their respective reefs and, by controlling the oyster harvesting, 

 maintain these reefs for the benefit of the citizens. There are 

 a few privately held leases for oyster bedding grounds on the 

 western edge of Area II v;ithin the State of Louisiana. , 



Area III, In Lake Mechant and its connecting bayous the 

 oyster bottoms are privately leased. Most of these bottoms consist 

 of a soft to firm mud and sand mixture. The initial surveys in 

 February 1949 showed there was less than 5 per cent recent mortality 

 and by May there were almost no further deaths. In May, the oysters 

 were all in fair to good condition and were partially spawned. The 

 oysters here are characterized by their heavy, eroded shells. Their 

 stubby deeply cupped shape indicates that they are relatively slow 

 growing. In the connecting bayous conditions are apparently more 

 suitable for grov/th, since the oysters have a flat and more elongated 

 shape. On one of the leases in Lake Mechant where the oysters had 

 been allowed to grow and propagate naturally, 35 per cent of the 

 oysters had reached the market size of 3 inches or longer. There 

 was a moderate number of attached fouling organisms such as barnacles 

 and mussels. 



In each of the four years since the mass mortal! 1y in 1945, the 

 oyster reefs in Mississippi Sound have experienced relatively good 

 spat-falls. These small oysters have grown to approximately one 

 inch in diameter and then for the most part died. Old shells on 

 the reefs are covered with a succession of small scars, an inch 

 or less long, superimposed on each other. This condition, striking 

 in the western part of Area I, becomes less obvious and disappears 

 on the bars to the east. The successive year groups of spat may be 

 roughly identified by their position on the cultch and by the thick- 

 ness of the shells but not by their overall size. Spat estimated 

 from their size and shape to be 6 to 9 months old were frequently 

 observed, having the sane length as oysters apparently 1 to 2 years 

 old. The assumption that many of these small oysters were relatively 

 old was also borne out by the much heavier incidence of the cysts of 

 Nematopsis in their tissues. In general, these cysts accumulate with 

 the increasing age of the oyster. 



The State of Mississippi, recognizing the failure of the oysters 

 in this region to grow normally, transplanted 70,000 barrels from the 

 Pass Christian reefs in the spring of 1949 to bars further east in an 

 effort to provide a more suitable environment for the oysters. The 

 wisdom of this transplanting is indicated by the results with small 

 samples of these "non-growing" oysters which were transplanted ex- 

 perimentally to a favorable location near the laboratory at Pensacola, 

 Florida, 



6 



