United States Depertment of the Interior 

 Oecar L« Chapman, Secretary 

 Fish and Wildlife Serrioe 

 Albert M. Day, Director 



Special Scientific Report - Fisheries 

 No. 8 



AN INVESTIGAnON OF OYSTER PRODUCING AREAS IN LOUISIANA AND MISSISSIPPI 



DAMAGED BY FLOOD WATERS IN 1945 



By 



Philip A. Butler 

 Fishery Research Biologist 



CONTENTS 



Preface Page 



Introduction •••••••••••••••••• •• 1 



Scope of Fish and Wil dlife Seirvice Stirvey* ••••• 2 



Equipaaent and Method! » ••••••••••••••••••.. 4 



Laboratory and Field Data and Their Interpretation 4 



Condition of Oyster Reefs in May, 1949. • 4 



Growth* •••••• . 6 



Mortality 9 



Oyster Quality. •• ••••• 13 



Parasites and F< uling Organisms ••••.• • 15 



Turbidity • ••.. 15 



Hydrogen Ion Coi oentration* •••.••••••••••• 17 



Temperature ••••••••••••••••.••••.. 18 



Salinity 18 



Summary 21 



Pearl River Dx^inage Basin •••• 23 



Rehabilitation of Oyster Reefs ....•••.• 25 



Suggestions for Future Work ••... 28 



Literature Cited •• 29 



Appendix A • • • • • • ••••••• I 



