6 GEORGE V SESSIONAL PAPER No. 38^ A. 1916 



V. 



FIRST REPORT ON THE "BARREN OYSTER BOTTOMS" INVESTIGA- 

 TION, RICHMOND BAY, P.E.I. 



By a. D. Robertson, B.A., University of Toronto. 



In this investigation, which began early in May and was carried on until the 

 middle of September, 1914, the following points were considered : — 



1. Nature of the bottom in the various parts of the area. 



2. Extent of level portions and of banks and deep gullies. 

 I 3. Depths in the various parts of the area. 



4. Presence of eel-grass and seaweeds. 



5. Salinity. 



C. Temperatures at top and bottom. 



7. Plankton and floating oyster foo(J. 



8. Inflow and amount of fresh water; number of flowing streams. 



9. Presence of oyster enemies, starfish, drill, whelk, etc. 



10. Occurrence of small oysters as evidence of spatting. 



11. Occurrence of dead oyster shells, as evidence of former production.- 



12. Freezing to bottom in winter. 



13. Time of spawning. 



14. Time and extent of spatting. 



15. Former output of the bay. 



NATURE OF THE BOTTOM IN THE VARIOUS PARTS OF THE AREA. 



Dredgings and soundings were made in the various parts of the bay for the 

 purpose of investigating the nature of the bottom, but owing to the lack of proper 

 facilities for ascertaining the exact location of the individual soundings and dredj. 

 ings, an accurate map of the nature of the bottom cannot yet be given. The account 

 of the bottom given here is also quite general. 



The bottom consists for the most part of the red sand, so characteristic of 

 Prince Edward Island. Rocky areas, composed of red sandstone, extend, out from 

 several points of the islands and of the mainland. In the deeper places the sand is 

 mixed with a higher percentage of humus forming, in certain locations, a very soft 

 black mud into which a pole can be shoved for several feet. Shell beds (oysters and 

 quahaug) are found scattered over the mud areas and on the edges of the sand area^, 

 while oysters are plentiful on the rocky points. 



In the Inner bay or March Water (that portion of the bay between the Curtain 

 islands and the Shipyard river), the sandy ai-ea extends around the shore along the 

 south of Grover (Ram) island, across to Princetown point and on to Malpeque wharf 

 and the Shipyard river. Thence it follows the south shore to Beech point, where it 

 turns northward along the Curtain islands. The width of this area is not at all uni- 

 form. An extension southward from Princetown point forms the Middle Ground 

 shoals which are separated from the point by only a shallow channel. The sandy 

 area also extends out somewhat farther from the points on either side of the mouth 

 of the Shipyard river and is more extensive, too, near Beech point and along Curtain 

 (Little Curtain) and Bunbury (Curtain) islands. Patches of rock occur east of the 

 Curtain islands, to the northwest of the Middle Groxmd shoals, and to the northeast 



