17 



In connection with the question of reclaiming depleted reefs 

 or establishing new beds, the results observed at Cameron during 

 the past season have an important bearing on the question of 

 the comparative value of planting clutch or bedding seed oysters. 



There are on the coast of Louisiana large areas of bottom, 

 now barren, where in the past there were well defined reefs that 

 produced many hundreds of barrels of oysters annually. As 

 the result of overfishing and improper culling, many of these 

 reefs have entirely disappeared, so that at the present time there 

 is scarcely anything to distinguish their former location from 

 the surrounding bottom, and under the action of natural 

 causes alone there is no reason to assume that new reefs will 

 be formed anj^ more rapidly than was the case in the formation 

 of all natural reefs. On some few of these old reefs there are 

 still sufficient shells to form a hard crust, but these shells are so 

 covered with sediment, algae, sponges and other animals as to 

 make them practically worthless as spat collectors. These shells 

 are being rapidly disintegrated by the action of boring moUusks, 

 boring sponges and the action of the waves and unless some 

 •^"^^-^-^/t^ aetioiiifl taken to save the already hardened bottom it will be 

 only a question of a few years before these areas will be in- 

 distinguishable from the soft bottom surrounding them. 



The method of planting seed oysters — young oysters taken 

 from the natural reefs— has been the one most frequently used 

 by oyster culturists in this State; but as the supply of seed is 

 yearly becoming less and less, and the distance that the seed 

 must be transported is constantly increasing on account of the 

 depletion of the natural reefs near the non-producing regions, 

 the cost of this method of planting is increasing and the profit 

 becoming correspondingly lessened. 



Beside the question of comparative cost of the two methods, 

 there should also be considered the fact that while the value of 

 the transplanted seed oysters is very much increased, there is 

 no addition to the yield of a locality beside what may be ac- 

 counted for by the increased size and quality of the oysters. On 

 the other hand, by using the method of exposing "clutch" — 

 clean shells or other suitable material — for catching spat, not 

 only is the initial expense lessened, but also the natural reefs 



