icals in the water, the license for using Polystream 

 has not been renewed. 



In 1968, the American Cyanamid Company of 

 Stamford, Conn., developed a report entitled, 

 "New Engineering Approaches for the Production 

 of Connecticut Oysters." They attempted, through 

 a search of published literature relating to oysters, to 

 develop an oyster factory. The general conclusion 

 was that more research was needed (Calbo et al.. 

 1968). 



In New York, over 24 million pounds of oyster 

 meats were landed in 1911. Since then production 

 has steadily declined and reached an all-time low in 

 1967 of only 101,000 pounds. From 1968 to 1970, 

 production has risen slightly to 534,000 pounds in 

 1970. New York like Connecticut has faced seed 

 shortages. Three interesting developments have 

 taken place in recent years in an attempt to alleviate 

 this problem. At Fisher's Island, N.Y., seed oysters 

 are being caught on scallop shells suspended from 

 rafts in a 23-acre brackish water pond (Matthiessen, 

 1970a). In 1969, 150 rafts were moored in the pond and 

 roughly 68.000 strings were suspended. This year 

 approximately 100,000 strings were used. In 7 yrof 

 operation, only once was there a set failure. A por- 

 tion of the shells bearing the oyster spat are stripped 

 from the strings, loaded upon oyster boats, and 

 planted upon private grounds in Long Island Sound. 

 The remainder of the shells are transported to Mas- 

 sachusetts and suspended from the iron-pipe rack 

 described earlier in the talk. 



Second is the development of commercial shell- 

 fish hatcheries in the Long Island Sound area. One 

 of the largest is operated by the Long Island Oyster 

 Farms, Inc., in cooperation with the Long Island 

 Lighting Company. The hatchery is utilizing a 4-acre 

 pond which receives warm-water discharge from a 

 fossil-fuel power plant. The young trayed oysters are 

 placed in the pond for various periods of time before 

 being planted on the bottom in the natural waters of 

 the Sound. Because of the quicker growth rates in 

 the heated pond, the oysters reach market size in a 

 year or so sooner. A marine museum adjacent to the 

 hatchery has been constructed for the viewing pub- 

 lic. 



Third is the New York State Department of En- 

 vironmental Conservation project supported by fed- 

 eral funds (PL 88-309) to produce seed oysters in a 

 natural pond in East Hampton. Long Island. To 

 date, little success has been obtained in their at- 

 tempts to catch seed on shells suspended from rafts 

 or placed on the bottom. 



New Jersey-Delaware 



The leading area of oyster production in the New 

 Jersey-Delaware area is Delaware Bay. The once 

 productive oyster beds in the Bay have been dev- 

 astated by increasing pollution, freshwater abate- 

 ment, increased predation problems, and, most re- 

 cently, by massive mortalities from the disease, 

 "MSX" (Miiichinia nelsoni). Landings in 1970 to- 

 talled only 869,000 pounds. In 1950, the two states 

 produced over 9 million pounds of oyster meats. The 

 bay can be divided into two areas — the upper seed 

 beds and the lower leased growing grounds. Shells 

 are planted on the seed beds and later transplanted 

 by the private planters to their leased bottoms. Fol- 

 lowing the heavy mortalities in 1957 and 1958, New 

 Jersey initiated a large shell planting program to 

 rehabilitate the oyster industry. Recently, heavy 

 oyster sets on these shells suggests that the oyster 

 industry may recover. 



Both Rutgers University and the University of 

 Delaware have been investigating disease resistance 

 of oysters to MSX. Also, at the University of Del- 

 aware, extensive studies on the feasibility of semi- 

 closed and closed systems for culturing oysters are 

 now underway. This aspect of research is supported 

 under the Sea Grant Program described earlier by 

 Robert D. Wildman. 



Maryland- Virginia 



Chesapeake Bay is one of the leading oyster pro- 

 ducing areas of the world. In 1880. nearly 125 million 

 pounds of meats were harvested from the Bay. In 

 1970. production was just under 35 million pounds or 

 about one-half of the total U.S. production for that 

 year. Yet. methods of oyster culture are extremely 

 primitive with little or no change in either culturing 

 or harvesting methods since the turn of the century. 



In Maryland, for example, the majority of oysters 

 harvested come from public bars. The tools used to 

 harvest these oysters include hand tongs, patent 

 tongs, and dredges pulled by boats under sail. Man- 

 agement consists mainly of planting up to 5 million 

 bushels of shells for catching seed oysters and im- 

 proving or enlarging public oyster bars. Following 

 setting, the seed is replanted on public oyster bars 

 where it remains until harvested by oystermen, 3 or 4 

 yr later. 



There have been several attempts in recent years 

 to demonstrate new methods of oyster culture that 

 may be applied in Chesapeake Bay. These include 



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