68 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Lying south and southwest of South Shell Bank and stretching as 

 far as the north of Grand Pass there is an extensive oyster-bed known 

 as Cabbage Eeef. It receives its name from the abundance of the 

 seaweed ulva, known to fishermen as "sea cabbage." The growth on 

 this bed is very scattering and it appears to be rarely worked by the 

 oystermen, although formerly it was an important oyster-ground. It 

 is stated that the oysters here were nearly exterminated by the conchs, 

 and that most of those not so destroyed were covered with mud and 

 sand during the great storm of 1893. Practically continuous with this 

 bed there is a moderately dense growth skirting the north shore of Isle 

 a Pitre and extending more or less into the bayous, as far as the edge 

 of the deep water lying to the westward of Deep-water Point. Most 

 of these oysters, both along shore and on Cabbage Reef, are of mod- 

 erate size and in clusters of from 5 to 15. There are but few mussels 

 or barnacles, but there was in February a moderate growth of seaweed, 

 which is said to become more extensive later in the season. Youug 

 growth and spat are abundant. East of Deep-water Point there are 

 no oysters excepting a scattering growth in a salt pond, now closed 

 but formerly au open lagoon. 



Chandeleiir Sound. — There are now, according to the testimony of the 

 fishermen, very few oysters to be found in Chandeleur Sound, although 

 there were formerly beds of considerable extent in several localities. 

 No detailed examination of this region was made, although the shores 

 were explored in a few places. 



There appear to be very few, if any, oysters on the outer shore 

 between Isle a Pitre and Door Point, but there were formerly some 

 more or less extensive beds between Door Point and Pelican Point, as 

 well as in the neighborhood of Brash Island and outside of Deep Pass. 

 In Live Oak and California bays, around the shores of Martin, Sam 

 Holmes, and Mitchell Islands, there are beds of old shells where there 

 were formerly productive oyster-reefs frequented by oystermen. The 

 general opinion of oystermen is that these beds have been exterminated 

 by the conchs. 



THE NATURAL OYSTER-BEDS OF PLAQUEMINES PARISH. 



East of tlie Mississippi the oyster-beds of Plaquemines Parish stretch 

 from Mozambique Point to Bird Island Sound. Formerly the oyvSters 

 in this region, especially near Mozambique Point, were large and rather 

 desirable in quality, but in 1897 most of them were killed by the Bohe- 

 mia crevasse, and at the time that the beds were examined it was found 

 that Quarantine and California bays contained practically no adult 

 oysters, although there were a number of dense reefs of young growth, 

 many of which had their crests exposed at low water. The fishermen 

 state that the beds are now numerically far richer than before the 

 crevasse— a statement which au examination shows to be extremely 



