CONDITION AND EXTENT OF THE NATURAL OYSTER BEDS AND 

 BARREN BOTTOMS OF MISSISSIPPI EAST OF BILOXI. 



By H. F. Moore, 

 Assistant in Charge of Scientific Inquiry, 



INTRODUCTION. 



Tliis investigation was made at the request of ITon. E. J. Noel, 

 Governor of ^lississippi, in connection with a similar survey in 

 Alabama which already had been provided for. Had not the latter 

 been in progress it is probable that work would have been conducted 

 near the western end of Mississippi Sound, where the natural beds 

 are more extensive and productive, but the economy in time effected 

 by the contiguity of the two areas to be surveyed was a controlling 

 factor in deciding the locus of the Mississippi investigations. 



There are extensive oyster interests within the area embraced by 

 the survey, but the beds upon which they depend are principally near 

 the western limits of the State. Formerly the largest quantity and 

 the best quality of the oysters used in the canning and shucking 

 houses of Mississippi came from Louisiana, but legislation in that 

 State has placed impediments on the export of oysters to be canned 

 or shucked in other States, with the result that the Mississippi industry 

 has been more or less seriously handicapped for lack of proper raw 

 material. A limited quantity of oysters is brought from Alabama for 

 packing, principally at Biloxi. 



The triangulation on which the survey was based was furnished for 

 the purpose by the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey, and is 

 therefore accurate. All of the points established, excepting buildings 

 and other structures of like character, are marked by substantial 

 concrete monuments. Should ^Mississippi establish a system of leas- 

 ing her barren bottoms for purposes of oyster culture these stations 

 will furnish an invaluable basis for the survey of the leaseholds. With 

 the reference points which they furnish it will be possible to measure 

 the areas accurately and to locate the corners in a manner which will 

 make impossible disputes between contiguous holders and between the 

 lessees and the State. In all States in which oyster culture has been 

 long established the importance of being able to refer the water surveys 

 to permanent and accurately determined points on shore is recognized 

 as necessary to prevent litigation, fraud, and loss to the State, and in 

 many cases the States have been impelled to establish such marks at 

 much expense to themselves. The survey of the actual oyster beds and 

 the barren bottoms was conducted by the Bureau of Fisheries in 

 February and March, 1911. The work consisted of the determination 



5 



