43° 



NA TURE 



[August 31. 1905 



THE TRANSPLANTATION OF SHELLFISH. 

 T7OR the past three years an interesting series of 

 ■*■ experiments has been carried out on the Lanca- 

 shire coast b)- the officials of the Lancashire and 

 Western Sea Fisheries Joint Committee with the 

 object of improving- the condition of the public shell 

 fisheries. It has for some time been felt that the 



introduction of restrictive legislation has not removed 

 all the difficulties incident to the successful protection 

 of cockle and mussel beds where the beds do not 

 form part of a several fishery, that is to say, are 

 under private ownership. Restrictive methods such 

 as the abolition of destructive implements of fishin.g 

 and the prevention of the removal of 

 cockles and mussels under a certain 

 size, no doubt do protect beds from 

 excessive depletion, but there are 

 various factors which require other 

 treatment for their solution. In some 

 districts, notably at Morecambe, beds 

 have become overcrowded, so that 

 thinning is an absolute necessity. In 

 one instance the present writer counted 

 116 small mussels adhering to an area 

 of one square inch. In other cases 

 there is the danger that the molluscs 

 may become smothered by sand, or 

 that the " spat " has struck too near 

 ;he high-water mark for the mussels 

 to develop to the size at which they 

 may legally be taken by the fishermen. 

 Three years ago the scientific sub- 

 committee of the Lancashire Sea 

 Fisheries District expended a small 

 sum of money in order to try the ex- 

 periment of thinning the Morecambe 

 mussel beds. The shellfish that were 

 removed were transplanted to other 

 suitable areas nearly or entirely bare 

 of shellfish. 



Samples of the mussels were taken before and at 

 frequent intervals after transplantation. It was found 

 that the experiment was successful, and in the follow- 

 ing year (1904) the work was extended to other dis- 

 tricts on the Lancashire coast, and attention was not 

 only directed to mussels, but cockles were transplanted 

 from overcrowded beds in the neighbourhood of South- 

 port. This year the experiment has been proceeded 

 NO. 1870, \0], 72] 



with still further. Cockles have been transplanted 

 successfully at Lytham and Southport, and mussels at 

 Morecambe, Flookburgh, and in the \\'yre and Lune 

 estuaries. The work is carried out under the super- 

 intendence of the committee's bailiffs, and the shell- 

 fish gatherers are paid per tide for the work involved 

 as well as for hire of boats. The mussels are 

 generally removed at the commence- 

 ment of the close season — which lasts 

 in this district from April to August 

 inclusive — so that the fish have a 

 chance of accommodating themselves 

 to their new environment without dis- 

 turbance. Care is also taken to re- 

 move shellfish under the legal size so 

 that their growth can be tested before 

 they become " sizeable " fish for the 

 market. The renewed growth which 

 takes place in old cockles and mussels 

 which had previous to removal not 

 grown for years is remarkable. 



The amount of shellfish transplanted 

 is in the aggregate considerable, as 

 may be seen from the following. In 

 four days at Morecambe alone 152 tons 

 1 1 cwt. of mussels were re-deposited 

 in localities favourable for their 

 vigorous growth. At Lytham under- 

 sized cockles were removed from places 

 where they were left dry too long by 

 the receding tide, as a consequence of 

 which their growth was checked, to 

 more suitable ground where their 

 growth was likely to be facilitated. 

 This work is rendered possible bv the Sea Fisheries 

 (Shell Fish) Regulation .Xct of 1894, which inter alia 

 provides that a local fisheries committee shall have 

 power to stock or re-stock any public fishery for 

 shellfish, and for that purpose to incur such expenses 

 as mav be sanctioned bv the Board of .Agriculture 



and Fisheries. The fishermen themselves, who may 



invariably be trusted to express their criticism of any 

 work undertaken by the committee in a frank and 

 outspoken manner, in this case express their appreci- 

 ation of the efforts of the committee to improve and 

 maintain the shellfish industry on the Lancashire 

 coast. The value of the cockle 'industry to the Lanca- 

 shire cocklers is approximately 20,000/. per annum. 



