Professor Anamarija Franki:

I thank the committee for the invitation. Mr. Kavanagh and I represent NORRI, which we started a few years ago. The initiative did not actually come from us but from the local community, and from nature which desperately needs us now. As we know marine habitats have been seriously degraded in the past 150 years, especially in coastal areas. I worked for more than 20 years on the west and east coasts of the United States, addressing restoration of oyster habitats as well eelgrass beds and salt marshes. It is essential that these three aspects of coastal ecosystems support each other.

Often when we restore our coastal systems, we choose and compromise between several different species or habitats. NORRI is trying to address coastal ecosystem health to adapt resiliently and sustainably for climate change. To mitigate the processes we are now experiencing we definitely need to integrate coastal restoration. The role of marine habitats as an important carbon store is termed "blue carbon". Vegetated coastal habitats such as salt marshes, sea grasses and mangroves, though they comprise only 2% of ocean area, are estimated to store more than 50% of ocean organic carbon.

More and more research, especially through the Native Oyster Restoration Alliance, NORA, in Europe has shown that with shellfish blue carbon storage is very complex. Oyster reefs and oyster habitats have globally been the most degraded coastal habitats. There is perhaps between 1% and 5% of this habitat left. When I teach restoration or management of coastal systems globally and locally, I can show my students examples of mangroves, salt marshes, seagrass beds and coral reefs but I cannot show them an example of a healthy oyster reef. This is the reason we think restoration is the way to support biological diversity of coastal systems. We believe oyster habitat and reefs, as well as kelp, were abundant on the Irish coast. This is why we are trying to address the necessity of local restoration where we can become an example of this new, innovative approach - an automatic type of integrated coastal restoration of seagrasses, specifically here macro algae through kelp and the native oyster, ostrea edulis. We know this is a very complex issue of averaging and showing the qualitative data because when there is a living organism that also provides a carbon sink, it also provides a carbon source. That is why the new research showed how critical the restoration of keystone species, in this case ostrea edulis, is essential to enhance benthic and pelagic coupling. We definitely need to ensure conservation management understands the need of integrated restoration of different keystone species and the habitats that used to thrive together for millions of years, and used to adapt together to climate changes and environmental changes in general.

There is so much to learn from those systems and species. We have more and more evidence, thanks to new research and technologies, of the importance of the ecological services and functions of those missing habitats. We do not have enough time to further prove the importance of those species and habitats for the health of our coastal systems, including water and food quality and human health.

Recently I gave an international presentation on biodiversity for climate change which shows the importance of the healthy oyster systems which used to embrace every single continent. These were an essential or keystone species and habitat, providing a nexus of food, water and energy between land, coastal systems and the open ocean. We need to do everything possible to restore them locally. Projects in Wicklow and in Ireland can serve as an example of local, innovative restoration to improve our coastal waters and our environment, to adapt to climate change and to enhance the long-term health of humans.

I thank the committee for providing me with this opportunity to share some of my experiences.