66 REPORT OP COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Early in the season and until about January or February there is a 

 rather large proportion of marketable oysters, but later these become 

 caught up, leaving practically nothing except dead shells, spat, and 

 young growth. This was essentially the condition of the beds at the 

 time of our examination, and after the middle of February it took about 

 three times as long to catch a barrel of oysters as it did early in tlie 

 season, and in the latter part of the month most of the fleet which liad 

 been oystering there were forced to move farther into the interior. By 

 the time the next season opens many of the young oysters which have 

 been culled oft' will have reached a suitable size for market, and the 

 providence of one year thus insures the plenitude of the next. Were 

 it not for the moderate care with which the oysters are culled and the 

 young ones and the dead shells returned to the beds whence they were 

 taken, it is impossible that these beds sliould have so long sustained 

 the demands made upon them. Were it the custom here, as it is in 

 certain other parts of the State, to carry off the young for seed, the 

 phenomenon of the annual recuperation of beds previously exhausted 

 of their marketable stock would not be witnessed. 



Not all of the boats cull their catch as carefully as they should. 

 Those which carry their oysters to New Orleans and other markets for 

 sale as <' shell stock," from motives of self-interest exercise due care, 

 for imperfectly cleaned and separated oysters bring a lower jirice than 

 those which are well culled and free from extraneous growths of bar- 

 nacles, mussels, and young oysters. The chief difficulty is with those 

 boats which catch oysters for the canneries, located principally without 

 the State, where the presence of small oysters is not objectionable. 



It is reported that dredges have worked in Three-mile Bay, but the 

 conditions are such that it is probable that this practice was never 

 extensive. 



West Karal<o Bay. — West Karako Bay embraces about 9 square 

 miles, included between Crooked Island and the land masses embracing 

 Johnson Bay and its connections, and between the Raccoon Islands 

 and Shell Island. Its greatest extent is east and west. The bottom 

 resembles that of Three-mile Bay, being composed principally of soft 

 'Giud with patches of hard mud at wide intervals. The depth over most 

 of the bay ranges from 4 to G feet, but there is a maximum depth of 

 Si feet in the channel running from Dead Man Island to the cut north 

 of Shell Island, and there are also a number of shoal spots upon which 

 the depth is less than 3 feet, these shoals usually being covered with 

 oysters. The average density of the water is about l.OOGo. 



The oyster-beds in this bay are more extensive than in Three-mile 

 Bay, and there are also several well-defined reefs which can be charac- 

 terized as dense. One of these lies south of Dead Man Island and two 

 others lie west of Shell Island, about ojjposite its northern and south- 

 ern points, respectively. The oysters on these reefs are of moderate 

 size and in clusters of from G to 20. North, northeast, and east of Dead 



