OYSTER-CULTURAL PROBLEMS OF CONNECTICUT. 



By J. S. Outsell, Scientific Assistant, U. S. Bureau of Fisheries. 



That the situation in the northern oyster fields is a serious one has 

 been evident for a number of years. In the Long Island Sound 

 region, upon the seed production of which so much of the northern 

 oyster industry has depended, where cultural methods had early and 

 great development, and where oyster growing long ago became one 

 of the big, highly organized industries, the " sets " or annual crops 

 of young oysters have become light and iiTegular and production has 

 greatly fallen off. Even the most successful growers have had to 

 curtail their forces and equipment and reorganize on a reduced scale. 

 If loss in volume had not in some measure been counteracted by an 

 increase in price, many, if not all, of the concerns would have been 

 put out of business. 



From the early days of the industry up to the end of the last cen- 

 tury, " sets " in the oyster areas along the north shore of the Sound 

 were generally hea^^^ and almost unfailing. At firet the seed oysters 

 obtained from these "sets" were used for planting various inshore 

 growing or conditioning areas, particularly bays, harbors, etc., in 

 the region. Later such plantings were extended more and more into 

 the Sound, and finally into the deep-water, offshore areas, the use 

 of which has made this region famous. As its reputation for vitality 

 and gi'owing qualities became established, Connecticut " seed " came 

 into great demand wherever in the north there existed areas adapted 

 to gi'owing or conditioning oysters but where the locally produced 

 supply was insufficient or unsatisfactoiy. Thus a special stimulus 

 was given to the production of seed. 



Gradually another set of factors helped to strengthen this situa- 

 tion and increase such demand. In the early days of almost pristine 

 purity of the waters, the oysters of Connecticut bore an excellent 

 reputation for edibility and were readily and profitably marketable. 

 The principal supply and all the more highly prized varieties came 

 from harboi-s, small stream- fed bays, and the lower reaches of rivers. 

 As industrial and sewage pollution increased in these estuaries, how- 

 ever, the quality of the oysters deteriorated. Growing became more 

 and more difficult. In time production was almost limited to the 

 Sound. The Sound oysters, never having had the reputation pos- 

 sessed by the harbor aiid river oysters, suffered less in quality than 

 the latter but failed fully to take their place in the markets. This 

 situation, combined with the reputation of the Sound oysters as seed, 

 helped to make the oyster industry of Connecticut more and more 

 one of "seed" production. 



1 Appendix X to the Report of the U. S. Commissioner of Fisheries for 1923. B. F. Doc. 

 No. 960. 



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