Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Oyster reefs could protect Catterline from future landslips

Catterline near Stonehaven has suffered with coastal erosion in the past.
Catterline near Stonehaven has suffered with coastal erosion in the past.

Man-made oyster reefs could be used to protect a Mearns community against the effects of tidal and rainfall erosion.

A £540,000 universities grant was given to Glasgow Caledonian University for the study of landslides at Catterline in May.

The village was one of seven European locations selected as “open-air laboratories” for the Operandum project, led by the University of Bologna.

Professor Rohinton Emmanuel and Alejandro Ollauri outlined the four-year project to a packed meeting of residents at the Creel Inn.

Mearns Conservative councillor George Carr said coastal and rainfall erosion costs Aberdeenshire Council “a fortune” every year.

He said: “Catterline has suffered landslips over several years, which denied access to the shore and pier and threatened houses and walkways along the clifftops.

“Residents decided to organise themselves into the Catterline Braes Action Group (CBAG) and instigated measures to mitigate the weather effects which were at the root of these landslips.

“I have nothing but praise for the group in their efforts so far and their drainage schemes, sensitive planting and slope stabilisation with soil nailing is of major significance and important to Aberdeenshire, where we have similar problems in other coastal villages.

“These natural events are costing the council a fortune year on year, so anything which can reduce these catastrophic landslips needs to be replicated.

“I will be ensuring that this project is reported to council officials where significant lessons can be learned.”

Pieter voor de Poorte of CBAG said: “We have great relationships with Glasgow Caledonian University and the University of Aberdeen.

“Their scientific input has led to an increased understanding of the mechanisms which undermine the integrity of our local braes, and they have helped us develop solutions to try and prevent future slips.

“The funding awarded to GCU will allow us to focus on the coastal erosion issue which is affecting parts of Catterline Bay.

“One of the options we will be looking at is the potential creation of mussel and oyster reefs to absorb energy from the waves before they reach the shoreline.”

 

Coastal species

Oysters are a bivalve shellfish that are often referred to as “ecosystem engineers” because of their tendency to attach to hard substrate or other oyster shells to create large reefs made up of thousands of individual oysters. 

These reefs play an essential role in the nearshore coastal and estuarine environment, providing habitat for many other species including recreational and commercial fish, creating nursery habitat for fish and crabs and providing small animals shelter from larger predators. 

In addition to offering shelter and food to numerous coastal species, oyster reefs provide a number of benefits that promote healthy coastal environments.

Oyster reefs buffer coasts from waves, reducing erosion and creating calmer waters that support the growth of coastal marshes and seagrass beds.

Oysters are also extremely effective filter feeders, improving their surrounding water quality and clarity and further enhancing the health of the larger bay or estuarine systems in which they reside.

Oyster reefs can be found in lower energy environments along the Atlantic coast, Gulf of Mexico, and Pacific coast. 

In southern latitudes reefs may grow large enough to be intertidal, with the tops of reefs breaking the surface of the water at lower tides, whereas ice scour and other limitations in northern latitudes restrict oyster reefs to being entirely subtidal.