OYSTER BOTTOMS OF MISSISSIPPI SOUND, ALA. 49 



All that is required by the barren bottom in order that it may- 

 become productive is that its surface should be supplied with hard 

 objects or cultch, either through natural agencies or by the hand of 

 man. The capacity of the bottom to sustain material deposited on 

 it and to maintain it in proper condition to serve as cultch depends 

 largely on its stability and consistency. Moving sands gradually 

 cover objects deposited on their surface and soft mud permits them 

 to sink. It is therefore of prime importance for the oyster culturist 

 to have information concerning the character of the bottom and it 

 was one of the purposes of the survey to supply it. 



The methods and the instrument employed have been described in 

 the introductory part of this report and the results attained are 

 shown graphically on the chart. No data concerning the bottom are 

 supplied for that part of Mobile Bay covered by the survey, for the 

 reason that the salinity of the water in that region is subject to such 

 violent reduction by freshets as to interfere with successful oyster 

 culture. The chart does not show all of the places at which the bot- 

 tom was tested, enough stations only being shown to indicate the 

 characteristics. It will be observed that the bottom in most of the 

 deeper part of the sound is composed of either very soft mud or ooze 

 and is entirely unsuitable for oyster planting. Furthermore, the 

 hard bottom occurring close to the islands which form the south shore 

 is composed principally of sand, which shifts during storms. There is 

 a strip along the boundary between the mud and sand where the two 

 materials are blended in such proportions as to give a fair degree of 

 stability, but the zone is narrow, and in general it may be stated 

 that to plant either in the very soft bottom of the deeper water or the 

 sand of most of the south shore, excepting its extreme eastern end, is 

 to invite disaster. 



With these two general regions eliminated there remains practically 

 the north shore alone, of which the areas of bottom sufficiently firm 

 to support oysters and shells are discussed in the following pages. 

 The total area of the tracts containing bottoms suitable for oyster 

 culture in that part of Mississippi Sound within the State is 24,420 

 acres. It must be understood, however, that within the regions 

 hereafter described there are usually areas of unsuitable bottom irreg- 

 ularly distributed. 



NEAR HALF-MOON PATCHES. 



This area lies west of the Pass des Huitres beds and south of Half- 

 Moon Patches, covering an area of approximately 400 acres. The 

 bottom consists principally of hard mud in its eastern half, gradually 

 becoming softer toward the west. In places a soft surface 6 to 8 

 inches deep is underlaid by hard or stiff mud and there are occasional 

 small patches of scattered shells either at the surface or buried. 

 Toward the northern part of the area there are a few clustered oysters. 



