OYSTER FISHERY LEGISLATION. 979 



England and Scotland does not date earlier than the 

 Convention Act, and in many instances not before 1852, 

 the time when the Act was enforced. We are convinced 

 that oyster-culture might be introduced with verv beneficial 

 results in the great sea-lochs of the western coast of Scot- 

 land, where indeed the bivalve is to some extent indigenous. 

 The want of proper legal protection to the proprietors of 

 oyster-beds has hitherto retarded this industry ; but that 

 obstacle is now removed. The fishermen in the estuary of 

 the Thames dredge the open or public grounds for the 

 " brood" (young oysters of from half-an-inch to an inch- 

 and-a-half in diameter), regardless of "season or the age 

 of the ' fish.' : This brood is deposited on the beds pos- 

 sessed by companies or individuals along the coast of Kent 

 and Essex. 



The most important of these private oyster-fisheries 

 are the Whitstable and Faversham fisheries, at the mouth 

 of the Swale, off the coast of Kent, and the Colchester 

 and Burnham fisheries, in the rivers Colne and Crouch. 

 These beds are supplied with brood from what are termed 

 "the Flats," from near the Isle of Sheppey to Margate, 

 and off the Essex coast from the entrance of the river 

 Crouch to Harwich, also from the Blackwater river. In 

 consequence of a succession of bad breeding seasons, there 

 has been little or no brood on these beds for some time 

 past, and full-sized oysters are very scarce. In the earlier 

 part of 1865, the Commissioners were told that men often 

 hauled a dredge five times without finding a single oyster, 

 and even when there has been a good spat on these grounds 

 for two or three successive years, the ground is, after a 

 time, so much cleared that very few large oysters are to be 

 found. This appears to have been always the case. These 

 grounds have, from time immemorial, proved the sources 



