19 



fiTsh for a l(.n- tiiur. all llu' l)''<l'l'-a oyst.Ts, as well as the few 

 natural ones remainin- m^.ake Fcnvmnn and its bayous, Shark 

 Bayou, Bayous Chin, (Mk^ and M.))n('h;«i, suecuinbed, so that at 

 the time these investi-afn.ns were made not a single living; 

 oyster was found amonu the hundreds of dead shells taken up 

 from these beds. 



As the future development of the oyster industry nuist 

 depend ehietly on the pi-oduet of artificial beds, since the nat- 

 ural ones are being so rapidly depleted, particular attention 

 was given to the consideration of area available for planting 

 purposes. The character of the bottom, salinity of the watei-, 

 the amount and distribution of food organisms, was carefully 

 studied in places not now containing natural reefs nor artificial 

 beds. Where oysters from the natui-al reefs were put down in 

 bai-i-eii areas to determine the available food sni)ply. the effect 

 of the changed conditions on flieir condition and Mavor was care- 

 fully recorded. 



Tlie area of bottom availal)le for cultural pui-i)Oses in Ver- 

 milion Bay is limited chiefly by the pr()bal)ility of freshets. 

 Damaging freshets in this region come fi'om two sources: First, 

 fnmi the bayous emptying into the upper part of the bay, and. 

 secondly, from the Atchafalaya River, which in limes of freshets 

 sends large volumes of its water westward through the bays on 

 the north side of Marsh Island to empty into the gulf through 

 Scmthwest Pass. The writer is informed that during the past 

 spring the water on the sui-face at the pass was absolutely fresli 

 for several weeks from the tlow of Atchafalaya wafer. If is 

 ] i-obable, however, that a little wa>' below the surface the salin- 

 ity of the water was very near to noi'iiial. since very few dead 

 oysters were found on the natural reefs at this point. Tn the 

 lower part of the bay, where the salinity of the water is more 

 stable, the bottom is so generally soft that the few hard sjxits 

 may be left out of aecounl foi- all practical purposes. AVbile 

 too soft to suppoi-f seed oystei-s in the (plant it ies best suited to 

 their growth, this bottom at its worse is susceptible to hardening 

 by the application of shells or sand. When prepared in the 

 manner above described these hardened an^as would undoubtedly 

 produce an abundance of frood oysfei-s, since tlie food supply is 

 constant and abundant and the salinitv of the water stable. 



