Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1910-02-18
0YSTERMEN YOTE
TO CHANGE LINES.
Many Converts Secured
for Straie htening Of
Baylor Survey.
DR.. MOORE AND COMMlSSIONERLEE
MAKE STRONG ARGUMENTS.
Richmond Iimo3- Dispatch.I
Some Oyster Facts.

representing the Norfolk oystermen, |
was dead opposed to the new survey.
Since have seen M. Lees map and
know what he proposes TO do, l think
the best thing to be done is to straighten
the lines. 1T. Conkliu.
1.-THE majority of the gentlemen in
the James river don't want any law;
they don't want to see any buoys. -
Mr. Lee.
''They say, Don't break the Baylor
Survey How can you break anything
that does not exist?"-Mr. Lee.
'Not one acre will be thrown out by
the new lines which the longer is today
privileged to work on. Mr.. Lee.
With seventy-fve or hundred of the
oystermen who came to this city from
! Tidewater yesterday already converted
to the proposition to straighten the lines
of the Baylor Survey, the Commission
of Fisheries felt last night, at the con-
clusion of the hearings before the legis-
lative committee, that the battle was
half won. This remarkable change of
sentiment developed in a meeting of
the oystermen, including planters,
packers and tongers, in the assembly
room of Murphy's Hotel. They gathered
there to make up their minds what to
do. Their doubt was not what they
believed, for they were to a man OPP
posed to any change in the police lines,
but only as to the best course to pursue.
After hearing the sta -ements of Fish
Commissioner w. Mcdonald Lee and of
DR.. H. F. Moore, of the United States
Fish Commission, they adopted the fol-
lowing resolution by a practically unani-
nous vote:
eve hereby, in mass meeting as
sembled, heartily indorse the proposed
Strengthening of the Baylor lines in the
James river, as proposed by the Com
mission of Fisheries
A committee, composed of w. c..
Ahearn, James I. Garrow and L. Conk-
lin, was appointed to present the reso-
luton to the legislative committees.
The afternoon hearing yesterday was
before the House Committee on the
Chesapeake and It's Tributaries, and
at night the Senate Committee on Fish
and Game held the floor. Before both
of these bodies appeared Commissioner
Lee and DR.. Moore The latter was
the expert under whose direction the
survey was made last summer in the
James river by the United States gov
eminent. Both were sharply questioned.
Two short speeches were made by OPP
ponents of the bill at the night session.
DR.. Moore began by saying that his
investigation had been entirety unbiased,
and that he had sought the truth, with
perfect Indifference as to what his party
would find. The survey was conducted
in such manner that no member of
the party knew what the result would
be, nor did any know until the report
was published, excepting himself.
| Most Ground Barren.
The survey included $4,000 acres, of
which from 20 to 70 per cent. was alb
solutely barren-no oysters and no
shells, and If there We're ever any oys-
tiers there they were covered up. OF
the remainder of the ground withis the
Baylor lines large part was depleted,
and there was no possibility of anybody
getting enough oysters there to make
a living.
The next class of rock he called very
scattered. In day of nine hours the
net haul was about $1.25 worth of oys-
tiers, from which must be deducted
many expenses. The next grade was
classified as scattered, and from it FIVE
bushels of market oysters, or eight
bushels of seeding oysters was secured,
making the days earnings $225 The
remaining class was called dense, and
the yield here was eight bushels of
marketable and twelve of seed oysters.
1t is impracticable, said DR.. Moore,
to separate the ground SO as to allow
policing and to divide the productive
from the barren bottom. In his opinion,
the Byrd bill does not throw enough
ground out of the public rocks, and was
merely compromise arranged so as to
include as much productive and exclude
as much barren rock as possible.
The Baylor Survey lines, he continued,
are very erratic, and it is absolutely i'm
possible to determine IN many cases if
the man in the boat is inside or outside
of the area. From the standpoint of
the expert he thought Mr.. Lee was a
little too SOLICITORS for the natural rock,
but perhaps for policing purposes he
was right. Replying to question. DIR.
Moore said that his party made sound
ings at 10, 440 places, and covered 226
miles.
Results of Change.
| The proposed new lines, resumed DIR.
Moore, would exclude A, 400 of the Is, 600
acres of the public beds in Warwick
county. Of this 5000 acres is mud and
of no value. The remaining 1900 is
natural rock of various grades. Only
16O acres is dense, 144 scattering, 217
very scattering. and about 700 depleted
beds. Only the first two named classes
will yield enough oysters to make any
sort of living for man. The number
of bushels of oysters on the area to be
excluded is estimated at 80, 500, while
the total number of bushels in the War
wick county beds is estimated at $50, 900,
of which 100000 is available to the
tonger, the remainder being scattered
and notworth the expense of taking up.
The longer, he concluded, would be
the gamer. At present, with the en-