280 BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 



taken at that time there results not only the destruction of the adult but also of the 

 progeny which that adult is capable of producing, and it never occurs to the advocates 

 of this form of legislation that the same objection applies to the capture of an oyster at 

 any other time. If the oyster were more easily captured during the spawning season, 

 as are certain species of fishes, or if it were a timid creature fleeing from alarm and 

 easily driven away, or if it cared for its young after the manner of the higher animals, 

 there would be perhaps some warrant for the present belief in the all-sufficiency of the 

 close season as a protective measure. But the oyster does none of these things; it 

 stays where it first lodges and there passively awaits such fate as may be in store for 

 it, doing nothing of its own volition, either to defer or expedite its capture. 



Bearing these facts in mind, let us examine the effect of the close season upon two 

 hypothetical beds, one of which is closed during the period when the oyster is 

 spawning, the other when it is not. We will suppose, for the sake of definiteness, that 

 each of these beds contains 10,000 bushels of oysters; that spawning takes place only 

 during the six months between the 1st of April and the 1st of October; that the 

 oystermen have the skill, industry, and purpose to remove every oyster during a 

 working period of six months, and finally that the dead shells are culled out and 

 returned to the beds. Let us first consider the case of the bed which is closed in the 

 usual manner during the spawning season. The oystermen will begin on the 1st of 

 October and labor unceasingly until the 1st of April, when, ex hypothesi, there will not 

 be a single oyster left to spawn and the reproductive capacity of the beds will be zero. 

 Compare with this the bed which is closed during the six months when the oyster is 

 not spawning. At the beginning of reproductive activity the bed is intact; it contains 

 10,000 bushels of oysters, each, we will say, capable of producing its kind. At the 

 end of the six months, as in the former case, not an adult oyster is left, but the 

 condition of the two beds is not otherwise comparable. In the first place not an 

 oyster has spawned; in the second case, supposing the daily catch to be approximately 

 constant, one half of the spawn has been given opportunity for discharge and a 

 considerable portion of the spat should have attached itself to the culled shells and 

 other material returned to the bed. In the one case, if the bed be isolated, absolute 

 extermination has been accomplished; in the other case the bed still contains the 

 elements of recuperation. In practice, of course, the extreme conditions mentioned 

 never obtain, but the principle is the same whether the oysters be taken in whole or 

 in part. 



In practice also, where some oysters always remain on the beds, even after the 

 most thorough working economically possible, the close season has a utility not yet 

 touched upon. In its early attached stages the oyster is not the hardy, heavily 

 armored animal that we see in the market. Its shell is thin and fragile as an eggshell, 

 and closely adherent to the foreign body which furnishes its place of attachment. 

 Tongs, and especially dredges, however carefully handled, must crush them by multi- 

 tudes, and the impact of the oysters against one another as they are thrown into the 

 boat -costs the lives of many more. A large proportion of the young spat is often 

 attached to marketable oysters, and however well-intentioned the oysterman may be 

 in his efforts to comply with the culling law, it is quite impossible to detach the spat 

 without killing it. When the close season ends immediately upon the cessation of 

 spawning a very large proportion of even the earliest set is subject to the perils 

 pointed out. If the young oysters could be protected until such times as the shells 



