asked the Minister for Fisheries if he will state the number and location of oyster beds at present in existence around the Free State coast, the number and locality which are actually being worked, and the amount and value of oysters exported and used for home consumption respectively.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - SAORSTAT OYSTER BEDS.
The principal public oyster beds in Saorstát Eireann are situated in Cork Harbour, Tralee Bay, Galway Bay, Clew Bay, Ballinsodare Bay, Sligo Bay and Carlingford Lough, and all of them are at present being worked. In addition, there are a considerable number of private or licensed beds at various places on the coast; but their output, with the exception of one or two beds, is not very large. The quantity taken from beds within the Saorstát during the year ended 30th April, 1927, was 1,622,344 oysters, valued at £7,619. The figure of quantity exported is not available, but the value of the export is returned at £4,284, so that the value of the oysters retained for consumption within the country would be approximately £3,335.
In view of the scarcity of oysters in the British market, would the Minister consider the advisability of doing something to develop these oyster beds?
Is the Minister aware that, owing to increases in wages, and so on, it is no longer possible to cultivate oysters except on a very large scale?
I think it is not so much the increased wages as on account of the fact that it is no longer profitable in view of the exorbitant prices that have to be paid for seed oysters owing to the world-wide disease that there was in oysters a few years ago.
Would the Minister consider the advisability of making a grant towards these oyster beds?
I do not think a grant would ease the position, because the fact is that it is almost impossible to get the seed oysters for planting.