of the Fishery Board for Scotland. 



37 



that the Scottish oyster fisheries may be restored to their former 

 prosperity. 



The Board are fortunate in having on their staff, in the person of 

 Mr. W. L. Calderwood, their Inspector of Salmon Fisheries, an expert 

 in ostraculture, and he was accordingly instructed to prepare a 

 scheme having for its object the resuscitation of the oyster fisheries. 

 Careful enquiry and consideration was given to the matter, and 

 the scheme as finally approved was submitted in the course of the 

 year under review to the Development Commissioners with a view to 

 obtaining a grant from their funds for the purpose of putting it into 

 operation. 



It is unnecessary to describe the scheme at length, but, very 

 briefly, it provides for the reservation of suitable areas as a central 

 reserve where the best methods of culture will be perfected and 

 demonstrated, and a stock of oysters accumulated ; and the ultimate 

 farming out of approved areas, which will be stocked from the central 

 reserve, and cultivated under regulations and conditions to be laid 

 down by the Board. 



The Development Commissioners were favourably impressed by 

 the scheme, and as a preliminary measure sanctioned a grant to 

 enable a survey of the West Coast lochs to be made with a view to 

 assessing their suitability for the various processes involved in oyster 

 rearing. This survey was carried out by Mr. Calderwood, who also 

 paid a visit to France in order to study the methods employed in the 

 important oyster fisheries of that country. In the result two sites 

 were selected, for breeding and relaying purposes respectively, and 

 negotiations opened with the proprietors for their acquisition, and 

 the Development Commissioners provided funds for relaying experi- 

 ments and for the purchase of a sailing vessel with auxiliary motor 

 power, such a vessel being essential for carrying on the dredging, 

 transplantation and other work involved in oyster culture. 



The Board were successful in securing the co-operation of the 

 proprietors of the site selected for relaying, but difficulties arose in 

 connection with that selected for breeding purposes, which threatened 

 to be insurmountable. At this stage, however, the Board's attention 

 was drawn to some remarkable results which had been obtained in 

 experimental oyster breeding under artificial conditions at the mussel 

 purification tanks situated at Conway. These results, there is every 

 reason to believe, demonstrate that the causes which had led to the 

 failure of previous attempts to breed oysters under control in closed 

 ponds have been eliminated, and Mr. Calderwood, who made an 

 exhaustive inquiry into the matter, strongly recommended the 

 adoption of the Conway system in preference to breeding in tidal 

 water. The negotiations for the acquisition of the site which had 

 been selected for breeding purposes in Scotland were accordingly 

 dropped, and as considerations of economy precluded the erection of 

 similar tanks in Scotland, it was finally arranged that the brood for 

 the purposes of the Board's scheme should be obtained from Conway. 

 Brood from this source will not, however, be available for a con- 

 siderable time, and the Development Commissioners have therefore 

 provided funds for the purchase of brood from abroad until a supply 

 from Conway is obtainable. 



Now that the initial difficulties have been surmounted, it is hoped 



