A new rewilding project part-funded by the Glenmorangie distillery plans to use native oysters as water filters, which would prevent the quality of the company’s whisky from deteriorating, but also mitigate the effects of the organic waste released into the waters of Dornoch Firth. In addition, researchers say the process could increase biodiversity in the area by 50% by the end of the decade.
While populations of oysters in the area are so low as to be “functionally extinct”, he has found oyster shells dating back 8,000 years. The oyster bed in the Firth of Forth, near Edinburgh, was once 20 miles long by six miles wide.
“It’s shocking when you look at the scale of what’s been lost,” he says. “Oysters were a cheap source of protein and had all sorts of other benefits.”
Visitors to the Glenmorangie distillery in Dornoch won’t be sampling whisky and oysters anytime soon, however. Hamish Torrie, a company spokesperson, says the company became involved primarily to mitigate the impact of organic waste produced by the distillery.
“We put in an anaerobic digestion plant in 2017 which cleans up 95% of the organic waste. The idea of the oysters, which are filter feeders, was to clean up the other 5%,” he says. “The oysters have a job to do.”
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