8 



" fascines," have been and are still extensively used in French waters, and at the ancient oyster breeding 

 establishment of Lake Fusaro in Italy for a similar purpose. The most efficient description of artificial 

 spat collectors that have been invented are, however, probably those first introduced into the French 

 oyster grounds by M. Coste, and which consist of a cheap form of earthen tile, the under surfaces of which 

 are coated with Portland cement. The calcareous constituents of the cement, when set and seasoned, are 

 so analogous to those of the parent oyster shells that the embryo brood adheres to it with equal readiness. A 

 second form of collector, successfully employed in France, consisted of cemented boards united by their 

 long edges in ridge-tile fashion, and being strung one above another in sets, and anchored by a stone, are 

 allowed to float freely in the current. This " ridge-tile " form of collector was fir.st employed by myself 

 with fair results in connection with the Government Oyster R(;serves of Tasmania, established under my 

 supervision in the year 1885, with the object of resuscitating the at that time exhausted oyster fisheries of 

 that colony. Figures with a description of this form of collector were published in my report to the 

 Tasmanian Government for that year, and, acting on the information therein contained, lam informed that 

 similar collectors were experimentally placed on one of the cultivated banks in Moreton Bay. These 

 collectors, as a result, were soon covered with spat, but, being set in shallow water, they, as each tide receded, 

 fell to the ground, and the young oysters became a ready prey to crabs and whelks. The same form of 

 collector has also the drawback of getting water-logged and sinking to the bottom by its own weight after 

 prolonged immersion, and when the attached brood runs the same risk of premature destruction by 

 its natural enemies or by the accumulation of sand or mnd. 



As an improvement upon and simplification of this ridge-tile collector, I subsequently made use of 

 the rough form of boards, known throughout the Australian Colonies as " split palings." Such palings — 

 4 feet long, 8 inches wide, and 1 inch thick — were readily procurable at the low price of from eight to 

 ten shillings per thousand. With a brick or stone attached by wire to each end on the under side, 

 the surface between the two bricks coated with cement, and a loop of wire fixed to the upper surface to 

 serve as a handle whereby they could be carried easily or lifted from or lowered to the bottom of the 

 water with the aid of a boat-hook, they were found to constitute the most convenient and economic form 

 of collector that could be desired. The bricks or stones on the under surface served the double purpose 

 of anchoring the collectors securely to the bottom of the water, and at the same time raised the cemented 

 surface .above the reach of predatory crabs and whelks. In practical application these paling collectors 

 were found to possess all the efficiency of the French tiles, with the advantage of a far greater economy 

 of cost. The tiles, with individually smaller superficial areas for the attachment of the spat, cost in France 

 about £.1 per thousand, and could scarcely be produced in Australia for double that price. In order to 

 test the efficacy of this description of spat collector in connection with the Queensland oyster, Osfrea 

 glomerata, a few samples were constructed and experimentally placed on ground at a spot where a few 

 mangrove oysters already existed, near the mouth of Nerang Creek. These collectors were deposited in 

 the month of July, 1890, and within from three to four months from that date were literally encrusted 

 with oyster brood having shells which averaged one inch in diameter. Two months later a large portion 

 of these oysters measured individually as much as two inches in their longest diameter, and being loosely 

 attached by the butt-end were ripe for detachment and distribution on the ordinary cultivation banks. As 

 many as 2,000 young oysters were thus found attached to a single collector, being the equivalent of what, 

 in the ordinary course of development, would, by the end of another eighteen months, represent a standard 

 two bushel-bag of marketable oysters. Photographs of these sample collectors in their newly-made 

 condition, and with attached oyster brood, are represented in the illustrations of Plate VIII. 



Although the general employment of artificially prepared spat collectors upon the Queensland 

 oyster banks as here described is not recommended, and would be scarcely profitable in association with 

 the existing abundant supplies and the extensive natural spawniog grounds at the disposal of the leading 

 lessees of the oyster fisheries, there are undoubtedly circumstances and conditions under which their 

 introduction would prove of value. With the aid of these and kindred collectors, miles of what now repre- 

 sent barren unremunerative mud flats in both the Moreton and Wide Bay districts might be made to 

 produce an abundant harvest; while to small selectors having foreshore allotments at present yielding 

 them no return below high water-mark, they have at hand the ready means of substantially augmenting 

 their incomes. That in the no very distant future the employment of artificial spat collectors will be 

 desirable, if not obligatory, as a means of supplementing the natural supplies and meeting the increased 

 demand for both home consumption and export purposes that is likely to arise, is a conclusion, indeed, 

 that can scarcely be avoided. The more immediate necessity of resorting to artificial methods for collecting 

 oyster spat has, I may further observe, been strongly advocated by the Moreton Bay Inspector, Mr. C. S. 

 Fison. At page 4 of his report for the year 188(i, among a list of amendments recommended for the 

 better regulation of the oyster fisheries, a prominent position is allotted to that of the compulsory 

 employment by oyster bank lessees of artificial methods of spat catchment. 



It would appear desirable under the present heading to make a brief allusion to the section on 

 oyster cultivation included in the same District Inspector's Eeport for the year 1890. At pages 3 to 5 

 of the report referred to, extensive quotations are made from letters treating on the subject, contributed 

 by a Sydney oyster merchant to the Sydney Press. The general tenor of these letters is to depreciate the 

 results that have been accomplished by methods of artificial cultivation in France. These results are, in 

 point of fact, so grossly misrepresented as to make it appear that the system is itself a failure, and that 

 no success could attend its introduction into Australian waters. The acceptance and re-publication of 

 these letters, in all good faith, in an official report, as embodying the latest and most accurate information 

 on the subject of oyster culture, is necessarily calculated to mislead the public and to discourage any 

 efforts being undertaken to profit by the highly successful results actually accomplished on the French 

 sea-board. It is with the object only of counteracting so undesirable an influence that a brief statement 

 of the actual facts, with accompanying statistical figures, are herewith submitted. In the fir.st place, it 

 would appear that the data upon whicti the letters above referred to are based were derived from the 

 Government report on the oyster fisheries, Ireland, dating so far back as the year 1870, and at about 

 which time, as testified to by witnesses engaged to collect evidence, the French Oyster Fisheries were 

 undoubtedly in a very declining state. The cause of that decadence, which is fully explained in the 

 report, but is in a most unaccountable manner totally ignored in the documents cited, was the 

 avariciousness of the oyster growers, who stripped their beds to such an extent to supply the markets as to 

 leave an insufficient quantity for the purposes of propagation. This error, however, was corrected as 

 9oon ft3 recoguised, ftnd with tb© result that within a very few years the Freocli Oyster Fisheries bad not 



only 



