10 OYSTER BOTTOMS IN VICINITY OF APALACHICOLA, FLA. 
oysters of each size per square yard of bottom was readily obtainable 
by simple calculation. 
The following: example will illustrate the 
data obtained and the form of the record: 
DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE. 
BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 
Field record of examinations of oyster beds. 
Serial number, 7007. 
General locality, 
Apalachicola Bay. 
Local name of oyster ground, St. Vincent Bar. 
Date, March 25, 1915. 
Time, 3.15 p. m. 
Angle, K 69-70. Buoy No. 7. 
Depth, 4 feet. Bottom, Hard. 
Bottom soundings, — Average, — 
Density, — Temperature, — 
Condition of water, Clear. Stage of tide, Ebb. 
Tongman, Meyer. Boat, No. 2. 
Number grabs made, 8. Tongs, 12 C. 
Total area covered, 3. i square yards. 
‘1am 50: 
Number oysters taken} x, aa 85 
Quantity shells, 32. 
lin.— X in., 27. 
4in., 17. 
Dead, 3. 
Spat per square yard, 0. 
Result; Culls per square yard, 6.9. 
Counts per square yard, 17.1. 
X in.=cull limit prescribed by law. 
This furnishes an exact statement of the condition of the bed at 
the spot, which can be platted on the chart with error in position 
of not more than a few yards. From the data obtained a close esti- 
mate may be formed of the number of bushels of oysters and shells 
per acre in the vicinity of the examination, and, by multiplying the 
observations, for the bed as a whole. In the course of the survey 
1,306 saeneminisnne were made at various places, both on the natural 
rocks and on the barren bottoms. 
In estimating the productiveness of the bottoms it appeared de- 
sirable to use the method employed in Delaware Bay? rather than 
that followed in the James River survey. 
Where tongs are used exclusively a bed with a given quantity of 
oysters lying in shoal water is more valuable commercially than one 
with the same quantity of oysters in deeper water, owing to the fact 
that the labor of the tonger is more efficient on the former. As has 
been pointed out, the area covered by a ‘‘grab” decreases with the 
depth, other factors being the same; and, moreover, the deeper the 
water the greater is the labor involved in making the grab and the 
smaller is the number of grabs which can be made in a given time. 
Where, however, the depth is practically uniform and shoal, as in 
a Moore, H. F.: Condition and extent of the natural oyster beds of Delaware. Bureau of Fisheries 
document no. 745, 1911. 
