130 DEPARTMENT OF THE NATAL SERVICE 



6 GEORGE V, A. 1916 

 13. Desirable Condition for Experiment Specified. 



If an open area should be decided upon, the following locations seem to be the 

 most suitable: The area between Northwest bay and the entrance to Nanoose bay; 

 around Five Finger island and West rocks; around Mudge island, on either the 

 Dodds narrows or the False narrows side; around Secretary and Wallace islands; 

 around Prevost island and the area east of the north end of Saanich peninsula. To 

 this might be added the area around Breakwater and the Flattop islands, were it not 

 that this location is liable to be much affected by the water of the Fraser river. All 

 these locations are mentioned in the general description. 



If the enclosure method is to be used, deciding on a suitable location is a diffi- 

 cult matter. So many of the small bays among the islands are used for anchorage or 

 wharfage and consequently could not well be closed up. To give just one example, 

 there is a fine small bay in the Winchelsea islands, but this is practically the only 

 protected anchorage for small boats between i^Tanoose and Northwest bays, and since 

 much fishing is done off these islands (locally known as the Grey rocks) it would be a. 

 great hardship to the fishermen if that were closed up. 



To be suitable for the purpose, the bay must be large enough to allow for the 

 wandering of a large number of lobsters, narrow enough at the entrance so that it can 

 be readily blocked, sufficiently protected that it may not suffer too much from storms, 

 deep enough so that at low-tide there is an abundance of water, varied enough in shore- 

 line to provide rocky clefts and fissures in which the lobstei'' may lurk, and sandy beds 

 where it may dig for shellfish but not muddy enough to spoil it all, well provided with 

 kelp, fucus and other algae, near enough to strong currents to allow for the bringing 

 in of food material, for the lobsters themselves and for the forms on which they, feed, 

 and as free as possible from contamination from fresh water. At the same time it 

 would be well to have it near a suitable location for a permanent habitat so that if 

 the experiment should prove successful it would not be necessary to transport them 

 when it was desirable to liberate them. To get a location with all these conditions is 

 rather a large order. Practically all the shores of all the islands in the district under 

 consideration have been examined, with the results that very few cases were found 

 with any approach to fulfilling them all. There are very many small bays like that 

 in which some of them were impounded in False narrows, that would do very well 

 for a location for a limited period if there were not too many lobsters, but they would 

 not be satisfactory if it was desired to impound a large number for a long period, as 

 it would allow for so little chance for the individuals to move around on account of 

 the overcrowding, more especially at low tide. 



14. Six Areas Described as Preferable for Kxperiment 



The location which to me seems the most suitable for this purpose is an inlet, 

 Glenthorne creek, extending into Prevost island from the west. The inlet itself is 

 about a mile long, nowhere more than 260 yards wide, and in some places very much 

 less than that. Its north shore is a narrow neck of land separating it from a similar 

 inlet, Annette creek. Its south shore is not continuous but is made up of two larger 

 islands, several smaller islands or reefs and a point of Prevost island, Glenthorne 

 point. From the extremity of this point to the head of the inlet is about a quarter 

 of a mile, and this portion could readily be inclosed by placing a barrier across from 

 this point to the north side, which here is not more than 100 yards away at low-tide. 

 The portion thus shut in would have a rocky shore line throughout the greater por- 

 tion at high-tide and throughout about half of it at low-tide, the other part being 

 heavy sand or sandy mud. About one-half of the area has IJ to 2* fathoms of water 

 at low-tide and but a small portion of the beach goes dry. Through Captain passage, 

 at the entrance of the inlet, a strong current flows a great part of the time and some 



