8 THE FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



bounds to say that $25,000 would cover tlie capital of all the dealers combined ; and they represent all the oyster- 

 trade there is on the island worth mentioning. The business is not now so good as formerly, on account of the 

 "hard times" that now oppress the Canadas; and a profit of 20 per cent, is considered large; but in former years 

 50 per cent, of pi'ofit was often realized without much risk. 



At the eastern end of the island the only locality for oysters, within recent times, is in Hillsborough bay and its 

 tributaries. This water is on the south shore, and is the harbor of Charlottetown, the chief town of the province. 

 Old men remember when oysters were so abundant there that they seemed inexhaustible. Eich beds were to 

 be found along the west side of Hillsborough bay, over in Orwell and Pownall bays, along the channel into the 

 inner harbor, and everywhere there and up Hillsborough, East and West rivers. The finest of all grew attached 

 singly to the eel-grass at the heads of the various little inlets, where one could wade out and get them; and at 

 certain places the beds wpre so crowded that a boat could take eight bushels in an hoar. 



Now, however, these bays are almost depopulated of their oysters, and not more than $500 worth annually, it 

 is said, are raked there. These are all used in Charlottetown, being raked and peddled by two men who make a 

 scant business of it. Charlottetown, in addition, consumes nearly a thousand barrels from the western end of the 

 island, esteeming her own of far poorer quality. 



Concerning the oysters of the Bras d'Or I could learn but little, but became satisfied that no trade in them 

 existed, beyond a limited home consumption by those who fished and their neighbors. 



3. FUTURE OF THE OYSTER-BEDS AXD OYSTEE-TEADE. 



FoEMER AND PRESENT ABUNDANCE. — A few words ought now to be Said upon the relative former and present 

 abundance of the oysters of this region and the causes operating toward their increase or decrease. 



To begin with: I am convinced that if it were possible to make a comparison between the actual number of 

 oysters on the beds fifty years ago with the number to-day, the disparity would not be great. The production 

 has changed geographically, rather than numerically. Ancient areas no longer yield so fully, but new ones have 

 been discovered. 



The most famous of the old localities was Shediac, where the "Porierbed" sent to the interior settlements 

 the best moUusks known. This bed lay between Shediac island and the north shore of the bay, and has been 

 abandoned for many years; but a fisherman told me, he thought a week's profitable raking might be done there now. 

 After the exhaustion of the Porier bed, the large, salty, fat " Bedeque" oysters were placed in the market, and 

 acquired a high reputation. The demand soon exhausted them, but a few could at present be got anywhere in the 

 bay, now that they have rested so long. Meanwhile the eastern end of Prince Edward island had lost its oysters, 

 and those of the productive beds on the mainland were of poor quality. The shore-people began to think the era of 

 good oysters had passed by. More thorough and careful search was thus stimulated, and the results were, first, 

 the discovery that the beds in Cassumpeque, Malpeque, and Eichmond bays were much more extensive than had 

 been supi^osed, and, second, the disclosiu'e of wholly new localities in Miramichi bay and elsewhere. 



The causes of the extinction of the old traditional beds are various. It is easy to see that the inordinate attack 

 made upon the new locality of Bettaouin during the last four years will shortly be fatal to it. It has nearly proved " 

 so now, just as the other natural storehouses of these mollusks along the coast have been depleted by excessive and 

 heedless use.* 



On the contrary, in the extensive region on the north side of Prince Edward island, whence the trade is now 

 mainly supplied, there seems to be no doubt of a steady growth in numbers, and no degeneracy in size and quality. 



Causes op extermination. — The general law of the Dominion forbids the taking of oysters, at any point, 

 between the 1st of May and the 1st of September, when they are spawning. This law excites great disgust among 

 the fishermen, who assert that the jjroper way to afford legal protection to the industry is to prohibit winter-fishing. 

 As a result, the law is constantly broken.! The summer-raking, thoy say, does more good than harm; it is 

 positively beneficial, for it stirs up the beds and contributes to their widening. In the constant moving of the boat 

 the tongs or rake must rarely strike the ground twice in the same or nearly the same place, and only a few of the 

 mollusks are taken here and there. " Oysters thrive on muddy bottoms," writes Mr. Pope, " but they will not live 

 if imbedded in the mud. Many oyster-beds have been destroyed by mud alone. The annual fishing of oyster-beds, 

 if not carried to excess, improves them. In the process of fishing the bed is broken up, the shells and oysters lifted 

 out of the mud, and a supply of material (cultch) afforded, such as the oyster spat requires, and without which it 

 must perish." This is undoubtedly true to a great extent, as has been proved in the United States. 



* The close time is now (1869) rigidly euforeed, but these beds (in Shediac harbor) have been so much reduced by years of indiscriminate 

 raking, that a long time will elapse before they are restored. » » » The oyster-beds in Eichibucto harbor and river are now gieatly 

 reduced aud almost valueless ; and the only mode of restoring thorn is to prohibit raking entirely for a number of years, or to lease them 

 for natural and artificial culture. — Vennixg, Ileport on Canadian Finlierien, X870-'7C). 



t Oysters are caught and exposed for sale in every month in the year, and salmon are destroyed upon their spawning-bi>ds with the 

 utmost impunity.— Pope. Letter to Whiteaves, Canadian Naturallal, vii, :i47. 



