The 14th International Conference on Shellfish Restoration (ICSR) comes this year to the United Kingdom for the first time in its 26 years history. The conference will be held at the University of Stirling in the heart of Scotland and its title and theme will be “Shellfish: our undervalued resource”. The theme of the conference, “Shellfish: our undervalued resource”, reflects the UK perception of shellfish as something that is good to eat, often in upmarket restaurants. Shellfish fisheries and aquaculture are indeed a very important part of the UK economy; shellfish reefs however form an ecosystem that provides myriad benefits (“ecosystem services”) many of which have been lost through acute fishing pressures, disease, pollution and other factors. On a... |