OYSTER FISHERY LEGISLATION. 1015 



In the former case, harrowing and dredging at any time 

 of the year will do good in preventing the oysters from 

 becoming overcrowded, for as there is only a certain pro- 

 portion of oysters' food in any given quantity of water, 

 redistribution over a larger area increases their food supply. 



When, however, there are but few parent oysters left, 

 dredging, especially during the spatting season, is most 

 destructive. The iron rings and edges of the dredge must 

 destroy some of the spawn and disturb the parent oysters 

 to their disadvantage whilst they are breeding. Skin-back 

 dredges are, we believe, seldom or never used on public 

 grounds ; whilst it is an almost if not quite universal 

 custom for the fishermen to return the enemies to the water 

 on such beds. It may be taken for granted that an oyster 

 dredged up during its spatting season will not produce 

 fertile spawn, and it is doubtful whether it will ever do so 

 afterwards. 



Although it is known that oysters produce an enormous 

 quantity of young, it is very unsafe to count upon the actual 

 number produced when considering the question of the 

 future fertility of beds ; calculations based on the actual 

 number of spawn emitted by say a bushel of oysters, 

 although represented by a long array of figures, are practi- 

 cally valueless ; though it has been proved over and over 

 again that the proportion which the number of young 

 brood on a bed bears to the quantity of old oysters upon 

 it is a pretty constant quantity. Mr. Pennell stated in 

 his evidence before the Commission of 1876, that his ex- 

 perience at Herne Bay and Whitstable showed him that, 

 apart from special cases where an eddy or current might 

 tend to carry floating spat to one particular spot, the more 

 old oysters that were left on the bed, the more young brood 

 you would find. 



