u 

 ii 



No. 6.] WlllTEAVES — MARINE FISHERIES. 345 



" From Summcrside, 7,572 barrels ] Produce of Richmond 

 Malpec, 840 " j Bay. 



Cascumpec, 718 '' " Cascumpec Bay. 



" CharlottetowD, 230 " | Chiefly produce of 

 " Orwell, 130 " j llichmond Bay. 



'' The dredge has never, to my knowledge, been employed in 

 the waters of Prince Edward Island. Oysters are fished with 

 " tongs," I'rom depths varyiog from three or four feet to twelve, 

 and even fifteen feet. It is scarcely practicable to fish oysters, 

 with tongs, at a depth greater than fifteen feet." 



"I am not aware of the existence of oyster beds in any part 

 of the Straits of Northumberland, or of the sea surrounding the 

 Island. Some years ago I observed a quantity of oyster shells 

 on the sand at the north end of the Tryon Shoals (which are 

 situated on the south side of the Island) ; they were about a 

 (juartcr of a mile from the shore. Some of the shells were filled 

 with sand, more compact than much of our sandstone rocks. 

 When I first observed these shells, my opinion was that they had 

 been washed ashore from beds situated in the deep water of the 

 Straits of Northumberland. It has since occurred to me that 

 they are in situ, and are the remains of an ancient oyster bed 

 which had been destroyed by the sand. The existence of a soft 

 muddy bottom in the vicinity of these shells supports the sup- 

 position that at some period this n)uddy bottom was more ex- 

 tensive than at present; that the oyster bed was then formed, 

 and was destroyed by the encroachment of the sand forming the 

 Tryon Shoal." 



'^ During the past ten or twelve years, millions of tons of oys- 

 ter shells and mud have been taken up by our farmers, from 

 oyster beds, b}^ means of dredging machines, w^orkcd by horses 

 on the ice. In many instances the beds have been cut through, 

 and in some places the deposits of shells have been found to be 

 upwards of twenty feet in thickness. It is probable that many 

 of the oyster beds ceased to be productive of oysters, ages before 

 the settlement of the country by Europeans. Extensive deposits 

 of oyster shells are now found covered by several feet of silt. 

 How were the oysters upon these beds destroyed? The natural 

 process of reproduction and decay would cause the oyster beds 

 formed on the bottom to rise so near to the surface of the water, 

 that the ice would rest on them. The weight of heavy masses 

 of ice upon the beds would injure the oysters, and the moving 



