i6 



to their well-being, mud began to accumulate and buried 

 great quantities of oysters, weeds and other marine 

 growths helped in the destruction, smothering the oysters 

 or intercepting the food particles and entailing semi- 

 starvation ; finally the fouling of the valves with mud 

 and sea growths prevented satisfactory spat falls. Thus 

 the reproductive power of the beds was destroyed. The 

 following table of the number of oysters fished from the 

 common grounds from 1885- 1900 shows the gradual 

 deterioration of these beds, due be it noted not to over- 

 fishing but rather from lack of the cleaning which 

 moderate and regular fishing ensures. The figures 

 should be compared with those in the table on the 

 opposite page exhibiting the wonderful development of 

 the cultural industry as apart from the unsown, unfarmed 

 produce of the natural beds. 



Produce of the Natural Oyster Beds in Arcachon Basin 

 from 1885-1909. 



In view of this condition of affairs, the authorities in 

 1903, decided that the value of the open fishery had 

 become so reduced and so little heeded by the local fisher 

 community that it was not worth the expenses it entailed ; 



