The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-08-12
NOW THE
OYSTER
Bivalves Possible
at Pearl
Harbor.
ASSOCIATION
FOR CULTIVATION
Henry Waterhouse and Secretary
Cooper lnterested-AlIan
Herbert on the Subject.
HE proposed plan of oyster plant
ing at Pearl Harbor is receiving

II
Ing at Pearl Harbor is receiving
= great deal of attention from
those who have homes at the penin-
sula. Mr.. Henry Waterhouse and Act
ing Governor Cooper being especially
interested.
When the subject was brought up
several months ago resolution was
drawn up and circulated about the
city, being in the following terms:
We, the undersigned, being DESTROYS
OF preventing the wanton destruction
of the food fisheries living in the waters
of the food fishes living in the waters
ing that much can be done to increase
the number of fishes fit for food both
by the intelligent propagation of the
species now living in these waters and
by judfcious importation of other
species from the waters of the Main
land, do hereby agree to form ourselves
into an association under such consti-
tuition and bylaws as may hereafter be
adopted by the subscribers hereto"
over eighty of the leading business
men of the Territory signed the paper,
the list being headed by Acting Gov
ernor Cooper, and the subscribers later
formed themselves into a society for
the purposes named. While no definite
action has heretofore been taken in the
matter, the interest has not decreased,
the subscribers.
A. ,,crI,t no
advice of Mr.. Allan Herbert, the ex-
pert authority on fisheries, who was
for a great many years honorarily con-
nected with the local agricultural de-
partment Mr.. Herbert has just re-
turned from the Coast, where he has
been making observations of the San
Francisco and other oyster grounds.
and is very anxious to see the matter
| of oyster-p planting taken up. With this
| in view he has complied with Mr..
Cooper's request for information, and
| below Is given part of his report to
| the society mentioned above:
"In regard to oyster culture in these
Islands. should say that there are few
places more favorable to it. The con-
ditions at Pearl Harbor are particular
| Nv suited to oyster growth, and the
millions of old shells there show that
at one time it was prosperous natur-
| al bed for oysters The theory that the
oysters were destroyed by some con-
yulsion of nature is mistake, it being
more probable that overcrowding KILL
| ed the oysters, the surviving oysters
being left above the water by recedins
tides, as they cling to the tops OF
other shells, and thus the species was
exterminated.
To-day the oyster interest is one OF
| the most important industries in Eu-
rope as well as in America; 1t gives
| employment to thousands OF persons
and millions of dollars of capital are
| invested in it. There is a constantly
growing demand for oysters by the
| application of modern methods the
oyster grounds are made to produce an
almost unlimited quantity
I'm nv early days when a boy of ten
years. sixty years ago, the creeks and
;n1ets along the sea coast of New York
state abounded with fine quality OF
oysters. NV good wife often tells of
how at her birthplace on Staten ISL
and when she was a little girl, She
| with other children, used to wade out
at low tide and pick up oysters ana
omen them with two stones. for their
luncheon until the fishermen drove
|
| them away. and how the people USED
IN store them in their cellars Tor
Christmas. The rapid increase in tine
popula ton of Staten Island was chiel-
jlv due to the encouragement ana
growth of the oyster-plant1ng lndustrs'
| cat Princes Bay on the fsland, SO
| hong ago as 1853, there were 5000 OF the
inhabitants of that island depending
upop this business for support
! sa'The exportation of seed oysters from
/ C,besaneake Bay for planting In Con-
necticut was carried on for NUMBER
| of Years. In 1879 $50 900 bushels OF SEED
| oysters were taken from Chesapeake
hav TO be planted in Connecticut, ana
| three wears OF good management
| brought about such a change ina. IN
| the spring of 1883 one firm snlppeo 10
| San Francisco 15,000.eOo OF young
| ters which had been reared on the
| Connecticut oyster farms. anu
| ,,se,d for. nIanting on the Pacific Coast.
! IT hammered to be in San Francisco
| in 1888 when this shipment arrived
| ord brought a few hundred here. we
| PLANTED them at Kalihi, but heaVy
| fraSbet from the stream covered theni
up. ,ro,ifc
n single one giving birth in one sea
| cor Tn MANY millions of young. onoer
! a stata of nature millions OF oysters
arc horn for each one which grows 10
maturity. The young oysters are
| swimming animals, and they are uis
! charged into the water IN couItless
nnr,bers In be swept away great dis
| tances by the currents. AT this s,
| they are too small to be seen Wlthou.
1,5tS