4. The Return of Venetian Flat Oysters: MAREA project

With the itinerant conversations of the cycle “Cohabiting Within Wetness,” the third chapter of the project “Venice as a model for the future?” developed by TBA21–Academy for its Ocean Space, we direct our eyes and walks toward the localized action of organisms and phenomena often disregarded, yet fundamental for the balance of this ecosystem.

The project “Venice as a model for the future?” was initiated in 2020 and is curated by Barbara Casavecchia and Pietro Consolandi. “Cohabiting Within Wetness” is part of the three-year research cycle The Current III—“Mediterraneans: ‘Thus waves come in pairs’ (after Etel Adnan)," led by Barbara Casavecchia.

Walking around Venice and the islands, it is easy to spot large colonies of oysters. They are Crassostrea gigas or Japanese oysters, a species native to the Asian Pacific coast, which arrived in the Adriatic Sea only half a century ago. Since summer 2021, a new project is underway to repopulate the lagoon with its ancient and prized native oysters (Ostrea edulis or flat oysters). MAREA (MAtchmaking Restoration Ecology & Aquaculture) is being developed by researcher Camilla Bertolini, a marine biologist and winner of a Marie Sklodowska-Curie European Fellowship at Ca’ Foscari University.

MAREA aims to show how ecosystem restoration can coexist with sustainable aquaculture by increasing income while reducing impact. Thanks to the collaboration between scientists and local mariculturists, 2200 “mothers” from Croatia have already been sown on restored seabeds in the Southern Lagoon. It is now up to them to generate new colonies in the areas with the most suitable conditions. Our guide will be Camilla Bertolini, who will explain the different phases and ecosystemic implications of the project.

PHOTO: MAREA, Camilla Bertolini.

6:00PM: Meeting at Piazzale Roma, Venice. Departure for “Cohabiting Within Wetness. Venice as a model for the future?”

Camilla Bertolini is a postdoctoral researcher at Ca' Foscari University. A benthic ecologist, her research focuses on molluscs and studies how species, particularly sessile ones, interact with their environment creating feedback loops for the health and holistic maintenance of the ecosystem. As part of her research she is involved in the MAREA project, supported by a Marie Curie research grant and with support from the European Union's Horizon 2020 fund.

“Cohabiting Within Wetness” is part of TBA21–Academy’s program, The Current III: The Mediterraneans: “Thus waves come in pairs” (After Etel Adnan), led by Barbara Casavecchia.

The Current III is a transdisciplinary program of perception, listening, thought and learning that supports projects, collective education, and voices on the shores of the Mediterranean through art, culture, science, and activism.