Alternation between two sorts of marine farming

Abstract

The seaside villages of Matoya Bay, located at the middle of the Shima Peninsula (Mie Prefecture), were known by the name of Matoya Oyster, which was comparable with Miyagi Oyster or Hiroshima Oyster. Moreover, this peninsula is so famous for the cultured pearl, especially at Ago area, that this Matoya area, standing very close to the place, it is inevitable to be influenced by that. This paper has an aim to analyse the character of this area from the viewpoint of marine farmings, especially the relation between oyster culture and pearl culture. Matoya Bay is very unique in topographical features, very remarkable drowned-valley : the length is over 10 km from the entrance of this bay to the inner end, and the width is only about 100 m at the narrowest part of channel, or at most 1200 m at the mouth of the bay. This bay is divided as follows: [formula ommitted] On the total of this bay, it has about eight time's demension of the catchment of water, but at Izô-ura, the most inner part of this bay, the catchment area is over 35 times as wide as that of water surface. This fact is that, the bay is very much influenced by the rainfall, and it is not so good condition to pearl culture, but desirable to oyster culture, for these marine farmings depend on the salinity of water. From this point, it is thus considered that the part A is the most prosperous part of oyster fishing. Actually, it was so, till the oyster fishery did not develop to oyster culturing. But about 1930 (the early years of Shôwa), some epoch-making change came to this fishery. That is hang-down method of oyster culture. This method has been used on pearl culture about 50 years before, and, when it was applied to oyster, Izô-ura is too shallow to this mothod. Then, at this part, people gave up this fishing, and this part became only supplier of fishing labour of the other part, or the other labour. Parts B and C, two marine farmings are standing now. It is a little dangerous to pearl, for the salinity of water is not always good for it. Nevertheless, as the profit of pearl culture is larger than the other, so it is generalized at this parts of Motoya, at some risk, especially after the war. During the wartime, pearl culture was prohibited, while oyster culture was promoted, this parts of bay were filled by rafts of oyster, but now they are altered by rafts of pearl. Now Matoya area is no longer the place of oyster production, but it shows the aspect of Ago area, and pearl culture is much attractive to these villages. © 1957, The Human Geographical Society of Japan. All rights reserved.