Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1908-05-15
FISH and OYSTER NOTES.

Monthly meeting of the Commission
OF Fisheries will be held at their Hamp-
ton Office Tuesday. May 10.
The Commissioner of Fisheries. a,
lrvington, is offering the steam police
yacht Rappahannock for sale at low
figure.
Ii Is uncertain whether any of the
spawn from a given oyster bed will
settle within that area and SO keep ur
It's numbers. 1t is known from the
history of the experimental beds the
iarva may settle five miles from thei,
place of birth.
oysters will be plentiful next yea,
IS the belief of planters and growers in
virginia and Maryland All the larger
vessels from Baltimore are now en-
gagged in freighting plants and seed
oysters to planters in Virginia and Del
aware Bay. Fishing Gazette.
quantities of bunkers are to be seen
occasionally in the lower bay. Few are
being caught as yet, but they are in
the Chesapeake. Bellows & Souires Is
the only firm fishing. The Carriers Greek
meet VIII start out on the 18th. and the
Cockrell's Creek fleet about June LET
An African founder, four feet long
three feet wide and weighing 300 pounds
was caught off Virginia Beach last
week. The fish was not caught alive
or 1T would not have been taken. as
such monster would have torn to
pieces the strongest net. Fishermen
say that it is the first African founder
that has been caught on the Virginia
shores for fifty years.
The most disastrous season in tha
history of the bluefshing industry is
ABOUT to come to close. The catch in
April fell off rs per cent. because of
adverse winds and storms, which drove
the fish away from the Virginia and
North CAROLINA coast, and thousands of
dollars have been lost. The storm of
April 10th played havoc with the nets
OFT Hatteras, blowing hundreds of them
away, and one smack costing SI2 600
to build and equip was lost on Cane
Lookout shoals and brought $3.50 at a
wreck sale.
Speaking of the animal that looks
ilke sand flea. which is DESTROYING
thousands of bushels of oysters on the
seaside by stirring up the mud and
causing 1T and sea grass to '.mat IN.
gether," the Peninsula Enterprise
says, the government expert cannot
give us the information desired but
suggested that remedy might be
found in running dredges over the beds
Some OF our oystermen think that drum
and other fish, when they start in the bav.
may loosen up the mud and release the
oysters from the mud which is CAUSING
them to die.
With the fruits Of the winters Cork
tucked safely away in the family stock
ing, hundreds of Baltimore Bohemians
ana Poles have returned home after
nearly six months spent in the OYSTER
catching regions of Mississippi. The
season for taking oysters in the South
land ended about four weeks ago. and
since that time nearly every train from
the South brought its quota of oyster
catchers and shuckers. When il was
discovered years ago that oysters could
be grown profitably along the shores
OF the Gulf of Mexico, Baltimore was
levied on for the men and women who
were familiar with the oyster-packing
business. At first only few advent
arous spirits answered the call for
heip, but now it is estimated that
more than a thousand Bohemians and
Poles leave Baltimore every fall for
the Southern oyster depots and remain
there during the entire winter. return
ng to Baltimore in time for the annual
exodus to the strawberry fields of
Anne Arundel. The headquarters of
The oyster industry of the South is at
biloxi, Miss, and it is said that the
oysters taken from the adjacent waters
Did fair to rival the famous biyalyes
IF the Chesapeake.