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CHAPTER I 



MUSSEL BAIT — SUPPLY AND DEMAND 



All who are interested in our sea-fisheries — one 

 of our greatest national industries — must be aware 

 that the question of the decrease of bait has now 

 gained a position of importance amongst the 

 pressing subjects of the day. Pubhc shell-fish 

 beds are threatened with extinction, through a 

 long course of indiscriminate fishing under an 

 improvident system. Oyster fisheries have been 

 preserved in certain places, where private protec- 

 tion and regulation have been secured, while scalps 

 free to all have become exterminated. The re- 

 vival and systematic cultivation of the oyster is a 

 project of great value to the country, but although 

 this shell-fish is regarded directly as a food and a 

 luxury, the benefit to be derived from its extensive 

 cultivation is of much less importance than that 

 which naturally results from an ample supply of 



