30 



Conclusion. 



The whole area of Morecambe Bay, with its numerous 

 banks and the estuaries of the Wyre and Lune rivers and 

 Morecambe, Grange, Ulverston, Barrow and Duddon 

 Channels, by a little artificial cultivation might easily be 

 turned into a vast rearing ground for Mussels, as every- 

 where the conditions seem most favourable for the 

 production and rearing of this valuable shell-fish. All 

 that is necessary is to remove some of the seed Mussels 

 from the beds where they are too crowded to places where 

 they are few in number or entirely absent. Many of the 

 Mussels on the various beds under the present conditions 

 are certain to be lost, through having too little room to 

 grow, when consequently they either get choked off and 

 perish miserably or become so stunted in their growth as 

 to be of little or no marketable value either as bait or food. 



Under the present conditions the beds are allowed to 

 seed themselves and consequently it takes much longer 

 for the Mussel to spread over any considerable area, than 

 if the young Mussels were transplanted from places on 

 the present beds where they are too close, to new ground. 

 By this means the Mussels would certainly reach a 

 marketable size much sooner than if left to look after 

 themselves, and a convenient time for moving the seedlings 

 would be when the close season begins, as they would be 

 less liable to be disturbed than if done at any other 

 period, and by the time the close season had expired, they 

 would no doubt have firmly established themselves under 

 their new conditions. 



"We propose during the coming year to continue this 

 investigation by doing some more work at Piel when 

 the temporary laboratory is fitted up, in examining the 

 Mussel beds of the middle and southern district. The 

 southern beds can easily be examined from the central 



