^^l 28 1557' 1891, 



QUEENSLAND, 



' 7- 



Oi^STEES AND OYSTER FISHERIES OF QUEENSLAND. 



Presented to both Houses of Parliament hy Command. 



Department of Fisheries, 



Brisbane, 30th June, 1891. 

 SiH, — I have the honour to submit to you a Eeport embodying the results of my observations and 

 investigations concerning the Oysters and Oyster Fisheries of Queensland conducted within the past two 

 years. To this is appended a return indicating the status up to date of the output of this fishery, 

 and the number and extent of the areas leased, as supplied to me by the district inspector:?. Trusting 

 that the data and suggestions contained in this report may conduce towards an extended and yet more 

 profitable development of the oyster industry of this Colony. 



I have, &c., 



W. SAVILLE-KMI, F.L.S., F.Z.S., &c.. 



Commissioner of Fisheries, Queensland. 

 To the Honourable the Treasurer. 



INTRODUCTOET. 



The Oyster Fisheries of Queensland occupy the third position upon the list of the leading 

 fisheries industries of the Colony with relation to their annual export value. That of pearlshell taltes 

 the lead with an average yearly export value of £70,000. The b@che-de-mer yields in a like manner 

 an average of £23,000, while the oyster fisheries for the past ten years have not exceeded an average of 

 £8,000. The exceptionally high figure of £13,068 was, however, obtained in the year 1889, and when, 

 owing to disastrous floods which temporarily devastated extensive areas of the oyster grounds of New 

 South "Wales, and in a less degree those of this Colony, the prices realised for the oysters exported was 

 enormously euhijnced. To the figures above quoted as indicating the annual export value of the 

 Queensland Oyster Fisheries, almost one-half as much again may be added as representing the home 

 consumption of the bivalve, and which brings the value of the total annual average output of the 

 fishery to some £12,000. 



Though occupying a considerably lower position in the scale of actual annual value as compared with 

 the fisheries of pearlshell and beche-de-mer, the revenue accruing to the Government from the oyster fisheries 

 and in association more particularly with the excellently organised system of leasing and Licensing 

 sections, banks, and grounds as private fisheries, is very considerably in excess of that derived from the 

 two first-named industries, being represented during the past year by a net revenue of close upon £4,500. 

 So soon as the BiU now framed is passed, and which has been prepared with the object of providing 

 facilities for the establishment of corresponding private pearlshell and b^che-de-mer fisheries, a more 

 proportionate approximation of the respective revenues may undoubtedly be anticipated. 



YAEIETIES OF COMMEECIAL AND EDIBLE OYSTEBS OP QUEENSLAND. 



There is but one specific form of Queensland oyster that receives serious consideration from a 

 purely commercial standpoint. This oyster is the species commonly sold in the adjacent colonies under 

 the title of the Queensland " rock oyster," and the technical name of which is Ostrea glomerata. Apart 

 from this form, which, as hereafter shown, embraces a large number of modifications, there are several 

 specific types of oysters indigenous to Queensland waters which, while not sufficiently abundant or 

 possessing other disqualifications for the ordinary export trade, are wholesome eating, and are utilised 

 more or less extensively for food. 



The largest edible form of oyster found in Queensland waters is distinguished by the title of the 

 coxcomb oyster — Ostrea cristi-galli — so-called from the regular zigzag undulations of the outer edge of its 

 interlocking valves having some resemblance to a coxcomb. An illustration of this species will be found 

 at Plate III., Fig 2. A pair of the ponderous shells of the coxcomb oyster not unfrequently weigh as 

 much as from 5 to 7 lb., and have a diameter df from 8 to 12 inches. The species is an essentially salt 

 water form, and limited in its distribution to the tropics. It grows plentifully among the coral 

 reefs of Torres Straits, and the Great Barrier system in either an entirely submerged condition, or, where 

 exposed to atmospheric influences, at ordinary spring tides. Under these last-named conditions I have 

 r observed 



C. A. 62-1891. 



