682 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. [10] 



British Channel, and between Saint-Malo, Cancale, Granville, and Reg- 

 n^ville, that the most productive natural beds of oysters are found. 



In the neighborhood of Granville alone we may count eleven natural 

 beds of oysters ["Oyster rocks," Chesapeake Bay.— Trans.], viz: For- 

 aine, Haguet, Trou ^-Girou, Saint-Marc, Bout-de-Rive, Saint-Germain, 

 G6fosse, S^n^quet, La Costaise, Le Ronquet, and Le Pirou. 



It would be difficult to estimate the number of the inhabitants of this 

 coast who live by the oyster fishery. It is quite large, but within the 

 last few years has sensibly diminished, for the reason that the fishing 

 is less productive than formerly. 



With the view of competing with the English oystermen in the work- 

 ing of common waters, the proprietors of the beds of Granville and 

 Cancale were authorized to depart from the rule which prohibited them 

 from remaining in their boats after sunset. The result has been that, 

 under the pretext of dredging concurrently with the English on com- 

 mon grounds, they have found it more profitable to plunder the r*^ 

 served beds of the territorial sea, and have ruined them. Wise meas- 

 ures have been taken to prevent a recurrence of these depredations. 



By means of strict supervision, and through the discretion allowed 

 the maritime administration to prohibit fishing at any point for one or 

 two years, if the necessity of it has been recognized by the commission 

 whose duty it is to ascertain the condition of the oyster beds; and, 

 lastly, by means of the state reservation, where fishing is absolutely 

 prohibited, and from which the spawn is scattered in every direction, 

 these oyster beds have been re-established. 



In fact, this work of restoration could not have been accomplished in 

 so short a time, allowing for the extraordinary fertility with which the 

 oyster is endowed, did not the places which receive the spawn present 

 the conditions indispensable for its development. 



These conditions are not always found upon grounds which have been 

 exhausted by unrestrained fishing. In such cases suitable conditions 

 must be created or re-established before we can expect success. The 

 industry of oyster-culture proper is carried on at Granville in 85 storage 

 pares {pares de depots), which serve only to shelter the oysters fished from 

 the neighboring beds until the time when the cultivators of Courseulles 

 and La Hougue, who usually obtain them, come to take them away. 

 They are all inclosed by a double wall of wicker-work, from 70 to 80 cen- 

 timeters in height. The interval between the two walls is filled with 

 clay, kneaded up with straw or simply with mud. 



This arrangement lias for its object to prevent the oysters stored in 

 the pares from being disi)laced and dispersed by the impulse of the 

 waves, and at the same time retain the water at low tide, and thus pro- 

 tect the oysters from the injurious effects of heat or cold. 



I should add that the sea is so often rough at Granville that although 

 there are in the immediate neighborhood inexhaustible centers of repro- 



