THE OYSTER. 73 



From the beds of the districts of Rochefort, Mar- 

 ennes, and Island of Oleron, on the west coast of 

 France, there were taken in 1853-54 10,000,000 oys- 

 ters, and in 1854-55 15,000,000. On account of 

 exhaustive fishing only 400,000 could be obtained in 

 1863-64. 



According to the testimony of Mr. Webber, mayor 

 of Falmouth, England, about 700 men, working 300 

 boats, were employed in a profitable oyster fishery in 

 the neighborhood of Falmouth until 1866, when the 

 old laws enforcing a " close time " were repealed, 

 under an impression that, owing to the great produc- 

 tive powers of the oyster, it would be impossible to 

 remove a sufficient number to prevent the re-stocking 

 of the beds. Since 1866 the beds have become so im- 

 poverished from excessive and continual fishing, that 

 in 1876 only 40 men and 40 boats could find employ- 

 ment, and small as the number is, they could not take 

 more than 60 or 100 oysters a day, while formerly, in 

 the same time, a boat could take from 10,000 to 

 12,000. 



According to the statement of Mr. Messum, an oys- 

 ter dealer and the secretary of an oyster company at 

 Emsworth, England, made before the Commission 

 for the Investigation of Oyster Fisheries, in May, 

 1876, there were in the harbor of Emsworth, between 

 the years of 1840 and 1850, so many oysters that one 

 man in five hours could take from 24,000 to 32,000. 

 In consequence of over-fishing, in 1858 scarcely ten 

 vessels could find loads, and in 1868 a dredger in five 

 hours could not find more than twenty oysters. 



The oyster fisheries of Jersey, in the English Chan- 



