OYSTER FISHERY LEGISLATION. 981 



(4.) That dredging during the summer months pre- 

 pares the ground for the reception of spat. That if there 

 were no dredging during the months of May and June 

 there would be a growth of weed and a collection of mud, 

 and that it is not to be expected that men will dredge these 

 open gronnds during the summer months unless they are 

 permitted to sell what they take up. 



(5.) That the summer months are those in which the 

 brood is most easily dredged. As the foreman of the 

 Whitstable Company says, " Although one might think 

 that under water the weather would make no difference to 

 the ground, that is not really the case. It is only when 

 the weather is warm that the ground is loose, and we can 

 then catch brood in a spot where we could not catch it at 

 all in the winter. In the winter-time the ground gets quite 

 close and hard, and we cannot catch it at all. 



(6.) That where the prosperity of the oyster-beds 

 requires that, for a short period after the spat has been 

 deposited, there should be no dredging, lest the young 

 oysters should be injured by the dredge, the fishermen 

 themselves, without any legislative restriction, abstain from 

 working, in part from a sense of their own interest, and in 

 part because the owners of private beds would refuse to 

 buy the brood of them at such a time. 



On the other hand, those in favour of the existing 

 system of close time maintain : 



(i.) That during close time the oysters are unfit for 

 food. 



(2.) That dredging over the beds will crush and des- 

 troy the young spat. 



(3.) That if the oysters are taken while breeding the 

 supply must soon come to an end. 



