Oysters are not a name for a single species of mussel, but a summary of the many mussels that are consumed and farmed around the world today, primarily as a delicacy. The history of the oyster culture method dates back about 200 years, although during this period the world’s oyster fisheries practically collapsed, partly due to overfishing and partly due to pollution and the appearance of exotic species. What methods can be used to make oyster farming sustainable in the long term? Oysters are important markers of coastal ecosystems, but they are also of great cultural and economic importance worldwide.
Their cultivation may have occurred after the stabilization of sea level and estuary (the main habitat of these species) after the last Ice Age. Since then, archaeological traces have been found in many parts of the world that large-scale oyster farming has been going on for thousands of years without showing signs of collapse.
among the oysters Saccostrea glomerata Natural occurrence in the tidal zone at low tide.
Source: Wikimedia Commons
A large international research group Nature Communications According to a study published in the journal, it examined a number of ancient oyster farms that were held by the indigenous people and found that these mussels have been handled in many places for between 5,000 and 10,000 years. The researchers evaluated the way this sector of aquaculture was handled in both America and Australia before the arrival of the Europeans. The oldest known oyster farm in the Channel Islands off the coast of California is 11,500 years old, but researchers are now focusing on the last 10,000 years. Data from more than 60 North American and 7 Australian archaeological sites was analyzed. (It is important to know that these sites represent only a small portion of the original oyster farms, yet there was no collapse in the oyster populations.) And we analyzed the contents of the shells.
It became clear that the stretches of land that Europeans thought were untouched wild beaches when they arrived were far from untouched, as oyster farming for thousands of years had only been transformed in a sustainable way.
The researchers came to the conclusion that oyster farming in the future should follow similar methods, and to do this, indigenous groups today must participate in plans to represent the future of oyster farming in the world. At the same time, it can allow indigenous peoples to replant the goods of their former habitat while maintaining a positive relationship with the environment and wildlife.
