Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1906-09-21
FISH AND OYSTER NOTES

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Fishermen's nets along the bay were
blown up by the storm Saturday and
Sunday.
oysters cannot live in the Baltic Sea,
the reason being that it is not salty
enough. They can live only in waite,
that contains at least thirty-seven parts
OF salt to every 1000 parts of water.
Now the cysterman is Gin it., This
is his innings in the game of the year.
We hope he will make "a three Dagger. -
The game of life is a serious thing
after all. The start from the home
plate is quite different from reaching
1t again in safety. -The Oysterman.
Inspector r. w. Doggett, of dis
trict l6 B, on Tuesday of this week
imposed fines on the following OYSTER
men: Oscar Ashburn, Charlie Ash
burn and Ellie Harcum, all white.
Also on JAS. Corbin, JAS. Ball, Charlie
Giascoe, James Waddy, Henry Jones,
James Burrell, and Steptoe Dammon,
colored.
To make oyster omelet put a large
half cup of oysters into frying-pap
with their liquor, add salt and pepper
and keep them in motion by shaking
over the fire until they are soft-cooked.
Take up with skinner and cut them
in pieces. Stir a heaping teaspoon of
siften -four and twice the measure of
butter together in very small sauce
pan over the fire until light browss, add
half cup of milk and the cooked oys-
ter liquor, if any, and when it has
boiled up put in the cut oysters. Add
the juice of quarter of lemon. Brown
oyster sauce, to be eaten with the ONE
let, should be prepared before the ONE
let is cooked, as the omelet should be
served hot.
A heavy northeast storm greeted the
opening of the oyster longing season.
In broad open waters little work could
be done. Only about a fifth of the
twenty-five hundred or more boats now
on the James river were at work. The
rest were in good harbors. The big
gest oyster fleet ever before seen there
is now on the James, coming from all
parts of the State except the Kappa
hammock and Potomac sections. An
inspection of the James river catch
shows that nature has not favored the
industry. The strike of young oysters
is small and the freshets have been
destructive to the life of both large
and small oysters. Such as are being
caught are fine. They are fat, clean
and of good size. This is due to the
projections of the rocks during the
past summer, and has offset in large
measure tickle natures stinting hand.
A preliminary statement, made by
George M. Bowers, United State Com
missioner of Fisheries, on the opera
tions of his bureau for past fiscal year,
says that the aggregate output of fry
from the commissions hatcheries dur
ing the year was only trifle less than
two billions. The actual figures were
1881, 1854 ,609, an increase of nearly 20O,-
600, 900 over the output of 1905. The
only unsatisfactory feature of this
work cited in the statement is the con-
dition of the shad fishery, about which
Commissioner Bowers sounds a note of
alarm. So long as the supply of shad
eggs for Matching purposes is ample, the
maintenance of the fishery is assured;
but under the conditions which have
been becoming more and more pro-.
nounced the run Of fish for spawning
purposes has been practically wiped
out in many of the most important
streams, and unless the states promptly
take some action by which fair
percentage of the shad may reach
their spawning grounds the future of
this fish is gloom.
The shark is known as the scavenger
Of the seas. He will swallow anything
that comes in his way, be it a man, a
horse, feathered fowl, bottles, tin cans,
rope or pieces of wood. The species
know as man-eaters rarely attack
swimmers unless driven toit by extreme
hunger. At recent dinner given at
Woods Hole, Mass, Professor Field,
of the United States Fish Commission.
served dogfish and squid, which was
pronounced by the guest as very palat-
able. All enjoyed the dinner. = The
menhaden fishing season has been very
poor and the continued light catches
since the opening of the season are be-
ginning to attract widespread attention,
inasmuch as the yield of fish scrap and
oil show substantial decreases under
that for the same time last season.
Dealers in scrap and manufacturers of
oil, particularly the former, are not in
clined to book additional orders ahead
for forward deliveries, and talk of a
rise in prices in oil in the near future
is being heard. Menhaden fish are
certainly queer critters and as they
come and go in large schools, it is inn
possible to forecast the outcome of
the catch during the balance of the
season. Fishing Gazette.