The richly illustrated leaflet describes how the European flat oyster lives and the ecological importance of the oysters and their reefs. It covers how this native oyster species was once widespread, how it disappeared due to overfishing and its present-day threatened status, and describes the joint reintroduction projects currently being conducted by BfN and AWI. Among other things, the leaflet reports on the establishment of an initial pilot reef with European flat oysters in the Borkum Reef Ground Nature Conservation Area as part of the RESTORE project – Europe-wide, the first reintroduction measure for the European flat oyster to be implemented in a nature conservation area in the open sea. It illustrates how current research supports nature conservation efforts and how the PROCEED project is breeding European flat oysters for reintroduction. The leaflet also clearly and informatively answers questions such as how European flat oyster projects are linked up across Europe.

The RESTORE testing and development project for reintroduction of the European flat oyster is funded by BfN with funding from the German Federal Environment Ministry (BMUV) and is being carried out by AWI. PROCEED, a further project being carried out by AWI, is funded by BfN with funding from BMUV as part of the Federal Biological Diversity Programme.