The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-10-09
OYSTER CAN
GROW HERE
Protection Needed
ainst Its
Enemies.
W. N. ARMSTRONG'S
VIEWSON SUBJECT
If French System of Propagation
We're Adopted the BivaIve In.
dustry Would Thrive.

n YSTERS, if properly protected
from their enemies, the starfish
- and crab, can be grown in Ha-
waiian waters as successfully as in any
other waters on both the Atlantic and
Pacific coasts. The recent investfga-
tons of the experiments in oyster Gull
tivation in Pearl Harbor showed that
the oysters had not lived and the ex-
pertinent to all intents was pronounced
a failure. w. N. Armstrong, who has had
wide experience in the propagation of
oysters along the Atlantic coast, fails
to see that the result of this expert
ment proves that the cultivation of the
bivalves cannot be carried on success
fully if the same precautions as are
employed by the French cultivators are
established here. Time and patience
are two attributes in the raising of
oysters which are essentials which must
be taken into consideration.
The conditions for raising oysters
in Pearl Harbor," said Mr. Armstrong
yesterday, ARE wholly favorable The
existence of shell mounds at various
places in the harbor indicates that the
oyster fourished here at some previous
time. They We're of an excellent shape
although the shells appear to be thicker
than the ordinary ones owing probably
to the existence of so much lime in the
water. That part of the Island of Ca
hu was thrown up by some eruption, a
distance of some thirty feet, and prob
ably all the oysters We're then destroy
ed, and there has been no growth since
then that has amounted to anything.
The oyster flourishes in the tropics as
well as in the temperate zones An ex-
cellent quality is found in Tahiti. The
late British Commissioner Halves stat
ed that he had found quite an album
dance of fine oysters on the coast of
Tahiti. In the Gulf of California very
large and luscious oysters are found.
On both sides of Cuba there are ex-
cellent oysters. They flourish in warm
waters. In the Gulf of Mexico all along
down the coast of Texas to the Mexican
line they. are found in quantities. 1t is
conceded, however, that the oyster of
the tropics is not quite as fine as that
obtained in the colder regions.
The water of Pearl Harbor contains
just the proper mixture of salt and
fresh water to produce a good oyster.
1t is of the same quality as the water
of the Chesapeake Bay in which the
largest quantities of oysters in the
United States are produced. Prof
Agassiz, when he was here two or three
years ago, looked into the matter and
agreed that there was no reason why
the oysters should not flourish here as
well as elsewhere and strongly advis-
ed that experiments be made.
But the oyster in every country has
to fight its enemies. In Long Island
Sound where the finest quality are
found for the eastern American mar
ket, the starfish is so destructive that
1T at times imperils the industry
Cases are known where a body of star
fish have settled on body of oysters
and have destroyed in twenty-four
hours as many as 10000 bushels. In the
Bay of San Francisco the same diff
ficulties are met with, and probably the
most expensive oyster grounds in the
United States are in San Francisco Bay
because they have to be protected by
upright planks driven into the mud like
a stockade so that the starfish can
not penetrate 1t. In the event of the
loss of a single plank starfish would
certainly get in and destroy large guam
titles. These enemies have largely in
terfered with the growth of the oyster
industry in the waters around Califor-
MIA.
Small experiments have been made
in oyster growing in Pearl Harbor but
they have not been conducted intel
ligently or with skill. and it is not sur
prising there has been no success in