96 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



This prohibition is regarded as tlie most feasible metliod of enforcing 

 the close season in the absence of a large and expensive oyster police. 

 If all States should adopt legislation along this line it would solve the 

 question of the enforcement of close seasons. It is similar to the regu- 

 lation which has been found most efficient in protecting game and fish. 

 It would doubtless cause some inconvenience and loss to dealers and 

 restaurateurs who now sell oysters, presumably from without the State, 

 during the close season, but it is doubtful if they would suffer to a 

 greater extent than they would under a strict enforcement of section 7, 

 Act No. 121, General Assembly, 1896. 



3. It should be illegal to remove from the natural beds, for any pur- 

 pose whatever, shells or oysters under 3 inches in length. All oysters 

 caught on the natural beds should be culled upon the beds whence 

 they are taken and all shells and oysters less than 3 inches long, as 

 measured from hinge to tip or nip of shell, should be promptly returned 

 to the beds. 



Eegulations in regard to culling oysters are considered the most 

 important and efficient measures which can be adopted for protecting 

 the natural beds, as close seasons can not be relied upon to prevent 

 their extinction. It has often been demonstrated that it is quite pos- 

 sible to utterly " clean up " a bed within the limits of a short close 

 season, and the writer knows of cases in Louisiana in which beds of 

 limited extent were practically bared of oysters within two or three 

 days by a small fleet of boats, each anxious to get the largest possible 

 share of desirable oysters recently discovered. If all the oysters be 

 caught up in two days, two weeks, or two months, it is useless to close 

 the beds during the rest of the season. If, however, the culling law 

 be strictly enforced there will always be a crop of young oysters grow- 

 ing up to take the place of the old ones carried to the markets, and if the 

 minimum limit be placed at 3 inches, as recommended, there will always 

 be some of these capable of spawning. In August, 1897, oysters of that 

 size were found to be sexually active on the beds of St. Bernard and 

 Plaquemines parishes. 



The minimum limit here recommended is one-half inch greater than 

 that provided for in the present laws of Louisiana and most other 

 States. It is believed that this increase is highly essential to the 

 welfare of the natural reefs, and as oysters less than 3 inches long 

 bring but a small price in the markets, it is regarded as unjustifiable 

 to sacrifice the future for an insignificant gain in the present. As a 

 matter of fact, many of the oystermen voluntarily reject all the oysters 

 under the size recommended, and there is no good reason why all should 

 not be compelled to do so. By increasing the cull limit two ends are 

 gained — a larger number of oysters must be left on the reefs and a 

 larger proportion of these will be capable of spawning during the fol- 

 lowing period of reproductive activity. The law would be incomplete 

 and unsatisfactory, however, were it to prevent the taking of young 

 oysters for the market and yet allow them to be taken for use as seed. 



