296 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



Considerable interest is being taken in the question as to whether 

 eastern oj-sters will i)ropai>ate or thrive in the Avaters of Puget Sound. 

 It is reported that the experiment will soon be given a trial by planting 

 a consignment of oysters from the East. 



The extent of the oyster industry of Puget Sound in the years 1889 

 to 1892, inclusive, is shown in the following tables. The number of 

 men engaged .and the capital invested in this industry show little 

 change from year to year, although there has been a slight increase in 

 the quantity of products, with a reduction in their value. In addition 

 to the persons shown in the table, there were perhaps as many more 

 employed at odd times in connection with the industry, but their 

 operations were too brief to entitle them to mention in the tables. In 

 addition to the quantities of oysters given for Mason and Thurston 

 counties, about 10,000 bushels are taken annually from these counties 

 by fishermen living at Tacoma, to which place their catch is credited. 



In 1892 small beds of a bivalve mollusk {Flacunanomia macroschlsma) 

 of no economic value were found between Tacoma ai.d Seattle. Con- 

 siderable attention was given to this discovery, because of the extensive 

 notices in the press. By the newspapers the shellfish were almost 

 invariably designated as valuable beds of eastern oysters. Their shells 

 were about the size of a medium eastern oyster. The soft part of most 

 of them was of a bright red color, resembling fresh meat rather than 

 shellfish. The Indians of the sound have long been familiar with these 

 mollusks, and report them as good for food at certain seasons and as 

 poisonous at other times. No experiments as to their value for food 

 were made by the whites, and the beds remain undisturbed. 



Persona employed in the oyster industry of Paget Sound. 



Counties and countries. 



Mason : 



United States 



United States (Indians) 



China 



France 



Total 



Tlnirston : 

 United States (Indians) 



Grand total 



Nativity. 



Nation- 

 ality. 



76 



Boats, apparatits, shore property, and cash capital employed in the oyster industry of 



Puget Sound. 



a Kowboats. 



b Canoes. 



