this date it fell more rapidly and the scarcity of oysters 

 became so pronounced that Government intervened 

 tardily and in 1840 reimposedthe regulations of 1754 and 

 1759 — measures too feeble and too long-delayed to be 

 effective even had they been properly enforced ; in point 

 of fact they were ignored. 



In 1848 scarcely any oysters remained in the basin ; 

 the greater part of the former oystermen had turned their 

 attention to other callings ; and now when at last the 

 people of the district fully appreciated the extent of the 

 calamity their own lack of foresight had entailed, they 

 realized that no mere regulation of the fishery would 

 serve ; oyster beds were now practically non-existent in 

 the basin and it was universally acknowledged that the 

 only remedy would lie in the replenishing of the oyster 

 stock from outside sources and the adoption of some 

 simple cultural methods. Local committees were formed 

 and approached the Government for sanction to their 

 proposals. The principal of these requested permission 

 for private individuals to appropriate, under Government 

 lease, suitable sections of the old oyster fiats and there to 

 form artificial oyster beds or " pares " where oysters might 

 be grown and fattened ; the petitioners predicted that the 

 spat emitted by these parent oysters would settle on 

 adjacent flats and restore little by little the fertility of the 

 whole cultivable area of the basin. 



The Government agreed to the proposals and in 1849 

 sanctioned the creation of a system of concessions where- 

 by suitable applicants should be permitted to occupy 

 portions of the foreshore and oyster flats for the purpose 

 of creating oyster parks. Although their demands were 

 thus granted in full the optimistic anticipations of the 

 local committee were slow of fulfilment ; no fishermen 

 came forward to take up concessions ; they did not care 

 to risk their small capital in an adventure where the 

 outlay was immediate and the profits deferred and even 

 problematical. Only a single concession was applied for 

 and that came from an outsider from Bordeaux who in 

 1849 tookLUp 4 hectares (10 acres) of ground and spread 



