176 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



Only a very brief account of the more important of these is given 

 herein. 



The Bureau of Fisheries wrote to the Director of the Bureau of 

 Mines as follows : 



* * *. It is the opinion of the bureau that oil pollutions are detrimental 

 to the coastal fisheries, not only from their destructive and repellant effects on 

 fishes and economic invertebrates but in affecting the products of the fisheries 

 with obnoxious tastes, unfitting them for the market, and in fouling and in- 

 juring the gear used in the fishing industry. 



A biologist of the division of fish and game, Massachusetts State 

 department of conservation, expressed the opinion that oil will kill 

 adult shellfish only when it is present in considerable amounts. On 

 the other hand, the young larvae would probably be killed by any ap- 

 preciable quantities of oil. He explained that the process of setting 

 of oysters may be prevented by any slimy material, and oil would 

 undoubtedly have a deleterious effect in this respect. This authority 

 referred to some experimental work on the discharge of wastes from 

 certain gas works into waters at Providence, E,. I. The results of 

 this work seem to indicate that under certain conditions shellfish 

 stand a surprising amount of this type of pollution without injury 

 to themselves. 



At Providence, R. I., the investigators were told by oystermen that 

 the effect of oil pollution on oysters in that locality is very pro- 

 nounced. It is questionable just how far the oysters, growing at a 

 considerable distance below the surface of the water, are affected 

 by oil on the surface. In this connection the authors' attention was 

 called to the case against a local petroleum company about three 

 years ago. At the trial a well-known authority presented evidence 

 to show the deleterious effect of oil on oysters, but the defendant 

 had one of the piles pulled up in one of the badly polluted locations 

 and oysters were found growing on the lower portion of it. 



At Bridgeport, Conn., officials of an oyster company informed the 

 authors that the last general oyster set in Long Island Sound was 

 in 1914, so that there may be some connection between the disappear- 

 ance of the oysters in this locality and the introduction of oil as 

 fuel. One of these officials was of the opinion that just as much 

 damage is done by wastes from chemical and other industrial plants 

 as by oil. 



A former Connecticut State inspector of oyster beds pointed out 

 that conditions in the waters in the neighborhood of Bridgeport, 

 Conn., are A^ery bad. He believes, however, that these conditions are 

 due as much to sewage and other industrial wastes as to oil. He 

 pointed out that oysters can not be matured in the neighborhood 

 of Bridgeport and therefore the locality is now used merely as a 

 planting ground or seeding area, and when the oysters are partially 

 grown they are transplanted to other localities. 



The harbor master at Bridgeport has seen bluefish and mackerel 

 dead in large numbers on the inner side of the inner breakwater, and 

 he can account for this only by the fish coming in contact with the 

 polluted river water. 



The manager of an oyster-farm company in Milford, Conn., 

 wrote the authors as follows: 



We are not affected as much by oil pollution as we are by the combined 

 wastes from factories, municipalities, and oils. 



