142 MARINE FISHERIES OF NORTH CAROLINA 



first tried about 1872 (Moore, 1898) and in England, have not been very 

 successful. The industry on the West Coast is dependent upon two different 

 species, the native Olympia oyster (O. lurida) and an imported species, the 

 Japanese or Pacific oyster (O. gigas). The commercial oysters of England 

 and Europe are the European oyster (O. edulis) and the inferior Portuguese 

 oyster {Gryphaea angulata). 



Oysters have long been known and used for food. In historical interest 

 they probably antedate all our commercial shellfish. They were highly 

 valued by the ancient Greeks for therapeutic purposes as well as for food. 

 At the height of the Roman Empire oysters were often gathered from the 

 English coast for the famous banquets and feasts held in Rome. The 

 Romans are believed to have been the first to cultivate oysters in Europe. 

 Along the Atlantic coast of this country the many shell mounds or kitchen 

 middens testify to the use made of oysters by the early American Indians. 

 Perhaps the most famous of these shell mounds, located at Damariscotta, 

 Maine, has been estimated to contain 8 million bushels of shells (Pease, 

 1932). Similar mounds were located on Harkers Island and Cedar Island 

 in North Carolina. These were used as fill for road beds in the surrounding 

 countryside during the decade following 1932. 



It has been said that the oyster is scientifically the best known marine 

 animal in the world (Clark, 1920); however, Galtsoff (1947) has recently 

 pointed out the many gaps in our knowledge. Perhaps more has been written 

 about oysters than of any other marine invertebrate, for the literature, both 

 scientific and popular, is extensive. A recent annotated bibliography 

 (Baughman, 1947) contains references to approximately 2,400 papers of 

 scientific interest. 



In North Carolina, as in many neighboring states, the oyster is the most 

 valuable of the commercial mollusks and often exceeds in production all the 

 other mollusks combined. However, in most states the production when 

 compared to yields of fifty years ago has seriously declined. In the Ches- 

 apeake Bay area, for example, the average production of the past fifteen 

 years has been but one third that of the decade between 1880 and 1890. The 

 general decline in production is true for North Carolina. Concern has re- 

 cently been expressed for the future of the industry in the southern states 

 (Chipman, 1948). Through over-fishing, pollution, and lack of manage- 

 ment of public oyster grounds, a shortage of this resource has developed in 

 many states. The shortage has undoubtedly resulted in a decreased per 

 capita consumption of oysters and a possible loss in popularity. 



Since 1880 at least four surveys have been made of the waters of North 

 Carolina with reference to their possibilities for oyster culture (Winslow, 

 1886; Grave, 1904; Coker, 1907; Galtsoff and Seiwell, 1928). The surveys 

 express an opinion that potentialities exist for the development of a great 



