Rebuilding Life in the North Sea

Formed in 1980 out of a 1977 environmental working group, Stichting De Noordzee is the Netherlands' longest-running voice for the North Sea, campaigning for protected nature, clean seas, sustainable fishing and nature-friendly offshore energy. Through its Rich North Sea program with Natuur & Milieu, it partners with wind-farm operators and dredging companies to grow native flat oyster reefs on turbine foundations and cable routes; a September 2025 pilot in the Port of Rotterdam released roughly half a million young oysters using this method. The foundation also runs Meet Mee, the Netherlands' largest citizen-science beach-litter survey, and organized the 2024 Boskalis Beach Cleanup Tour in which more than 1,700 volunteers cleaned the entire Dutch coastline over two weeks.