3G4 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FLSII AND FISHERIES. 

 OTHER EAYS OF THE CALlFOl'vNIA COAST. 



Ill Tomales Bay, Messrs. Weiuard and Terry laid out about 17 car- 

 loads of (^astern oysters in 1875. They remained there only two or three 

 years, until all were market('<l or removed to more aecessible places in 

 San Francisco Bay. The experiment was not repeated. Capt. Law- 

 son, one of the oldest residents upon Tomales Bay, says that these oys- 

 ters lived and fattened as well apparently as those in San Francisco 

 Bay. They were laid out at Alillertou Station, near the southern end 

 of the bay, where some of the stakes used in fencing the bed are still 

 standing. There is perhaps no reason why the extensive mudflats of 

 Tomales Bay should not be used for laying out oysters in the same 

 manner as is done in San Francisco. The bay is nowhere very deep. 

 With two or three good-sized streams flowing into it, the natural con- 

 ditions ought to pi'ove very similar to those of San Francisco. It is 

 18 miles long and averages 2 in breadth. There are no signs of the 

 l)ropagation of eastern oysters there, although Ostrca lurida is not 

 uncommon. 



From corresjDon dents in southern California I have recently learned 

 that eastern oysters are reported as i)ropagating in San Diego Bay. A 

 few years ago a quantity of oysters were placed there, and they still 

 remain in good condition. It is said also that a lot of Mexican oysters, 

 l)rought in a steamer from Guaymas several years ago, were found to 

 be dying rapidly when the vessel arrived in San Diego Harbor, and 

 were thrown overboard. It is claimed that survivors from this acci- 

 dental planting are occasionally found. This bay, more than 4:00 miles 

 south of San Francisco Bay, is much warmer, and it might be that the 

 oyster of tlie- Gulf of California, Avliich failed to live in the cold water of 

 San Francisco Bay, would be a success in San Diego Bay. The greater 

 part of this bay is shallow and there are extensive mudflats. There 

 ai'e no constant streams flowing into it, though False Bay, immediately 

 north of it, reiteives San Diego Eiver, a stream which disappears in 

 midsummer. 



I Iuml)oldtr>ay, liOO miles north of San Francisco, is a hirgeand shallow 

 bay that may be found available for oyster-growing when the question 

 of temperature has been studied. By far the greater area of this bay 

 consists of tide lands, exposed at low water. My personal recollection 

 of Humboldt mudflats, visited in 188,">, is that they are altogether lirmer 

 than those of San Francisco, the bottom being more sandy. 



Ballona. Bay, near Santa Monica, in southern California, is a small bay 

 where, I am informed, oysters have been placed and found to grow well, 

 but it is not known whether they breed there. A rei)ort u])on the small 

 bays about Wilmington, near Los Angeles, has already been published 

 by the Fish Commission.* 



* Report, npon certain nivosMgationa relating to the i)lantiug of oj'sters in south- 

 ern Calilornia. I'.y Cliarl.'H H. Cin.ort. I?iili. IT. S. F. C, 1889, p. y5-98. 



