Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1949-11-14
CLARK Proposes
Maryland Take
lover Potomac
Free State Owns Bed
Of River, Could Farm
Oysters, He Says
By the Associated Press

BY the Associated Press
BALTIMORE, Nov. IA for
mer chairman of the Tidewater
Fisheries Commission. suggested
today that Maryland could ignore
Virginia, take over most OF the
Potomac River and farm it for
oysters.
John E. Clark, Bel Air attorney
and commission chairman during
a stormy interlude last year, said
he thought Maryland has right
to do so because it owns the river
bed.
An ancient compact gives Vir-
ginia equal fishing rights in the
boundary river, Mr.. Clark said,
but the privilege may be limited
to migratory fish and the natural
growth of oysters"
That would leave few bivalves
to Old Dominion watermen, Mr..
Clark indicated in a lengthy
fishery study he presented to the,
Board Of Natural Resources.
/ Natural oyster production has
all but ceased" in the Potomac, he
reported.
Calls Title Undisputed.
Public and private cultivation
of oysters for the exclusive bene-
fit of Marylanders offer possible
tiles "far in excess of that small
acreage upon which the citizens
of the States of Maryland and
Virginia now forage" he said in
a prepared report.
Maryland has clear and I'M
dispuated title to the river bed"
Mr. Clark said. The compact Of
1785 exchanged equal fishing
rights in the Potomac for free
passage Of Maryland-bound ships
through the Virginia capes, but
Mr.. Clark had this to say:
There is no indication that the
State OF Maryland granted to the
State Of Virginia or its citizens
any rights or privileges in the
soils OF submerged lands of the
Potomac River, but only in the
fishery of the waters everything
these Soils
Mr.. Clark said he could not
assert fatty that Maryland has
authority to seize the river bot
tom and harvest everything that
grows from it's own paintings. But
he insisted there are Substantial
grounds" for the theory.
Urges Further Study.
He urged conservation officials
and the attorney generals Office
to explore the full rights Of the
State before proceeding further
to share the management of, and
the harvest from, the oyster in
dustry of the Potomac River with
the State of Virginia and her citi-
lZens." s---s--.-.----- .-~
f." Joint control Of Potomac oys-
tering and Chesapeake Bay fish,
ing has been approved by the
Maryland General Assembly, with
Gov. Lanes backing.
Creation of an interstate au-
thority requires concurrence by
the Virginia legislature and ap-
prevail by Congress. In the past
Virginians have been cool toward
similar proposals.
Mr.. Clark himself figured in one
If Mo rxy1o rH,c mn ,.v,o oct Acho ,-xx
controversies. While commission
chairman he rowed with George
T. Harrison. one Of two other
members, over enforcement and
conservation policies.
At one point, Gov. Lane asked
for his resignation. Mr.. Clark
apologized for a harsh letter he
had written the Governor and
stayed on.
His tenure came to an abrupt
end last winter when the Senate
refused to confirm his appoint
ment. David H. Wallace, career
official in the department, was
then named chairman.
BY virtue of his Office, Mr..
Clark also served as chairman Of
the Board Of Natural Resources,
before which he appeared today.
Could Do Own Planting.
IF developed by the State Of
Maryland" Mr.. Clark said. the
Potomac would provide an oyster
industry for the citizens of the
State - far in excess of what
has been realized in the past"
The State would do its own
shell planting and release other
areas for private cultivation, he
added. Waternen might also have
exclusive title to oysters grown
in submerged trays but not actu-
ally on the river bottom.
Mr.. Clark said a 1913 Supreme
Court decision may force Mary
land and Virginia into some sort
of Joint authority over bay and
river fishing. The court held that
South Carolina could not bar out
side fishermen from netting a
migratory species within its smile
coastal limit
If this applies also to inland
waters, the Potomac might be
thrown open to fishermen from
any State, Mr.. Clark said.
He maintained concurrent laws
passed by the two States regu-
lating Potomac fishing are valid
only as uniform acts" not under
the 1785 compact.
Suggests Other Control Unit.
Maryland might even regulate
the entire Potomac so long as il
does not restrict fishing to Free
State citizens, he said.
Mr.. Clark suggested the Attain
tic States Marine Fisheries COM
mission as q more promising con-
troll agency than the joint author-
|ity approved by the Maryland
Legislature, He said the proposed
bi-State commission would have
to depend on each State to enforce
its rules, it's jurisdiction is indefi-
mite and it could issue orders af-
fecting fish that do not migrate