Morning journal and courier., 1882-01-23
r9ournai ano Goutier.
MOn;laY MerGing. Jan. 23, 1882.
The Chesapeake Oyster Beds.
Danger of Depletion by Careless an

Danger of Depletion by Careless aud
 Constant Dredging.
 Yesterdays New York Sun has the follow
 ing, which will be read with interest not
 only by oyster growers, but by oyster cpl
 cures
 The natural oyster beds of the Chesapeake
 Bay are perhaps the largest and most prolific
 in the world. The tidal movements are so
 gentle that the spat is not scattered by cur
 rents and the bottom is suited to oyster
 growth. There are places in the bay where
 the oysters have accumulated one upon the other until they form great cones rising to the surface in fifty and sixty feet of water For many years the beds have been worked without restriction, and the supply
 was once deemed practically illimitab1e. The | sales in Maryland alone amount to 2 ,OOO ,OOO,- 900 oysters year. The take in the lower waters under Virginia jurisdiction is also very great, and since the natural beds of Delaware Bay, New Jersey and Long Island waters have been depleted, the Chesapeake Bay is the chief source of supply of seed oysters for the planted beds in the neighborhood of eastern cities.
 The State of Maryland maintains a little navy whose business is to enforce the laws regulating the oyster fisheries but these laws are not adapted for the preservation of the oyster beds. The waters contiguous to the city of Baltimore do not bear l oysters, but the city sends out into the bay a 1 large fleet of boats, which drag the oyster 1 beds with heavy iron scoops. The oystermen | who supply the local demand along the bay shore take the oysters by means of long tongs worked from small boats. County interests predo oninate in the Legislature and the en- ! deavor is made to reserve to every county the use of choice beds in waters contiguous to it. l The bay is mapped with imaginary boundary lines, the transgression of which it is the duty ! of the oyster police to prevent. As matter ! of fact, however, most of the take of the oyster dredgers is from grounds prohibited 1 to them. Every season several dredgers are \ killed or wounded, the jails along the bay ! shore are filled with captured offenders and sometimes there are conflicts between tong men and dredgers approaching the propor- l tions of battle, Meanwhile no effort has | been made to regulate the character of the ! dredging itself or the extent to which beds ! may be worked, further than that there is a I prohibition of oyster dredging during the 1 summer months, which, however, is not well ] enforced.
 1 Under these circumstances it is not sur- prising to hear that signs of depletion ap- | bearing. Lieutenant Francis Winslow, U. S. N, who has made special study of the sub- | ject, has written to the Baltimore Sun giving | some facts on the matter. This was when \ the Tangier and Pocomoke Sounds were so packed with oysters that the supply seemed l limitless. Now the beds are almost exhaust ! ed. The oyster bearing areas of the Chesa- peake are. so vast that the aggregate has not diminished, but the work has become harder
 and more uncertain of result Boats have to range widely for small takes where once the dredge had to be let down in order to come up full. The present condition of affairs ! plainly indicates the approaching exhaustion l of the beds.
 Lieutenant Winslow has collected data showing that i'll the past there have been rich ! oyster beds along the coast of New En gland
 which have become extinct. sOysters ancient ! ly abounded h many places in the waters of l Northern Europe, where few none are now to be found. The Chesapeake beds are yet, however, far from extinction, and judicious
 measures for their protection will perman- 1 ently maintain this famous source of supply.