COLLECTION OF SEP^D OYSTERS 

 Table 1. — Results in 1927 



51 



Average number of spat per bag — 

 Maximum number of spat per bag. 

 Minimum number of spat per bag.. 

 Average number of spat per shell. -. 

 Maximum number of spat per shell 

 Per cent of shells covered with spat 



Milford 

 Harbor 



2,450 



3,.i00 



1, 500 



it 



50 



95 



Onset Har- 

 bor (Shell 

 Point 1) 



5,880 

 12,600 



2,000 

 19 

 42 

 90 



Great 

 South Bay 



18, 000 



22,000 



7,500 



75 



150 



90 



I In the zone between low- water mark and 2 feet above it. 



Note. — This was a very light setting yeai in each one of these regions. 



Table 2. — Results in 192S 



.-Vverage number of spat per bag — 

 Maximum number of spat per bag.. 

 Minimum number of spat per bag,. 

 Average number of spat per shell... 

 Maximum number of spat per shell. 

 Per cent of shells covered with spat. 



Milford 

 Harbor 



15,000 



26, 000 



9,000 



60 



85 



Onset Har- 

 bor (Shell 

 Point ') 



39, 500 



68, 600 



2,320 



131 



229 



Other Con- 

 necticut har- 

 bors 



15,000-20,000 



25. 000 



5,000 



70 



100 



90-98 



1 In the zone between 1 foot below low-water mark and 1 foot above it. 

 Note.— In Connecticut the setting was light while in Onset it was fairly heavy. 



The number of spat collected in the bags was found to var}^ accord- 

 ing to (1) the intensity of setting in each locality, (2) the location 

 in which they were planted in the harbors, and (3) their position 

 in relation to low water mark and the zone in which setting was 

 heaviest. In comparison with the commercial practice of scattering 

 shells over the bottom, the bags proved to be far superior and col- 

 lected from 10 to 100 times as many seed oysters on the same area of 

 bottom. When the bags were stacked crosswise in tiers of six or 

 eight to a group, there were produced or collected several hundred 

 thousand seed oysters per square yard of bottom, which were uni- 

 formly distributed over 6 or 8 bushels. In Great South Bay, where 

 the settings occur through a vertical distance of approximately 

 6 feet the planting of the bags in stacks of 10 during the good 

 setting years would not only yield over 500,000 seed oysters per 

 square yard of bottom but would also keep a large number of them 

 alive and allow better growth. In the past these heavy sets have 

 been so densely packed in a thin bottom layer of shells that practi- 

 cally all have died from overcrowding and lack of nourishment. 



Although the wire bags will serve to increase the production of seed 

 oysters there will still be a considerable loss because the supply of 

 shells is limited and only a small number of spat can survive from 

 sets of 100 or more per shell. The best solution of this problem, 

 thus, calls for a collector that is (1) cheap, practicable, and suitable 

 for stacking; (2) capable of manufacture in large quantities; and 

 (3) suitable for collecting spat and especially for their separation 

 soon after attachment. A device that satisfies these requirements is 

 the partition type of seed collector. 



