Restorae co-founders, CEO Brian Tsuyoshi Takeda, and CTO Leif Rune Solås.
Photo: Annelise Chapman / Restorae.
Restorae AS, a Norwegian venture that pioneers ecologically restorative technologies and business models that heal nature while creating value, today announced its strategic alliance with Mitsubishi Corporation's feed company, Nosan Corporation, to support the restoration of the native European oysters (Ostrea Edulis).
By combining Nosan's novel juvenile bivalve feed technology designed to improve hatchery performance with Restorae's restoration-focused ecosystem partnerships, the collaboration aims to strengthen one of the most critical bottlenecks in rebuilding Europe's native oyster reefs.
The native European oyster historically formed vast reef systems that stretched from the North Sea to the Mediterranean, while supporting rich marine biodiversity, improving water quality, and stabilizing coastal ecosystems.
However, as Restorae explained in its release, centuries of overexploitation, devastating disease outbreaks and the invasion of Pacific oysters have brought the species almost to collapse until, today, the native European oyster is considered functionally extinct in most of its historical range.
In response, restoration initiatives have emerged across Europe to rebuild native oyster populations. At WeAreAquaculture, we've covered several of these, from the pilot restoration project in the Port of Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, to the five-year plan to restore native oyster reefs and strengthen coastal resilience around Ireland and Northern Ireland; as well as various initiatives in the UK, such as the one developed on offshore wind farms in the North Sea off the east coast of Scotland, the oyster reef restoration project carried out on the North Norfolk coast, England, and, again in Scotland, the genetic study to boost UK native oyster stocks.
However, efforts to restore native European oysters face challenges, and Restorae points to two as the main ones: producing enough juvenile oysters and generating enough live food to sustain them until their release.
As the restorative-focused company noted, incubating and growing oysters to a size suitable for release into the ocean remains a costly and technically demanding process, especially during the early stages of life when survival rates can be low.
And it is precisely to help address this bottleneck that Restorae has partnered with Nosan Corporation. Their goal is to make the Mitsubishi Corporation's feed company's innovative juvenile bivalve feeding technology available to mission-aligned partners outside of Japan. This technology is designed to improve hatchery performance by enabling faster growth and higher survival rates.
According to the announcement, the novel feed for juvenile bivalves, called SpatCare, is a nutrient-rich supplement for live feed. Its shelf-stable, 15-micron formulation contains the nutritional equivalent of an estimated 30 billion diatoms per gram, allowing even bivalve spat as small as 2 mm to begin using the feed to support growth.
This feed has been used in Japan for 20 years, and both companies believe it can generate similar benefits in native European oyster restoration initiatives.
"When Restorae pitched the case for Native European Oyster restoration to us, we saw an opportunity to meaningfully contribute to an important movement. We look forward to playing our part to restore Europe's ocean," stated a representative of Nosan Corporation.
Thus, during the next three months, Restorae and Nosan Corporation will establish alliances with commercial, scientific, governmental and NGO partners aligned with their mission to validate the effectiveness of the feed in native European oysters.
The Norwegian restorative company, which describes itself as being characterized by turning environmental challenges into prosperous opportunities for people and the planet, said that, once this effectiveness is validated, the collaboration will help introduce the technology into restoration initiatives across Europe.
"The feed's nutrient profile and particle size makes it an ideal 'baby formula' for juvenile bivalves. If the feed works for bivalves in Europe as it has for Japan, this could be game-changing for oyster restoration efforts around the world," Marine Biologist at Restorae Pia Ve Dahlen, explained.