GULF OF MEXICO 



487 



In discussing the competition among sedentary 

 organisms for space on the oyster reef it is im- 

 portant to note that in some areas the oyster is 

 its own worst enemy. Huge numbers of spat 

 settle in areas hxrge ei.ough to support only one 

 or perhaps two adult oysters. Obviously, in the 

 struggle for existence, the faster growing spat soon 

 overrun and smother their neighbors. Where 

 available cultch is limited, spat mortality may be 

 enormous. 



At the turn of the centurj' the United States 

 Bureau of Fisheries made notable contributions to 

 our knowledge of oyster biology in the Gulf by 

 conducting extensive surveys at the request of the 

 several States. As a direct result of these studies, 

 conservation laws were enacted in Louisiana which 

 greatlj" stimulated the oyster industry. Oyster 

 cultivation practices were improved, and produc- 

 tion inci-^ased significantly (Seferovich 1938). 

 Oystermen of that State made a regular practice 

 of obtaining seed oysters from reefs in low salinity 

 areas east of the Mississippi River and replanting 

 or bedding them west of the river in bays where 

 salinity levels were higher and the environment 

 fostered rapid growth. Such oysters became 

 suitable for the market in 18 or more months. 



In the past 15 years this culture method has 

 changed radically because of high summer mor- 

 talities. As a result, the seed which are now 

 bedded are actually market oysters, and they are 

 relaid for only a few months before harvesting. 

 Today, Louisiana is foremost among the Gulf 

 States in conducting an active shelling and seed 

 planting program, but other States are becoming 

 increasingly active in this regard. It is significant 

 that in Texas, where the least has been done in 

 providing cultch for spat, the industry has seen 

 its greatest decline. 



Although the oyster has greatly decreased in 

 many sections of our Atlantic coast line because 

 of man's activities, it is improbable that the 

 immense oyster population of the Gulf could be 

 eradicated. However, there arc many once pro- 

 ductive areas in which the industry is now non- 

 existent because of over harvesting and lack of 

 cultivation. The industry faces many problems in 

 the Gulf area. A majority of them could be 

 resolved by the application of well-known and 

 tested cultivation techniques by the enactment of 

 sound conservation measures based on established 

 data and by the enactment of legislation which 



would stimulate production as well as protect the 

 private planter. 



One of the unsolved problems in the Gulf area 

 is a method for economically controlling predation 

 by the conch. When these methods are dis- 

 covered, large and valuable areas that are now 

 useless can be cultivated. Another and rather 

 curious problem exists because of the unusually 

 intense spatfall in many regions. On the North 

 Atlantic coast the first problem of the industry is 

 to procure sufficient seed oysters for cultural 

 purposes, while along the Gulf coast the problem 

 is to dispose of the superabundance of seed. The 

 too heavy spatfall produces badly clustered, 

 misshapen oysters; oysters that are almost impos- 

 sible to separate for market purposes without 

 killing more than are saved. Oysters growing in 

 this manner rarely yield a select product. It 

 will be necessary to devise new cultural techniques 

 to utilize this tremendous spatfall. These methods 

 must permit the attachment of only two or three 

 oysters to a piece of cultch and still supply enough 

 cultch so that the vast numbers of spat present 

 are not lost to the industry. 



An economic problem of perhaps greater 

 importance is a need for the controlled use of 

 mechanized equipment in cultivating and harvest- 

 ing the crop. The short supply of labor is a 

 significant factor in the lowered production of the 

 industry. Hand methods are largely retained 

 because their inefficiency constitutes, in a negative 

 way, a conservation measure. But oystering 

 with hand methods is hard work and good cultiva- 

 tion requires nearly year-round attention. As a 

 result, the labor pool is largely claimed by the 

 shrimp industry which offers high returns for a 

 relatively short season. The question of using 

 tongs or power dredges on the reefs is a recurrent 

 argument. 



It is not irrelevant to consider, on a theoretical 

 basis, just what the Gulf oyster industry could 

 produce in terms of food for man. Scientific 

 plantings made in Louisiana 50 years ago, the 

 experience of planters in that State since then, 

 and recent work done in Florida, all provide 

 parallel figures on which to base our estimate. 

 An acre of good oyster bottom, properly handled, 

 can produce 900 bushels per year under excep- 

 tionally good circumstances, and in commercial 

 practice a yield of 500 bushels can be obtained. 

 For this estimate I have arbitrarily selected a 



