Oyster reefs are among the most endangered marine habitats on earth and restoration projects are gaining momentum in Europe.

The open access review article "The Native Oyster Restoration Alliance (NORA) and the Berlin Oyster Recommendation: Bringing back a key ecosystem engineer by developing and supporting best practice in Europe" presents relevant recommendations for the implementation of restoration measures and provides a synthesis of current European projects.

“The native European Oyster Ostrea edulis once covered vast areas of the open North Sea and other European coastal waters. As an ecosystem engineer it built biogenic reefs and played a key ecological role for the wider ecosystem by providing many essential ecosystem services.”

NORA represents nature conservation, science, oyster growers and other stakeholders and will facilitate knowledge exchange for the benefit of enhancing biodiversity. The network was established in 2017, during an international workshop on oyster restoration in Berlin. Its second conference was held at the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 21-23 May 2019 , with over 140 participants.

Aquatic Living Resources is a peer-reviewed journal which publishes original research papers, review articles and prospective notes dealing with all exploited (i.e. fished or farmed) living resources in marine, brackish and freshwater environments. Visit Aquatic Living Resources online to read the instructions for authors and submit your paper; sign up for email-alerts or to recommend the journal to a colleague.