The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1958-03-28
MORE ATTENTION
TO OYSTER. CROP
is BEING GIVEN
By WADE LUCAS

ing made to bring the North Caro-
lima oyster industry back to the
eminence it once had among the
oyster-producing states.
This help is in the form of some
277,00O bushels of seed oysters to
be planted in specially selected wa
tiers of Carteret, Pamlico, Hyde,
Dare, Onslow, Fender, New Han
over and Brunswick counties by the
Department of Conservation and
Developments commercial fisher
les division.
The transplanting of the oysters
is being supervised by DR.. A. F.
Chestnut, director, Institute of
Fisheries Research, University of
North Carolina, Morehead City, in
well-planned, scientific manner.
The planting of the seed oysters,
which are taken from natural
"lumps" found near the mouths of
rivers emptying into sounds, began
this week off this far eastern out
post in Carteret County. If favor
able weather prevails, the trans
paintings should be completed
within three weeks, DR.. Chestnut
thinks, provided sufficient seed
oysters can be found.
The paintings, an annual under
taking of the Department of Con-
servation and Development, are a
continuation of the State oyster
rehabilitation program authorized
by the 1947 General Assembly at
the request of Governor R. Gregg
Cherry after special study COM
mission had reported on why oys-
ter production was dropping in
areas open to public oystering.
Areas now being planted will be
kept closed for at least two years
unless Investigations reveal the
oysters have reached the legal
she'll length of three inches requir-
ed before they can be taken and
marketed from North Carolina wa
tiers.
The second phase of the oyster
rehabilitation program will come in
May when approximately 10000
bushels of shells are scheduled to
be planted in waters known to be
favorable for the growing of quail
ity oysters.
The oyster and shell planting
program has been greatly intensi-
fled during the administration of
Governor Hodgse.
The first seed oysters were
planted in 1949 when 1911 BUSH
els were placed in specially select
ed waters. The program was con-
tinued somewhat itermittently,
with the paintings totaling more
than $4,000 bushels in 1854. Last
year approximately 100000 BUSH
els of the bivalves were planted.
During the 1947-57 period more
than $4,000 bushels of shells
were planted in some 60 different
localities.
Oysters Need Shells
While seed oyster paintings
supplement the efforts of Mother
Nature in natural oyster produc-
ton, the planting of shells is
deemed highly necessary for aid
ing in the survival of infant oys-
ters, or spats as they are known,
DR.. Chestnut said.
When an oyster spawns, the
spats are carried passively in
strong currents until they find
something to which they attach
themselves. Unless it is shell or
some other substance, the spats
have little chance to survive in the
face of such natural enemies of
the oyster as the weather, oyster
borers, crabs, and other denizens
of the sea that prey upon them as
well as on the more mature oys-
tiers.
These spats are usually no
larger than pinhead by the time
they become attached to a shell or
other substrata, DIR. Crestnut says.
Once the young oyster becomes at
tached or set, it is no longer able
to move and is subject to move
ment only by outside forces. 1t
usually takes about two weeks for
larval oysters to reach the stage
where they must attach themselves
to a shell, rock, wood, or some
other substance or perish.
If the beds in which oysters
have to make their permanent
homes are soft, the oysters may
smother by sinking into the bot
tom. In other areas, the compost
ton of the bottom may be course
sand which is liable to shift with
changes in currents or by wave
action and thus cause oysters to
smother. Hence, beds are thor
oughly tested before seed oysters
are planted in them.
This is what happened to a great
extent during the hurricanes OF
1854 and 1855. In many areas oys-
ter mortality was greater than SO
percent. In some cases, DR.. Chest
nut found the mortality 100 per-
cent.