THE PRACTICE OF OYSTER 

 CULTURE AT ARCACHON 

 AND ITS LESSONS 

 FOR INDIA. 



I.— INTRODUCTION. 



In view of the excellent quality of the edible oysters 

 found in many of the estuaries and backwaters of the 

 Madras Presidency, it was considered desirable by the 

 Honorary Director of Fisheries that details of the most 

 practical working methods employed in oyster-culture at 

 the present day should be obtained at first hand before 

 any experimental work on an extensive scale should be 

 tried locally. Advantage of my being home on leave in 

 the summer of last year (1909) was therefore taken and I 

 was requested to proceed to Arcachon for this purpose. 



The choice fell upon Arcachon for three reasons : the 

 first because the bay or basin of Arcachon is the most 

 successful and beyond comparison the most extensive 

 oyster-culture district in France, the mother-land of 

 modern oyster-culture ; the second on account of the 

 singular aptitude of the Arcachonnais for culture in small 

 lots worked by the members of the lessee's family and 

 without the assistance of outside capital ; lastly, because 

 the natural conditions there agree broadly in physical 

 character with those prevailing in Madras waters. The 

 second consideration was perhaps the most weighty in 

 favour of Arcachon, for methods that are successfully 

 carried on by fisher people working independently on 

 what may be termed a small holding system are most 

 attractive to those whose aim is the creation of an indus- 

 try where no large outlay of capital is necessary, one 



