XXXV -OYSTER-CULTURE AS SEEN AT THE LONDON FISH- 

 ERIES EXHIBITION.* 



ByS. a. Buch. 



Judging from the great importance of oyster-cnltnre, a much larger 

 number of exhibitors was looked for. The countries which were well 

 represented were England, Holland, America, and Spain. France had 

 remarkably few exhibitors. 



In speaking of apparatus used in oyster-culture and in the oyster 

 fisheries I shall have special regard to those which might possibly be 

 introduced in Norway and which are adapted to our circumstances. 



Among the English exhibitors the Whitstable Oyster Company de- 

 serves special mention, as it exhibited a eoiiiplete and very instructive 

 collection of everything relating to the oyster fisheries on the company's 

 beds. In Whitstable, a small town on the south bank of the Thames, 

 this trade is of very ancient date, and the company referred to acquired 

 the full ownership of these beds by an act of Parliament as early as 

 1763, and had even carried on these fisheries for some time previous to 

 that date. These oyster-beds are always under water, and are of con- 

 siderable extent. The gathering of young oysters on artificial collectors 

 is not carried on here; but those young oysters which have been de- 

 posited on natural objects outside the oyster-beds, as on stones, oyster- 

 shells, &c., are collected by means of bottom-scrapers, sorted, and 

 planted on beds outside the town. The limits of the beds are carefully 

 defined, and are constantly guarded by three or four watch-ships, 

 which lie at anchor on different parts of the banks. This gathering of 

 young oysters is carried on all the year round by about one hundred 

 small vessels on those banks where the oyster fisheries are free. These 

 vessels are not owned by the company, but belong to different persons, 

 some of whom are shareholders. The young oysters are sold to the 

 company, which plants them on the banks mentioned above, of which 

 it is the sole owner. 



As the consumption of oysters during the last few years has increased 

 so much that it was found impossible to satisfy the demand in the man- 

 ner described above, the company has for several years imported mill- 

 ions of French oysters, which are raised on the Whitstable banks, and 



* "OsterskuUur." From Xorsk Fiskeritidende, vol. iii, Nos. 3 and 4, Bergen, October, 

 1884. Translated from the Danish by Herman JaCOBSOX. 



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H. Mis, 68 58 



