36 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
THE QUESTION OF INTRODUCING AND CULTIVATING THE JAPANESE OYSTER 
IN THE UNITED STATES. 
To wliat degree the Japanese oyster would flourish on our coast can be deter- 
mined, obviously, only by experiment; and if experiments are to be made, the 
following suggestions seem to me of some practical value : 
On the Pacific coast, on grounds which have been found especially favorable for 
the reproduction and growth of our Western species, O. calif ornica, consignments 
of Japanese oysters may be planted — in the north with oysters from the Hokkaido 
beds, preferably from the region of Mororan or from Akkeslii Bay, and in the south 
from the region of Hiroshima. In this way similar conditions of temperat ure will 
be obtained. To fulfill a second favorable condition an effort should be made to 
secure oysters from water of nearly the same specific gravity as in the chosen 
American localities. There would be, I fancy, little difficulty in the matter either 
of securing oysters from equivalent localities or of transporting them. Through the 
Imperial Bureau of Fisheries, under the able headship of Dr. Iv. Kishinouye, one 
could promise, ft priori , prompt and efficient aid in getting in touch with the Japanese 
oyster-culturists whose establishments are known to be favorably located. And 
with fast freight service from Yokohama the oysters could be transported with a 
minimum of loss, as similar exportation (e. (/., of American oysters to England) 
demonstrates. In a case of this kind, however, extra precautions would not be out 
of place. Large oysters should first be selected, and, preferably, treated with the 
raking process on ike-ba for a few weeks. By this means the shell margins will be 
thickened, and thus the oysters will lose a minimum amount of fluid during 
transportation. Care should also be taken to pack the oysters each with the more 
concave valve downward and to mark the cases so that during shipment they shall 
be kept in the right position. Other details — if not indeed the above— can safely 
be left to the skilful Japanese work people. 
A further suggestion is that the shipments be made during the months of Feb- 
ruary and March, to the end that the coldest season on our coast would be avoided, 
and thus the oysters would have the chance of becoming in good condition and 
somewhat acclimated by the following winter. Moreover, at this season of the year 
it has been found that the oysters have laid up the maximum supply of nutriment 
against the breeding time, a supply which could be used as reserve nutriment dur- 
ing transportation. 
No experiment, however, could be regarded as a fair one, I believe, which did 
not deal with an adequate number of the imported oysters. If but a few oysters — a 
score or two — are laid down in each experimental locality they may be lost through 
accidents which would not befall a larger number. For in oyster banks there is 
certainly strength in numbers, an oecological feature in oyster-culture which 
governmental regulations in France, Holland, and Germany keenly recognize. By 
this numerical factor it appears a true paradox that one thousand planted oysters 
have more than ten times the chances of survival than a hundred. As oysters are 
cheap, it seems to me better economy therefore to make the more convincing 
experiment. 
To what degree is it practicable to introduce the methods of Japanese oyster- 
culture into the United States? This, I take it, is a question which can be answered 
