128 



COMMISSION OF CONSERVATION 



Falling in line with these observations it may be stated that other 



Atlantic animals have been transferred to the Pacific and found conditions 



sufficiently similar to become colonized. The Atlantic clam {Mya aren- 



aria L.) has propagated enormously, notwithstanding that it has more 



competitors than in its original home. Atlantic lobsters (there are no 



native lobsters on the Pacific coast) have been turned out in the region, 



and are claimed by some to be still living, and, it is suggested, may be 



breeding, although I have heard of no evidence. On the contrary it has 



been declared, again without evidence, that the water is not sufficiently 



saline for the lobster. In the 1896 Report of the Marine and Fisheries 



Department, p. 291, it is stated: 



"At New Westminster we transferred the whole shipment to the tug provided. 

 We steamed over 100 miles from five o'clock in the morning till nine at night but could 



not find the water sufficiently salt anywhere The rest we put overboard 



in deeper water en route to Nanaimo, hoping the water would be more salt near the 

 bottom " 



In "Marine Life," Vancouver, of February 1909, an article on "The 

 Acclimatization of the Lobster" takes those concerned to task for having 

 no better reason than "hoping the water would be more salt near the 

 bottom." In an important undertaking like this there should certainly 

 have been preparation made beforehand in determining the best situations, 

 depth, temperature and salinity, since it was necessary upon arrival to 

 get the lobsters into suitable water with all haste. But the author of the 

 criticism was equally unfortunate in his methods, since, although having 

 been stationed in the locality for years, he was not in possession of such data. 



Temperature and Salinity of Pacific Waters. — As temperature and 

 salinity are important considerations when contemplating the transplant- 

 ation of oysters, lobsters, or other desirable food animals, I shall give a 

 few data selected from a long list of observations taken from the first day 

 of my arrival until the day before leaving. 



Date 



1911 



May 16 



Am 



Place 



Entrance to Departure 

 bay (near Biological 



Station) 



Half way to Nanaimo. . . . 



Station 



Hammond bay 



Station (shallow water, 

 low tide) 



Xanoose bay 



Gulf of Georgia 



Station (shallow water, 

 low tide) 



Off Hammond bay 



Salinity 



(distilled water 



=1.000) 



1-020 

 1-020 

 1-0185 

 1-0105 



1-018 



1-0185 



1-022 



1-0167 



1-019 



