WILD Scottish oysters have been discovered living in the Firth of Forth more than half a century after they were declared extinct in the area.
An expert from Stirling University spotted the shellfish in the Forth – and she believes the discovery could lead to the delicacy once again ending up on our dinner plates in years to come.
Native Scottish oysters were once common in the Firth of
Forth but it has long been thought they were wiped out through over-harvesting. They were last farmed there in 1920.
Two studies, in 1957 and 1996, suggested they were extinct in the area.
It was thought the Forth contained nothing but the shells of the oysters that once thrived there.
Dr Elizabeth Ashton, from the Institute of Aquaculture at Stirling University, was stunned when she discovered two living oysters among the rocks.
The location of the shellfish is being kept secret to protect them from poachers.
"I put my wellies on and my raincoat and was walking along the slippery stones by the water's edge and then out of the corner of my eye I saw what I thought could be an oyster," she said.
"The tide was still going out so I had to wait a while and yes it was a specimen of a native oyster."
She now hopes to carry out work to help rejuvenate stocks, and within a few decades she believes restaurant diners could once again be eating native Scottish oysters from the Forth.
"The Firth of Forth was once the major oyster fishery in Scotland and at its peak produced over 30 million oysters a year and they were exported all across Europe," she said.
Dr Ashton believes oysters must have been living in the Forth all along, but just in such small numbers that they have gone unnoticed.
She thinks they will need help if they are to flourish once again and she wants a Marine Protected Area to be set up in the Forth under the new Scottish Marine Bill.
She hopes native oysters can be supplied from Loch Ryan in the south-west – the only site where they are still produced commercially – to help restock the Forth.
In a process known as "oyster gardening", the creatures are put in special bags in the water, which keeps them close together so they can breed.
The two oysters discovered by Dr Ashton were about 100 metres apart – too great a distance for them to reproduce.
Native Scottish oysters are so rare they are considered a delicacy around the world. They are protected under the UK Biodiversity Action Plan.
Even though it is illegal to collect them in the wild, they attract poaching because they can be sold for large prices on the black market.
Roy Brett, owner of the Ondine restaurant in Edinburgh, which specialises in shellfish, relishes the prospect of Scottish east coast oysters.
He said: "This is the best oyster because it actually tastes of the sea.
"When I told the guys in the kitchen that one day we might have Edinburgh oysters, it was a good feeling.
"We know it's early days but just to hear that news, it's so encouraging."
STAPLE TO LUXURYOYSTERS are now a symbol of indulgence and affluence but they were once the a staple of the poor. The Firth of Forth was one of Europe's most important centres of oyster fishing.
In the early 19th century, more than a billion were eaten in Britain every year. There are now only a few dwindling populations of native oysters left on the west coast.
Over-harvesting, disease and pollution were factors in the species' decline. The biggest threat to their recovery is unlawful harvesting from sea lochs.
Most oysters served in Scotland are farmed, the favoured species being the Pacific oyster.
