194 
Part III, — Tenth Annual Report 
IV.— THE CLYDE MUSSEL BEDS. (PI. V.) 
By J. H. Fullarton, M.A., D.Sc, F.R.S.E. 
In previous Annual Reports of the Board, the two systems of mussel 
culture were described at length, the bed system* by Mr Scott and the 
writer, as undertaken at Montrose Basin, and the bouchot systemf by me, 
as practised in France, and illustrated by the Board's experimental bou- 
chot erected in the estuary of the Eden. At these two localities, Mon- 
trose and St Andrews, are the only beds where mussel culture in Scotland 
is assiduously engaged in, and at the former bed cultivation is successfully 
carried on in the face of great natural obstacles. Although the need of an 
increased supply of mussels for bait to the line fishermen is as keenly felt 
as ever, yet the cultivation, after approved methods, has not extended to 
places in Scotland beyond those mentioned. Notwithstanding, there is 
an abundance of ground where, by cultivation, the yield of mussels could 
be enormously increased, and the wants of the fishermen fully satisfied. 
Doubtless, the desire for and expectation of legislation on the mussel 
question may delay intending mussel cultivators from engaging in mussel 
culture. It is not creditable to us Scotsmen that line fishermen of the 
East Qoast, and of the shores of the Moray Firth, should have to depend 
for a supply of bait on mussels imported from the Zuider Zee, in Holland, 
while there is so much uncultivated ground in our own country, where 
mussels could be reared and fattened. Such uncultivated and suitable 
ground is to be found in the three great estuaries of the Clyde, Forth, and 
Tay, and at the head of many of the Western and Northern lochs. The 
mussel beds of the Clyde have been selected as embracing one of our most 
extensive mussel areas, and I have been engaged in its examination, with 
a view of ascertaining their present condition, and their capabilities for 
yielding an increased supply of mussel bait for our line fishermen. 
- Present Condition. 
The estuary of the river Clyde, with its extensive mud banks and flats, 
is capable of producing vast quantities of mussels. The mussel area may 
be said to begin at Port-Glasgow and Cardross, and to stretch seawards to 
a line from Princes Pier on the south to Ardmore Head on the north. A 
great portion of this area is mussel producing ; in fact, all of it, except the 
sand of the banks, and the shifting and silting mud of the navigable 
channel furnishes mussels. 
The quantity of mussels obtained has varied much in different years. 
Within the last ten years as many as (in 1886) 3,850 tons, and 3,782 tons 
(in 1887), were lifted. The.se large quantities were not lifted from the 
uncultivated beds of the Clyde with impunity, for the beds were greatly 
impoverished, and, as a result, only 221 tons could be obtained in 1889. 
Had the beds been cultivated the deterioration would not have amounted 
to so much, and the beds would have been capable of yielding a much 
larger proportion than one-seventeenth of the yield of two years previously. 
The diminished yield forced the mussel rakers of Port-Glasgow to go 
further afield, and such places as Loch Foyle, Belfast Loch, and Loch 
* Mussel Farming at Montrose, Seventh Annual Report. 
t On Bouchot Mussel Culture and the Board's Experiment at St Andrews, Ninth 
Annual Report. 
