fish including aquaculture and wild fisheries, and restoration and recovery of fish and shellfish stocks and habitats. At Essex we work from individual physiological responses of shellfish in our marine laboratories to the ecology of on bed mariculture and fisheries at multiple spatial scales. We work closely with oyster producers in Essex and beyond to deliver sustainable and profitable businesses and food security from the blue growth sector. Beyond shellfish and fish our group also works on saltmarshes, coastal marshes, mudflat and seagrass beds from microbial ecosystem functions to carbon capture and all services in between.

E-Mail: tcameron@essex.ac.uk
Web: https://www.essex.ac.uk/people/camer52908/thomas-cameron

Societal benefits, restoration, ecology, biodiversity & monitoring of: 1. Shellfish reefs, 2. Marine Protected Areas 3. Priority habitats of nature conservation importance, The win-win between biodiversity conservation, ecosystem function and marine development Biodiversity mapping and management in Marine Spatial Planning Sustainable development and habitat use by species of high biodiversity conservation importance

E-Mail: w.g.sanderson@hw.ac.uk
Web: https://researchportal.hw.ac.uk/en/persons/william-sanderson

Primarily focused on providing a strong scientific foundation for the Solent Oyster Restoration Project, my intrests are broad as there are many issues to consider within our system. My previous research has involved invasive species, restoration aquaculture systems, disease and associated biodiversity. More recently we have been working on scaling up reef restoration and I have been encouraging the movement towards integrated ecosystem restoration (Oysters, Saltmarsh, Seagrass and Kelp). Outreach, communication and engement with a range of audiences is also something that I keen to develop across Europe following our successful activities in the UK.

E-Mail: luke@bluemarinefoundation.com
Web: https://www.bluemarinefoundation.com/projects/solent/

My conversation priority is the interconnected restoration of coastal habitats, particularly oyster reefs, seagrass and saltmarsh. My research is focused on the ecology of these species and habitats, and thier interactions with environmental pressures such as climate change, microplastics, disease, invasive species and excessive nutrients (eutrophication). I am also intersted in host-pathogen interactions in filter-feeders, and genetic adaptations and diversity of the native oyster. In 2017 I founded the UK and Ireland Native Oyster Restoration Network in collaboration with the Zoological Society of London, which aims to catalyse a national approach to oyster habitat restoration via action, communication and providing evidence for policy change. I'm an advisory board member for the European Native Oyster Restoration Alliance and a founding member of the Solent Oyster Restoration Project team, led by Blue Marine Foundation, for which I act as an technical and scientific advisor alongside active restoration practice.

E-Mail: joanne.preston@port.ac.uk
Web: https://www.port.ac.uk/about-us/structure-and-governance/our-people/our-staff/joanne-preston

Developing the science, networks and communication to allow the scale-up of shellfish reef restoration to address habitat destruction on an ecologically meaningful scale. This includes developing the primary science to support restoration and quantifying the ecosystem services provided by the restored habitat, translating that science into formats accessible to a variety of practitioners and facilitating knowledge exchange across a range of projects, geographies and taxa.

E-Mail: BHANCOCK@TNC.ORG