Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-08-30
no! FOR THE OYSTER
longing Season Opens Friday
at Midnight.
BIG FLEET READY TO MOVE
Prospects of the Season Befogged by
Guesses.
PESSIMISTS ARE RAMPANT
But Anyhow the Beds Are Thinning
Out-No Immediate Benefit
From New Law.
RAMPANT

BALTIMORE. Md. August 30.-Uncer-
tainty befogs the opening of the Chesa-
peake bay oyster season of 19O6-19o7, when
will be officially proclaimed at midnight
Friday. The big oyster fleet has been gath
ering all this week over the specially favor
ed beds. and at the stroke of II tomor-
row night when the law releases the BIZ
valve as the prey of the longing navy, there
will be concerted attack upon the product
of the bays bottom by thousands of eager
workers Before noon Friday the advanced
guard of the fleet will be headed for Balti-
more in a desperate race for the honors and
the profits that fall to the lot OF the fortu-
nate first arrivals
The all-absorbing question today from
North Point to the capes is What will the
harvest be?'' 1t is the old. old question that
ever agitates the oystering industry at the
opening of each season. and. as In years
past, there pessimists who are per-
suaded that the outlook is decidedly dis
couraging. This year, however. they are
more numerous than ever and they fortify
their contentious with various arguments
and exhibits which on their face appear to
be more weghty than the generality of evil
prophecies in years gone by.
Beds Are Depleted.
The time-worn cry of depleted beds is ad-
mittedy more potent now than few years
ago, and the fact has dawned upon those
interested in the oyster business that the
Hannah law passed by the last legislature,
and whose object Is to protect the scantily
productive beds and perpetuate the bivalve,
will not be able to exert any influence in
this direction for several years, on account
OF the immense amount of work that must
be done by the commission intrusted with
the task of mapping off the oystering dis
tricts. locating and properly designating the
natural beds. and assigning territory to
the dredgers and tOngers who desire to
cure the best Claims
Until this work shall have been accom-
pfished the day of the "swatter'' must con-
tinue. and the field Is open to practically
all corners. most of whom are more desper-
atey concerned about immediate returns
than they are about the future of the in
dustry and the preservation for posterity Of
of the oyster tribe.
1t has been a matter of note in the last
decate to all. and a matter OF alarm to
those who have been interested at heart in
the oyster as a staple product for all time.
that there has been a constant diminution
IN the supply from the Chesapeake. With
the most populous section of Maryland at
It's head and the most populous section of
Virginia at its mouth and fianked on either
side by thickly inhabited country, the Ches-
apeake has been the operating ground for
tens of thousands of men, who have found
the oyster industry the most profitable field
to which they could turn their hand. With
but few restrictions provided by the laws of
the two states. the oyster beds have had
little protection. and 1t is not strange that
with constant drainage by the hosts of
money-seeking oystermen these beds should
have fallen into hard lines.
Oyster Fleet Dwindling.
One consequence of the falling off in the
annual oyster crop has been the slow
dwindling of the number OF men engaged in
the industry. On the eastern shore of Mary
land. the logical home of the Chesapeake
oystermen, hundreds have abandoned the
business and turned their attention to other
pursuits. Canning esta blishments in that
section which fiourished a few years ago
have been dedicated to new purposes. and
there other signs of the times which are
Indicative of the present comparatively
slow response of the oyster fields that not
long since appeared to defy the efforts of
mankind to secure and consume their prod
uctS.
Still there is no evidence that the bay
will not furnish a large crop of oysters of
good quality this season. The oyster
prophet has not proved infalible and the
best-informed men in the business generally
admit that only with the first returns from
the field of action can anything like a
correct representation be made. 1t is for
this reason that so much interest is taken
in the first receipts. Predictions based
upon the quality of these and the circum-
stances under which they were taken will
have more weight than all the estimates
and all the opinions that have been put out
One big handler OF oysters in Baltimore
has undertaken to get up an advanced
summary of the situation through a series
of 100 letters to the best-informed oyster
men in the state-the men who do the &C
tual work of hauling the bivalve from the
deep-whose experience in this work for
long years should make them qualified to
speak this subject. The letters pro-
pounded series of questions pertaining
to conditions in the various oyster sections.
This gentleman said today:
II have received answers from about
ninety of these gentlemen. and / must
confess am more in the dark than ever"
There Is a hopeless conflict in opinions
concerning every point of inquiry. For in
stance, one Oysterman sent a most crafty
ing report He asserted that the outlook
was fine both to quantity and the fat
ness and growth of stock on the bars The
nearest neighbor OF this man reported that
the situation could not be worse. He stated
that the oysters are not grown. are poor
and few in number This conflict of opin-
ion appears to exist in every section of the
bay. and 1t Is regarded as a toss-up now
whether the number of optimists exceeds
that OF the pessimists. or vice versa
The season that opens Friday midnight
Is for tongers only. Dredging for oysters
Is not permitted by law until a month later.
So far there are no reports from the dredg-
ing grounds. which in the deepest wa
tiers OF the bay, but the same uncertainty