8.5 million euros to enrich the North Sea
Natuur & Milieu and Stichting De Noordzee receive 8.5 million euros from the Droomfonds of the Dutch Postcode Lottery for their joint project ‘De Rijke Noordzee’.
This allows the organizations to strengthen the underwater nature in wind farms on the North Sea on a large scale. Because of human intervention and diseases, the natural reefs have virtually disappeared. Because trawls are not allowed to fish within wind farms, they are ideal locations to actively strengthen the underwater nature.
Five locations
The organizations will build living reefs at five sites in Dutch wind farms, including oysters, horse mussels and tube worms. The reef structures, which are designed and tested in a lab, consist of hard materials to which various species can attach themselves. Natural reef builders, including the oyster, are also released into the wind farms. Reefers produce larvae that contribute to a fully-fledged reef that attracts all sorts of other species, such as crabs, lobsters and fish.
Source illustration: Natuur & Milieu
