REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 17 



BIOLOGICAL INQUIRIES. 



During the year the Commission has carried on a number of inves- 

 tigations and experiments with the object of giving practical assistance 

 to the oyster industry. The results of the experiments in fattening 

 oysters by increasing, in inclosed waters, the production of their natu- 

 ral food have given considerable encouragement. Oysters planted in 

 the experimental claires at Lynnhaven, Va., reached a degree of fat- 

 ness unrivaled save in a single limited area of the open waters of that 

 famous oyster field, but they arrived at this condition too late in the 

 season to make the result of immediate practical value. During the 

 coming season certain changes will be made in the plant whereby a 

 better circulation and aeration of the water will be attained. It is 

 expected that this will result not only in an improvement in the gen- 

 eral vitality of the oysters and an increase in the reproductive activity 

 of the minute xjlants upon which they feed, but that the currents 

 created will also place the food more abundantly within the reach of 

 the oysters. The changes in the claire will be completed in time to 

 allow a practical test during the ensuing season. 



An investigation was carried on during the winter, with the assist- 

 ance of the steamer Fish Hawk, to determine the reason for the failure 

 of oyster-culture in North Carolina, and is referred to on pp. 119-120. 



In August, 1899, Mr. H. F. Moore visited Willapa Bay, Washington, 

 for the purpose of inquiring into the condition of the oj^stei's planted 

 there in 1894. It was found that they had been almost exterminated. 

 At the end of the first year, according to the testimony of the oyster- 

 men, a large proportion of those planted had survived and were on 

 the beds. This would indicate that the}- had not been injured by 

 transportation across the continent. Subsequently, however, they 

 gradually decreased in number, until at the time of Mr. Moore's visit 

 but five oysters were found after a careful search under the guidance 

 of persons familiar with the beds. So far as could be determined this 

 diminution did not result from natural causes, and there is reason to 

 suspect that some of the 03'^stermen in the region have been so indif- 

 ferent to their own interests and their obligations to the Fish Com- 

 mission as to view the raiding of the planted beds with a lenient ej^e. 

 Several private beds in the vicinity are reported to be doing well, but 

 in these cases it is to somebody's immediate interest to protect the 

 planted oysters from poachers. 



Owing to the very few oysters taken it was impossible to make 

 experiments in artificial fertilization of the eggs, although two of the 

 females appeared to be ripe. No evidence of natural spawning of 

 the eastern oyster was obtained, and it appeared that the water was 

 too cold to be favorable for their reproductive activity. Culture in 

 shallow inclosed or semi-inclosed ponds appears to be indicated as the 

 most hopeful line of experiment with eastern oysters in this region. 



F. C, 1900—2 



