29 



117. In laying down fresh cultch on the creek beds full value can be 

 obtained only if this be done immediately prior to the spawning season. This 

 must first be ascertained and as it would not be politic to permit removal of 

 mature oysters till some time after this be completed, it is evident that cargoes 

 of cultch taken by the oystermen to the creeks at the time they go to collect 

 oysters cannot with advantage be laid down on the beds at that time ; before 

 the next spawning season the cultch would be fouled with mud and slime 

 and would prove of comparatively little advantage. The difficulty may be 

 surmounted by unloading the cultch not on the beds themselves, but on the " 

 highest level of the adjoining flats where the material will be daily exposed to 

 the sun and air and kept fairly clean till the approach of the oyster-breeding 

 season, when a supervising officer with a few men under him may be sent 

 round the creeks witb instructions to deposit the heaps of cultch on and around 

 the margin of specified beds. This visit should also be utilized for an 

 inspection of the beds and the estimation of the number of oysters not 

 exceeding two-thirds for which fishing permits may be issued during the 

 ensuing year. 



118. Both oystermen and the men engaged in cultching and inspecting 

 should be made to use wide plate-like wooden-soled sandals during work on the 

 beds, in order not to press the oysters and cultch into the mud. Such foot-gear 

 is considered indispensable in working muddy oyster-parks at Arcachon, the 

 greatest oyster centre in Europe. In size these wooden sandals should measure 

 10 X 10 inches. The upper surface is provided with a wooden ridge outlining 

 the foot which is held in place by a leather band over the instep, while from 

 corner to corner on the lower side run intersecting battens to prevent warping 

 and give greater strength (see figure 7 which shows a French oyster worker 

 wearing these wooden plates). 



119. Licenses and fees. An annual fee should be exacted from each 

 man licensed to collect oysters ; its amount will depend on whether, in. 

 addition, a fee per dozen or per hundred be levied on the actual numbers of oysters 

 removed from the beds. Both to provide the means for efficient supervision 

 and for culture operations and to give the administration proper control over 

 fishing operations, I strongly urge the advisability of exacting a fee upon all 

 oysters removed from the creeks. Without Government action the creek beds 

 will continue depleted, indeed they will certainly die out altogether ; to secure 

 any improvement efficient supervision imust be established and this cannot be 

 done without incurring expense. The oystermen will benefit primarily, and the 

 consumer will obtain the valued luxury he desires it is but fair that a contri- 

 bntion towards the expenditure involved in effecting amelioration should be 

 made. I consider as fairest that this should take the form of a rate per 100 

 on all oysters removed. So far as possible fishing in each creek should be limited 

 to one or at least two tides per annum; those oysters not required for immediate 

 use may be relaid by the collectors at some suitable locality in Karachi back- 

 water whence they may draw upon them as required. If simple cultural 

 operations be begun at Nawa Nar, the presence of a number of store oysters in 

 the vicinity might be found to exercise considerable beneficial effect in suppyling 

 additional spat. As an instance in point, I noted a considerable quantity of 

 brood oysters upon the shells and stones of Shams Pir beach where a cargo; 

 of Kutch oysters had beep relaid by a Karachi oyster merchant in the earlj 

 part of the year. 



120. For the privilege of collecting oysters in the creeks, a fee of one 

 anna a dozen would certainly not be too great in a time of oyster scarcity such: 

 as the present ; the class who consume oysters would, I am sure, be very willing 

 to pay this extra in order to obtain their requirements. 



121. Culture. The Indus creeks afford no field for oyster culture save 

 for the limited measure of cultching proposed in the preceding section ; no real 

 culture work is possible in the creeks owing to the softness of mud bottom 

 everywhere, for the extensive cultching necessary to prepare a proper surface or 

 bed for cultivated oysters would entail such heavy expenditure as would ba> 

 altogether prohibitive. 



B 696 8 



