OYSTER CULTURE EXPERIMENTS IN LOUISIANA. 



37 



Salinity Records for Waters in Terrebonne Parish. 



The localities listed above are all in the region of higher salinities, 

 and in most places it would probably be impossible, or at least im- 

 practicable, to raise oysters on cultch, owing to the liability to attack 

 by borers. It is probable that the disappearance of many of the 

 natural reefs is as much due to these conditions as to overfishing, the 

 two agencies together proving disastrous where either alone would 

 be tolerated. In the region west of Pelican Lake, where the saltness 

 of the water is mitigated by the discharge from Atchafalya River, 

 and in Terrebonne, Little Caillou, and other bayous which carry 

 fresh water from the interior, the conditions are apparently such as 

 to permit the set and growth of young oysters on suitable planted 

 material. 



Considered as a whole, that part of Terrebonne Parish under ob- 

 servation during the present investigations was about as rich in 

 oyster food as that part of Plaquemines Parish west of the Missis- 

 sippi River, was considerably poorer than Barataria Bay, and was 

 somewhat less prolific than the region east of the Mississippi in 

 either Plaquemines or St. Bernard parishes. Food organisms were 

 found to be most abundant in Timbalier Bay and Pelican Lake, 

 where the supply was good, and least numerous in the open waters of 

 Terrebonne Bay. 



The depth ranges from 3 to 10 feet in the larger bodies of water, 

 but is much deeper in many passes and bayous. There appear to be 

 no very extensive areas of hard bottom in the region observed, ex- 

 cepting on the extinct natural beds, but there are many places where 

 the bottom, while soft, would support deposits of shells or seed 

 oysters, and there is usually a narrow fringe of hard bottom around 

 the shores of the bays. 



The experiments in this parish were carried on at two places, Sea- 

 breeze and Pelican Lake, but in neither case were satisfactory results 

 attained from the planting of shells. Undoubtedly more favorable 

 places could be found, but the general inaccessibility of the region 

 and the lack of living accommodations operated to restrict the choice 

 of localities. 



