CHAP, viii.] OVEKFISHING OF THE OYSTER. 347 



grew," till, in the fulness of time, it became a marketable 

 commodity. 



But the history of this modern phase of oyster-farming, as 

 practised on the foreshores of France, is so interesting as to 

 demand at my hands a rather detailed notice, for it is one of 

 the most noteworthy circumstances connected with the re- 

 vived art of fish-culture, that it has resulted in placing upon 

 the shores of France upwards of 7000 fish-farms for the culti- 

 vation of the oyster alone. 



It is no exaggeration to say, that about fifteen years ago 

 there was scarcely an oyster of native growth in France ; the 

 beds and I cite the case of France as a warning to people at 

 home, I mean as regards our Scottish oyster-beds had be- 

 come so exhausted from overdredging as to be unproductive, 

 so far as their money value was concerned, and to be totally 

 unable to recover themselves so far as their power of repro- 

 ductiveness was at stake. And the people were consequently 

 in despair at the loss of this favourite adjunct of their 

 banquets, and had to resort to other countries for such small 

 supplies as they could obtain. As an illustration of the over- 

 dredging that had prevailed, it may be stated that oyster- 

 farms which formerly employed 1400 men, with 200 boats, 

 and yielded an annual revenue of 400,000 francs, had 

 become so reduced as to require only 100 men and 

 20 boats. Places where at one time there had been as 

 many as fifteen oyster-banks, and great prosperity among 

 the fisher class, had become, at the period I allude to, 

 almost oysterless. St. Brieuc, Eochelle, Marennes, Eochefort, 

 etc., had all suffered so much that those interested in the 

 fisheries were no longer able to stock the beds, thus prov- 

 ing that, notwithstanding the great fecundity of these sea 

 animals, it is quite possible to overfish them, and tho- 

 roughly exhaust their reproductive power. It was under 

 these circumstances that M. Coste instituted that plan of 



