23 



thcsi' (•;iii;ils at'tci- evci'v heavy niiii will iiiakc III.' salinity iA' 

 tlu' water in the upper part of tlu' l»ay so uiistalile that oysters 

 irrowiiii-- in this ro^-ion will lie in conslaiit daiiLier of l)ein^' killed. 



coxcLrsioxs. 



Tlu' oyster reefs in \'erniilion Uay and Southwest I'ass are 

 susceptible of being greatly iin[)roved by breaking up the clus- 

 ters of oysters so that each individual oyster would have room 

 to grow to its normal shape. This result will naturally follow 

 from the working of the reefs, as only the larger oysters ar.^ 

 removed, the smaller ones being returned to the bay. In any 

 region where oysters grow on a soft bottom they are elongatetl 

 and of poor (luality until the reefs are^broken up to some extent 

 by the i-emoval of ovstgrs. The reefSin the gulf where goo; I 

 oysters are produeea^ in a depleted condition as a result of 

 over fishing. A marked exception to this rule is seen in the 

 two r(H^fs of young oysters a couple of miles out in the gulf. 

 Oysters are very abundant all over these reefs, and unless they 

 are broken apart, densely crowded reefs of elongated oysters 

 will result. 



The prospect of building up a profitable industry by plant- 

 ing oysters is very favorable; large areas of bottom, admirably 

 suited for this purpose, exist in the lower part of Vermilion 

 Bay and in the neighboring gulf. Practically unlimited amounts 

 of small oysters suitable for use as seed, exist on the shallow 

 reefs in the pass and gulf. These oysters wdien separated and 

 deposited on good bottoms will iiicrease rapidly in si/e and show 

 mai-ked improvement in shajx' and condition. The practice of 

 exposing shell to serve as rduleh on which the spat mav settle 

 is to be reconuuended as a method of planting rather than tht> 

 method of beddine- soed ovsters. By the use of the latter method 

 there is no dmin on tlx- natural reefs, already in many cases 

 sadly denleted: but. on the other hand, the actual number of 

 oysters in existeneo in the reo-ion is increased bv saving' the spat, 

 many of which would otlu-rwise perish for want of a nlaee of 

 attachment. Tn cases where adult oysters have been placed on 

 a bed of shells to furnish spat, it has been foiuid that at tin- 



