IV-300 

 Oysters 



The record of the oyster industry in the United States is a continu- 

 ing story of depletion in absolute quantity and decline in the use- 

 fulness of remaining beds. Declines have taken place in nearly all 

 estuary areas that naturally supported oyster populations. Depletion 

 has occurred for many reasons, both natural and man-induced. 



Natural catastrophes have depleted the oyster beds over time. The 

 hurricane of 1954 in Narragansett Bay, for example, is considered 

 the prime factor in the destruction of beds and the decline of the 

 secondary processing industry in that location. By 1956 the oyster 

 harvest from Narragansett Bay had declined to 31,000 pounds, from 

 252,000 pounds in 1953. In 1957, the last remaining oyster dealer 

 went out of business. 



Most of the reduction in domestic oyster production, however, can 

 be attributed to man's activities in the estuaries. Examples of the 

 diminution or extinction of this resource are many. New Jersey's 

 Raritan Bay, an outstanding producer of oysters for the New York 

 market in the nineteenth century, is now almost barren of this 

 shellfish, mainly due to municipal and industrial waste discharge. 

 A study in Shelton, Washington, indicated that sulphite waste dis- 

 charge from paper pulp manufacturing almost surely brought about a 

 serious decline in the oyster population. 



