SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 451 



sibility of this ought to be reckoned with in suggesting 

 any proposals for transplanting mussels from seaward 

 of the pier to the channel at Penhelyg. As far as the 

 observations made up to the present time go, such a 

 proposal cannot be safely recommended, for the site 

 suggested is distinctly within the influence of the sewage 

 discharge. Transplanting, in my opinion, ought to be 

 accompanied by some measures of purification before one 

 can say that it is an operation free from danger to the 

 public health. 



The water analyses made on the occasion of this 

 inspection gave encouraging results. It is true that 

 sewage microbes were present in one cubic centimetre of 

 the water sampled, but they were just present, and the 

 degree of contamination was not a high one. The 

 samples were taken towards the end of the ebb stream, 

 when the tide had still about an hour to ebb. Probably, 

 samples taken at about the time of high water would be 

 more distinctly free from pollution. The rationale of 

 constructing mussel purification tanks here would be so 

 to make the tank that it would contain the maximum 

 quantity of mussels taken from the estuary during a 

 period of four days during the busiest time of the fishery. 

 The tank should also be so placed that it could be filled 

 with water taken from the estuary at high water of the 

 lowest neap tides, allowing for the reduction of level in 

 the height of these tides that may be due to abnormal 

 conditions of wind; that is to say, it should be 

 ascertained whether a prolonged spell of easterly winds 

 in the estuary causes the tide to rise less high than the 

 height shown on the tide tables, and this should bo 

 considered in determining a place for the tank. I do 

 not think that there is any suitable place to the west of 

 the pier where a tank could easily be built, and to the 



