94 SEALE. 



TEANSPLANTING AND CULTIVATING THE VKAEL OYSTER. 



Pearl oysters niay with but little difficulty be transported for several 

 days, if they are kept in running salt water, or if the water is changi?d 

 frequently; thus the question of transplanting (hem from one bed to 

 another in a more convenient locality, or in water of-less depth, becomes 

 a comparatively simple one and will doubtless play an important part in 

 the pearl oyster industry of the future. 



As a matter of fact, the Ceylon government is, or was at a recent date, 

 engaged extensively in the transplanting of young oysters and the distri- 

 buting of "clutch," i. e., rock of small size which is scattered over the 

 bottom of the oyster beds, and to which the young oysters become attached. 

 The young pearl ousters are removed From beds wluch are ovcrirowdi'd 

 to others which are b'ss productive. 



It would be an easy matter for men engaged in prarling to keep 

 suspended over the side of their vessels bamboo crates or cars in whicli 

 they could place the young oystei's which are frequently biought up, and 

 so transport tlieiu to a favorable place for development, a^ is the ease 

 in the sponge fisheries." In this way they might, with but little effort, 

 accumulate a valuable pearl farm where a number of oysters could l)e 

 harvested eaeli year and the bed looked after just as in the case of the 

 edible oystei'. The yield of pearls and shell would doubtless pay a good 

 dividend. This process would especially be easy to carry out in the 

 Davao fisheries which are near shore and where local pcuple are engaged 

 in tlic fishing. Such farms should simulate the natural beds so far as 

 practicable, but improvements over natural conditions could be cft'ecteil 

 by supplying an abundance of small, broken rock as "clutch," upon 

 which the voung could attach; the kec]>ing of the lied-; free from un- 

 desirable tenant^, such as star fisli. holothurians. etc., could lie accom- 

 plished by dredging. 



T.AWS RELATING TO PEARL FISHING. 



I have abstract(.:d the laws,^ or at least such portions of them not 

 repealed by amendments, as are now in force in the Islands.^ They are 

 of undoubted benefit in protecting the young shells, and, for the greater 

 part, relate to the wa ters of the Moro Province. In other portions of the 

 Archipelago, various local acts and provincial legislation greatly handicap 

 the pearling industry. 



"This Journal. Sec. A (1909), 4, 62, 63. 



'These laws were enacted by the legislative council of the Moro Province. A 

 copy of them may be secured from the provincial treasurer of either Jolo or Zam- 

 boanga. 



•Sec. 23, Act No. 51, of the Philippine Commission should read: "The words 

 'pearl shell an. I shell of the pearl oyster as used in Act No. 43 of the Legislative 

 Council and in this Act shall be construed to mean the shell of the marine bivalve 

 mollusk Marga/ritifera maxima Jamson, commonly known .as the Philippine \zn\A 

 lip pearl oyster.' " 



