NOTES ON THE FISHING INDUSTRY OF EASTERN FLORIDA. 



BY JOHN Y. DETWILER. 



EXPERIMENTAL OYSTER-CULTURE. 



It is a well-known principle that flourishing animal life depends on special factors, 

 the most important of which are the facility for obtaining food, the proper temperature 

 of the medium in which the animal lives, and the indefinite continuance of the favorable 

 conditions. Nature in her attempts to bring about the necessary conditions is pre- 

 eminently successful, and only when man interferes or other disturbing elements 

 exist do her efforts prove abortive. 



The peninsula of Florida, with its coastwise resources, from the evidences 

 remaining to us at this time, has in the past been teeming with food products that 

 sustain human as well as animal existence. Modern investigation has proved that it is 

 no less prolific under the existing conditions. Modern civilization, through the medium 

 of scientific researches, aided by improved means of communication and transportation, 

 has demonstrated that, by a judicious and thorough examination into the causes that 

 bring about a certain result, nature's food supply can be greatly increased as well as 

 preserved for the use of the present and future generations. Recognizing this fact, 

 his excellency, Governor Bloxham, of the State of Florida, issued a call recommending 

 that the sections of the State interested in this important subject be represented at a 

 national congress of the fishing industries, to convene in Tampa on the 19th of 

 January of the present year, to promote and advance this important industry. 



As a delegate to this body, engaged in so laudable an undertaking, I feel highly 

 honored in representing the locality embracing the Halifax and North Indian rivers 

 of the east coast of Yolusia County, Fla., a section of country once occupied by a race 

 of people who subsisted mainly on the food products of the water, as is clearly dem- 

 onstrated by the existence of shell-mounds located at many points on the peninsula and 

 on the mainland, showing the great importance of the salt- water lagoons, bays, and 

 estuaries, as well as the ocean, to keep up their existence. 



It is useful to refer to the past merely as an indication of what has been accom- 

 plished by those who preceded us ; our purpose is with the present, and how we can 

 best advance the interests of mankind, increase our sea products, aifd preserve our 

 present advantages. With this introduction permit me to advance a few thoughts on 

 this subject in relation to the propagation and culture of the oyster, an industry of vast 

 importance to all sections of the United States, for but few places exist in the civilized 

 world where oysters, in some form, can not be procured. 



Oyster-culture on the southern seaboard, compared with the sections embraced in 

 New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia, has not been as productive as could 

 be desired by those interested in that pursuit, and for this reason, among others, we 

 are assembled. That the proper conditions exist in localities no one doubts, but the 

 successful propagation of the oyster under all circumstances, either natural or 

 artificial, is to be considered and discussed, and some definite conclusion arrived at, 



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