OYSTER CULTURE EXPERIMENTS AND INVESTIGATIONS 



IN LOUISIANA. 



By H. F. Moore and T. E. B. Pope. 



PREVIOUS INVESTIGATIONS, RESULTING LEGISLATION AND ITS EFFECTS. 



In the winter of 1898 and 1899 the Bureau of Fisheries made a 

 reconnaissance of the oyster beds on the Louisiana coast between 

 Mississippi Sound and Atchafalaya River. The report <* on this 

 work contained a chart giving with approximate accuracy the loca- 

 tion of the oyster beds of a considerable part of St. Bernard Parish 

 and a general description of the beds, not only of that region but of 

 practically the entire oyster-producing area of Louisiana. The coast 

 west of the Atchafalaya was not included, partly for lack of time, 

 but principally because the conditions there appeared to be such as 

 to militate against the development of any considerable oyster 

 industry. 



Data were published relating to the salinity of the water, the food, 

 spawning, growth, and enemies of the oyster, the general character 

 of the bottoms, the relative prevalence of freshets and crevasses, and, 

 in general, all factors having a bearing upon oysters and oyster 

 culture. 



Some attention was given to the extent of the oyster-planting in- 

 dustry, the methods employed, and the results obtained, but no 

 experiments were made to determine in a definite way the results 

 which could be expected from a systematic endeavor to establish 

 oyster culture on a rational basis and to substitute for the haphazard 

 practices on the natural beds the more reliable methods certain to 

 be followed on planted grounds under private supervision and owner- 

 ship. Based on the observations, the report included a number of 

 recommendations in regard to the requirements for the conservation, 

 protection, and development of the oyster industry both as to the 



" Report on the oyster beds of Louisiana, H. F. Moore, Report United States Fish 

 Commission, 1898, p. 45-100. 



3 



