LOBSTER PLANTING AREAS 129 



SESSIONAL PAPER No. 38a 



coast to Victoria. In this strip the large islands are almost absent but there is a fair 

 share of rocks and reefs. 



11. Two Methods Suggested in Future Planting Schemes. 



To all appearances there are these areas and probably other areas equally as good 

 at other points along the British Columbia coast, which provide all the conditions 

 necessary for the welfare of this crustacean that has become so valuable on account 

 of its increasing scarcity in the last few years. Nothing but experiment with the 

 animal itself can tell us any further v?hether it will thrive or not and it has been 

 already demonstrated that experiment without continued observation and control 

 counts for little more than no experiment. It could easily be possible to go on putting 

 in a small shipment of lobsters every few years, for this and several succeeding genera- 

 tions, without being any wiser as to whether any survived or not. It certainly would 

 be preferable if another experiment is undertaken to put it on such a basis, no matter 

 what time it takes to do it, that the question should be -definitely decided one way or 

 the other. To do this two methods suggest themselves. One of these is to place a 

 large number of lobsters in an area that seems suitable and at the same time is fairly 

 well cut off by land or deep water from adjacent areas. In this way the lobsters 

 would have a chance to move about under conditions as natural as possible and if the 

 numbers were large enough the movements of the plantation as a whole could be 

 followed. I cannot see where anything is to be gained by putting a few here and there 

 over a wide area where it is entirely impossible to make any observations as to how 

 they live or where they go. 



The other method would be to place a number, not necessarily so large, in a small 

 bay where the conditions seem satisfactory and impound them there by making the 

 enclosure complete as far as the lobsters are concerned, but not so complete as to hinder 

 a constant interchange of the water supply. This was done in some of the previous 

 experiments, but a net, satisfactory as it may be at the moment, must soon rot and 

 become useless when left constantly in the salt water. A permanent barrier is neces- 

 sary, either in the form of a weir, of a wooden barrier built after the style of the side 

 of a lobster car, or of a stone or cement wall, with grated openings for the free pass- 

 age of water. In any case it should be strong enoug'h to stand any storms that might 

 reach it, and sufficiently permanent to last at least a couple of years. This woulc* 

 permit of a more extensive series of observations than the other, but there are certain 

 objections to it. The conditions are to some extent artificial, as enemies, if there are 

 any, would be kept outside of the enclosure, and the food material, to some extent at 

 least, would also. It might be necessary on that account to give an additional food 

 supply. Furthermore, such an enclosed area would of necessity be rather shallow, and 

 if it is necessary for the lobster to get into deep water for a portion of the year, its 

 well-being might suffer if it were kept in the shallow water throughout the year. If, 

 on the Atlantic coast, this movement into deep water is merely to get away from the 

 cold water near shore, that point would not need to be considered seriously, since as 

 has been previously stated, the water would be at a suitable temperature during the 

 winter months as well as during the summer. 



12. Expert Supervision Essential. 



No matter which method is used, it seems to me that it is absolutely essential 

 to have a suitable man to look after them continuously for two years at least, in 

 order to know if those brought out as seed lobsters would spawn again in British 

 Columbia waters (that is, if Herrick is correct in his contention that lobsters spawn 

 but once in two years). It would be much better to carry this on for six, seven or 

 eight years to find out if the lobsters hatched out in these waters would develop into 

 mature lobsters and propagate. 



38a— 9 



