OYSTER BOTTOMS TN MATAGORDA BAY. 43 



equal to that which had set in each of the two years preceding, the 

 catch during the season 1904-5, estimated at 125,000 barrels, must be 

 approximately the maximum allowable for all the beds between Dog 

 Island and Half Moon light. Any greater demands upon the beds 

 would speedily exhaust them, and in the face of unfavorable condi- 

 tions even this draft can not be maintained upon any of the beds in 

 question. 



The best parts of Half Moon Reef, which supplied an important 

 part of the yield for 1904—5, are already practically exhausted, and 

 even with a heavy set of spat during the summer of 1905, which is by 

 no means certain, can not hold their own again for several years to 

 come. The other beds are in their turn likely to meet with the same 

 conditions. As has been stated before in this report, the beds above 

 Dog Island Reef were relatively of little economic value at the time 

 of the survey, owing to the freshness of the water. They yielded 

 practically, if not absolutely, nothing during the season, but are esti- 

 mated to have contained at that time about 181,000 barrels of oysters 

 over 3 inches long. The small oysters were numerically to those over 

 o inches long in the proportion of 175 to 100, the great preponder- 

 ance of them being on Dressing Point shoal, Middle Lump, Raymond 

 Landing Shoals, Boiler Bayou Reef, and Spring Bayou Reef. From 

 the fact that they were mainly on old dense beds it is not improbable 

 that many of them were old oysters stunted by reason of their 

 crowded condition, though it is true that the set of spat on some of 

 the beds has been heavy in recent years, and the character and condi- 

 tion of the oysters, as well as the productiveness of the beds, would 

 undoubtedly be improved if the beds were worked. 



On account of their poor quality and freshness most of these oysters 

 were during the survey unfit for the raw trade, but many of them 

 would be utilized by canneries. Owing to the mixed character of the 

 clusters and the difficulty in culling off the small oysters, a very large 

 proportion of the latter would necessarily be destroyed if the beds 

 were worked, especially if the stock were steamed. The oysters of 

 Raymond Landing Shoals in their present condition could not be 

 used except for canning, and as this bed contains numerically about 

 half of all the young oysters above Dog Island Reef, the destruction 

 for several years at least would necessarily be enormous. Taking 

 everything into consideration, it is doubtful whether the beds in the 

 upper bay could produce more than 75,000 barrels of oysters per 

 annum for a term of years, even were the density conditions to be so 

 modified as to become much more favorable than at present. A sin- 

 gle large cannery could consume the entire output. 



A consideration of the above facts shows that under fair condi- 

 tions as understood on the gulf coast, and with the wisest possible 



