Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1893-12-14
THE WORLDS OYSTER BED
Maryland's Water Area is the
Greatest Producer.
0NE-SIXTH OF THE TOTAL VALUE
Result of a Study by Commits
Sioner Mcdonald.
Some Reasons Given for the Destruction
of Oysters in Certain Lncaiities--The
Leasing of Unproductivo Bottoms Adj
vised--How to Improve the Product.
Baltimore Sun. DECEMBER llth.

baltimore Sun, December 18th.
United States Fish Commissioner
Marshall Mcdonald has prepared an
exhaustive report of the oyster industry
in Maryland. This work is now in the
hands of printers and will be ready for
distribution about the first of 1894. The
data from which the conclusions are
drawn by the commissioner were OBJ
tanned by personal investigation of the
oyster supply in the waters of this State
and from reliable and well-informed
persons engaged in tho different branches
of the oyster trade.
1t Is said that the question of oyster
preservation and protection viii be
second in importance only to the new
assessment bill in receiving considera-
ton at Annapolis during the ensuing
session of the Legislature. In view of
this probability the work of the United
States fish commissioner will be espe-
cially valuable for the practical and
scientific information it contains.
Through the courtesy of Mr.. Mcdonald
some of the proof sheets of the forth
coming work were shown to repre-
sentative of the Sun last Saturday.
THE WORLDS OYSTER BED.
1t opens with the statement that the
water area of Maryland is the greatest
oyster producing region in the world,
and that the oyster output of the State
is equal in value to one-sixth of the
product of all the fisheries in the United
States combined. The oyster beds of
this State, 1t says, give employment to
one. fifth of all the persons engaged in
fisheries in the United States.
The work then details where the chief
oyster beds can be found in the Chesa-
peake bay and its tributories. II gives
q history of oysters and oyster culture,
and says that but few oyster rocks IRE
now found above POOLS Island, because
the freshets from the Susquehanna and
other large bodies of fresh water which
empty into the bay, occurring at inter
walls, have had the tendency to destroy
the oyster spat and so coat the bottom
of the bay with accumuIations of soft
mud as to smother the natural growth
which might at one time have existed
in the upper area of the bay. Excess
sive dredging is also given as a cause
for the diminution or absence of oyster
supply in many sections.
PRODUCTIVE AREAS.
The whole area of productive oyster
beds that are now located in the Chesa-
peake and its tributaries is put down at
355 square miles. OF this space eli
square miles are in the estuaries of the
bay making up into the several tide
water counties. These beds are under
the local control of the authorities of
the counties in which they are located.
There are IA square miles of natural
beds which are used In common by the
citizens of the whole State, subject only
to such restrictions as the State Legisla-
ture has from time to time placed upon
them. OF this area 1902 square miles
are in the Chesapeake bay and AZ square
miles in the Potomac river.
The area of the natural beds in the
several tidewater counties is as follows !:
Somerset 50 square miles, Wicomico 4,
Dorchester 4S, Talbot So, Queen Anne
10, Kent 10, Anne Arundel IA, Calvert
O, st. Mary's II, Charles 2, Worcester 3.
The report says that there may be some
oyster reefs existing which are not yet
known. Oystermen do not attempt to
discover new beds, being content to
work on those already located, and dis
coveries of new rocks are generally
made by chance.
NoN.pponrrcr,vp porro,,o
MI, ....aa =, a.. -
what is termed the unproductiVe bottoms
of the bay-that is, places where oysters
are known not to exist. II is claimed
that considerable portion of this area
can be made productive and valuable by
intelligent and systematic culture. The
fish commissioner puts the whole pro-
SpS. .oo slea az S'oVv SQUARE mlies. AT
leas' NV squale lniles OF thls place, ne
says' cannot pIoDauly pe maze 10 pro-
uuGe, as we SAMMY Oh the water Is not
sulncien M Lor tne CROWN OF these mol
lusks. me area Whlcn ne claims IS
S Sp..;i;a VI iouueiIs anu Wnlch should
W e usill1eu Is pun uQwn az from 4oo TO
sitv for sws,an,at;c oi,i,i,,a,1a sAo 1870
creased protection To the natural rocl.s
which are now producinp the comn,is.
sioner nuhlisbes some fahIeo Of co,,-
parison for the mast % years
showing the decrease in cntch and
the wav in which the nrntit
of this Industry is rraduaIiv slipninr
| away from the State, In 1SeO-81 the
| catch Of oysters AVERAGED 1 000 hnsbels
worth S85(J--for Gerry man engaged
In the OCCUPATION. There is a pradnai
decline from that year to 1syo-o3 when
the catch was onIv 47S busbels2worth
S25O--to each man This falIinq off in
twenty.three years is commonted unon
as being sur1rlsIng. for between those
wears the methods and nppliances for
taking oysters had greaiiv imnrnyed
and under ordinary circumstances the
catch should have Increased rather than
diminished. The work also shows the
deterioration in the size of oyster sent