OYSTER CULTURE EXPERIMENTS IN LOUISIANA. 13 



any considerable supply of heed could be obtained. At the time of 

 the examination of 1898 the beds on the east side of Timbalier Bay, 

 in Lafourche Parish, were approaching exhaustion and they are now 

 negligible commercially. In Terrebonne Parish many of the natural 

 beds existing in 1808 have jDractically disappeared, and most of the 

 others have become depleted to an extent that makes the procuring 

 of a sufficient su^jply of seed a grave problem with the planters. 

 Terrebonne Parish formerly supplied the seed for most of the plant- 

 ing beds of Plaquemines Parish west of the Mississippi Kiver, but 

 the supply now comes wholly from the beds east of the river. The 

 seed oysters planted in Jefferson Parish come from the same source, 

 the time consumed in going to and returning from the seed beds often 

 being equal to that required to tong a cargo. It is evident, therefore, 

 that the experience of Louisiana will be like that of other oyster- 

 producing states, where a dependence for seed upon the natural beds 

 eventually produced a scarcity which more or less seriously inter- 

 fered with the growth of oyster culture. 



Louisiana, however, has a material advantage over most northern 

 states in this, that almost absolute dependence can be placed upon 

 jDrocuring a set of spat every year, provided proper materials are 

 supplied as cultch. It was to demonstrate these facts and to deter- 

 mine the possibilities of this method of oyster culture in several 

 parts of the Louisiana coast that the following exj^eriments were 

 conducted by the Bureau of Fisheries at the request of the state 

 oyster commission. 



Work was begun in November, 1905, when the senior author made 

 an inspection of the coast as far west as Terrebonne Bay and selected 

 locations for the experimental work. It was determined to begin 

 the investigations at Three-mile Bayou and Falsemouth Bay in St. 

 Bernard Parish, at Tambour Bay and near the mouth of Bayou 

 St. Denis in Jefferson Parish, and at Seabreeze, in Terrebonne Bay, 

 close to a cut-off leading into Bayou Terrebonne. At this time 

 there Avere no known natural beds in Jefferson Parish, and to supply 

 breeding oysters for the experiments the Louisiana Oyster Commis- 

 sion in January, 1906, deposited about 50 barrels of unculled stock 

 each at Tambour Bay and Bayou St. Denis. The other sites selected 

 were in proximity to oyster beds and the deposit of brood oysters 

 was unnecessary. 



JEFFERSON PARISH. 



That the southern half of Barataria Bay was formerly a produc- 

 tive oyster region is attested by the statements of the inhabitants and 

 the great bank of shells on the former site of the packing house, 

 but the beds were exterminated by overfishing, probably coupled 

 with natural causes, and at the time of the investigation of 1898 



