CHAPTER VII. 



OYSTERS AND OYSTER FISHERIES OE QUEENSLAND, 



ITH relation to their annual export value, the Oyster Fisheries 

 of Queensland occupy the third position upon the list of the 

 leading fishery industries of the colony. That of pearl-shell 

 takes the lead with an average yearly export value of ,^70,000. 

 The Beche-de-mer yields in a like manner an average of ^23,000, 

 while the oyster fisheries for the past ten years have not 

 exceeded an average of _^8,ooo. The exceptionally high return 

 of ^13,068 was, however, obtained in the year 1889, when 

 owing to disastrous floods which temporarily devastated extensive areas of the oyster grounds of 

 New South Wales, and in a less degree those of this colony, the prices realised for the oysters 

 exported were enormously enhanced. To the figures above quoted, as indicating the annual 

 export value of the Queensland Oyster Fisheries, almost one-half as much again may be 

 added, on account of the home consumption of the bivalve, thus bringing the value of the 

 total annual average output of the fishery to some _^i 2,000. 



Though occupying a considerably lower position in the scale of actual annual value 

 than the pearl-shell and Beche-de-mer fisheries, the revenue accruing to the Government 

 from the oyster fisheries, — in association more particularly with the excellently-organised 

 .system of leasing and licensing sections, banks, and grounds, as private fisheries, — is very 

 considerably in excess of that hitherto derived from the first two-named industries, being repre- 

 sented by an average net revenue of close upon _;^4,500. As a result of the Act recently 

 passed, which provides facilities for the establishment of corresponding private pearl-shell and 

 Beche-de-mer fisheries, a closer approximation of the respective revenues may undoubtedly be 

 hereafter anticipated. 



EDIBLE AND COMMERCIAL OYSTER SPECIES AND VARIETIES. 



There is but one specific form of Queensland oyster that as j'et receives serious consideration 



from a purely commercial standpoint. This oyster is the species commonly sold in the adjacent 



colonies under the title of the Queensland "rock oyster," the technical name of which is Ostrea 



I I 2 



