station 14 - Grasay Island . Station 15 - Midway between Grassy Island 

 and Grand Island . and Station 16 - Grand Island, East Side , were established 

 for collecting taydrograpUc data only. 



Station 17 - Grand Island. This area contains a natural hard shell 

 reef In about 6 feet of water. Inshore toward the island the bottom 

 becomes more sandy. During February, 35 per cent of the population was 

 found dead and by May another 25 per cent had died. Mortality occurred 

 equally among the small and larger oysters. These were mostly less 

 than market size with clean white shells characteristic of oysters 

 that have been exposed to fresh water, A few barnacles constituted the 

 only live fouling organisms. In May, the oysters still had glassy trans- 

 parent meats, but they were feeding and there were traces of developing 

 gonads in all. Most of the oysters had a few millimeters of new shell 

 growth. There were no new spat at this time. 



Station 18 - Petit Pass Island . This area was the location of a 

 private lease and before 1945 had been a good growing region. The 

 bottom was a sticky -to -soft mud; average depth of water was 10 feet. 

 There were numerous old dead shells on the bottom, presumably remnants 

 of the population killed in 1945. These shells were covered with 

 successive layer of dead spat and inch or less in length. The few 

 live oysters were all less than 2 inches long. In February, there 

 was a mortality of 16 per cent and by May an additional 20 per cent 

 had died. Most of the oysters were feeding but the meats were still 

 very poor. There was a slight indication of new growth and develop- 

 ment of spawn but there were no 1949 spat. 



Station 19 - Three Mile Pass. This area is a natxiral reef which 

 had received additional shell plantings. The average depth of water 

 is 6 feet and the bottom is hard or sticky, changing to soft mud on the 

 edges. There was a fairly large population of oysters, all of them small. 

 Many of the 1948 oysters were as large or larger than obviously older 

 oysters. The February mortality amo\inting to 27 per cent had been in- 

 creased to 50 per cent by the end of May. At this time ell of the oysters 

 were feeding and had 1 to 2 millimeters of new growth and a few had well 

 developed gonads. There was no evidence of 1949 spat. All of the oysters 

 showed typical smooth idxlte shells. 



Area III (Fig. 3) 



Station 20 - Raccourci. This area lies at the north end of Lake 

 Mechant where in normal periods the major portion of the fresh water 

 drainage enters the lake. The bottom is a soft sand and mud mixture 

 lying at a depth of 3 to 6 feet. There ere no oysters growing here 

 naturally. 



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