FOOD FROM THE CRUSTACEANS AND MOLLUSCA. 385 



I should estimate them at an average of one thousand to 

 every two rods of shore." 



And yet notwithstanding the wonderful abundance of 

 this crustacean, there are signs that the yields are falling 

 off, in all prolsability in consequence of the immense 

 drain upon the supplies. The whole of the edible part 

 of the lobster is not utilised by the curers, who say that 

 the trouble of picking out the fiesh from the claws is 

 too great, and that lobsters are too cheap to make it 

 worth while to go to the expense of this slight additional 

 labour. These wasteful habits will, we fear, bring their 

 own inevitable consequences in their train, unless some 

 check be placed upon the destructiveness of those 

 engaged in the trade. 



Lobsters large or small, breeding or not, are, or were, 

 at one time treated alike, and the immense destruction 

 which the foregoing figui'es indicate, naturally had its 

 effect upon the supply. If the breeding stock and the 

 growing supply of any kind of produce be systematically 

 killed down, the result will be a gradually decreasing 

 and ultimately exhausted field, and this was the 

 threatened fate of the lobster treasure. Fortunately, 

 the Government of the Dominion of Canada interfered. 

 The Inspector of Fisheries at New Brunswick in a recent 

 report on the fisheries of that province, made the follow- 

 ing remarks : — " In view of this rapidly increasing busi- 

 ness done in preserved lobsters, and the large number of 

 those shell-fish which are now yearly caught in both 

 provinces, I respectfully recommend that the lesson to 

 be learnt from our oyster-beds be pondered in time, and 

 means taken to prevent a like result in the case of the 

 lobster. Heretofore this shell-fish has been plentiful on 

 some of our coasts. There are many other countries 

 probably where the business of preserving lobsters in 

 tins could be profitably carried on, and whenever this is 

 the case, I trust the above figures and facts will lead in 

 the first place to the foundation of such an industry, and 

 in the second place to the adoption of proper precautions 

 to prevent the exhaustion of the beds." 



c c 



