BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 127 



i.i. PICO (i:« II >«; THE OYSTER BEDS FRO.1I STAK-FI8H DEPBE. 



DATIONS. 



By Professor SAMUEL GARlTIArY. 



[From the Boston Evening Transcript.*] 



Among the causes which may be advanced to account for a decline 

 in the production on the mentioned oyster beds are over -fishing - , de- 

 structive modes of dredging, unusual deposits of sediment, depredations 

 of enemies — such as star-fishes, shell-fishes, crabs, fishes, &c, and the 

 disappearance of certain fishes which checked the increase of these 

 enemies. 



It is many years since the decline of the oyster industry, through im- 

 poverishment of the beds, attracted attention in Europe. The investi- 

 gations of M. Coste and Others fixed the blame neither upon marine 

 enemies of the bivalve nor upon the elements, but upon the oystermen. 

 Anxious for large catches, and careless of the future, they left few of 

 the larger oysters on the grounds, and recklessly destroyed countless 

 myriads of the young. Great heavy dredges were dragged through the 

 beds, sweeping large areas, alike of the oysters and of places for the 

 attachment of others, and leaving the spaces fit only for the occupancy 

 of mollusks, worms, and other devourers. There is a limit to what can 

 be taken from any colony of oysters. Yet what is of value for present 

 consumption in the catch is as nothing compared with the immense rate 

 of reproducing, and is very little indeed compared with the number of 

 the young destroyed and the ruin wrought in the beds by the fishery. 

 The evil is not so great here as it was across the Atlantic, yet it exists to 

 some extent. Though the remedies are in their own hands, it is neces- 

 sary here, as in Europe, for the legislature to protect the oystermen 

 against themselves. 



Destructive depositions of sediment on the beds are most often acci- 

 dents, for which the only remedy appears to be planting anew. 



Marine enemies of the oyster are numerous and very destructive; star- 

 fish, " five fingers," are of the most dreaded: Employing a diver certainly 

 would be one of the surest methods of getting at them in the adult stages. 

 The idea is a good one ; the diver would at any rate be the means of 

 getting an accurate knowledge of the conditions of the colony, effects 

 of dredging, &c, even if he should be able to do little more. May, June, 

 and July are the best months for his work. The spawning time of the 

 star-fishes is begun by one species late in July, and by another is made 

 to last till the latter part of August. The young are not five-fingered, 



* In answer to questions concerning destruction of Connecticut oyster beds ; in- 

 cluding " Can divers be worked with advantage on beds infested by starfish ?" "Do 

 menhaden eat starfish?" "What legislation would protect the oystermen from the 

 'pogy' fishermen?" etc. 



