200 Edible Mollusca of the Oregon Coast 
being smothered. Conditions for growth, however, seem to favor 
the oysters in this river as they reach a good size and a greater 
or less amount of spat is caught each season. Practically all of 
the oysters from the Yaquina beds are shipped in the shell to 
Portland’s markets. 
A closed season from May 15th to September 15th covers, 
in a general way, the spawning period of the oyster in this local- 
ity. Some fishermen, however, believe that spawning begins as 
arly as May Ist and favor an earlier closed season. 
Many years ago an attempt was made to establish the eastern 
oyster in the Yaquina River. Plantings were made and careful 
observations kept by the state biologist but the results were not 
encouraging and the project was later abandoned without assur- 
ance of the oysters propagating in these waters. 
A small acreage of western oysters has existed for a number 
of years near the head of Netarts Bay in Tillamook County. 
This bay is a very shallow arm of the sea with practically no 
fresh water entering it. Conditions here are apparently not favor- 
able to the oysters. The high salinity of the waters of the bay 
and lack of organic material which fresh water streams naturally 
carry into the ocean, together with lack of proper care of the 
beds, may account for the fact that the oysters in this locality 
are retarded in their development and very small in size. The 
annual output from the Netarts Bay beds is negligible. One may 
occasionally find small amounts on the nearby markets of Tilla- 
mook City but the source is incapable of supplying even local 
demands. 
About four years ago plantings of the western oyster were 
made on a small scale by private parties in Coos Bay. The out- 
look of this experiment is encouraging. <A _ satisfactory amount 
of spat has been caught each season since the plantings were first 
made. The beds are being expanded and, with proper care and 
attention, there is reason to expect that this project may develop 
into a profitable oyster industry. 
That Coos Bay once supported the western oyster in abund- 
ance 1s evidenced by the great quantities of shells thrown out by 
the steam dredge in the process of deepening the channel. The 
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