Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1961-10-01

OYsTER BAY
.OYsTER BAY
Wotermen Losing Battle


termen, fighting against nature
and any change in Anticipated
conservation laws, are slowly
but surely losing their centur-
ies-old struggle.
Z Gone are the days when an
oyster "tonger" could get rs
bushels of bivalveS a day. Now
Nth oyster population dropping
ffom years of longing, he is
Mcky to take five or 10. The
price, of course, has advanced,
but not nearly as fast as the
inflated dollar.
But if times have changed,
the Bays Eastern Shore has
not. To those entering Chesa-
peake country for the first
time. it's almost like a journey
back into the past, an island
surrounded by the great urban
belt of the Atlantic Coast.
The romantic days of coloni-
al times seem alive once again.
The watermen still ply their
trade as their fathers and
grandfathers did before them.
Up Before Dawn
: The oyster tonger still rises
before the cold winter dawn to
be on the oyster grounds by
daybreak. Using 'rakes" on the
end of Is to 40-foot poles, he
stands on the edge Of his boat
and probes the murky depths of
the Bay until - by some sixth
sense developed through years
at the work-he feels his rakeS.
or tongs, have uprooted a pay
load. Then comes the laborious
task of hauling them up into
the boat; then back for anoth-
er load.
! The rakes themselves are vi
cious looking instruments, more
than 5 feet in width, each
equipped with sharp steel teeth
and used like a pair of giant
pincerS.
Backbreaking work under any
conditions, the operation must
be carried on primarily during
mid-winter. Law forbids oyster
ing from April Is to Septem-
Der /.
Should the winter be particu-
larly severe, the tonger will be
fortunate to log so good days
Of oyStering. Freezing of creeks
and bay can keep boats locked
in for weeks.
The oyster dredge boats pro-
Iiounced drudge" on the
shore) face similar handicaps,
with more added.
! Their season extends only
from November l to March Is.
And, although their daily take
is considerably greater than the
tonger's, their net profit is
about the same.
( Some 20 of these craft ply
the Chesapeake today, a scant
remnant of the '300-plus that
once worked the oyster beds.
Their crews range from five
to seven. But one thing is COM
mon to them all - they must
operate by sail and sail only
Skipjacks, bugeyes, sloops
and schooners, some more than
10 years old, sail side by side
IN their quest for the aristocrat
OF Chesapeake Bay seafood.
{ On good days, they may take
80 bushels. but a third of the
gross goes for upkeep of the
hoat. The rest is divided among
the crew.
: Why do these men cling to
the water for a living? Why
are they willing to stand on
the gunwale of a boat with the
salt spray and winds of the
Chesapeake aging them long
before their time-and when
most of them can't swim a
stroke?
Rather Have Anchor
! One timer put it: I'D
rather have an anchor tied to
me than a life preserver If I
fell overheard in these waters.
At least that way I'd go fast
and not freeze to death"
Primarily it's because tn e
water offers them an independ-
ence they can't bear to lose
But this same independence,
some observers say, may one
day be their dowfall. They
often oppose changes in con-
servation laws and practices
which might well raise oyster
yield. Some watermen's pholis-
ophy, simply, is that God has
put the oyster there for them,
and it is theirs to take as long
as it lasts.
DemaS Haddaway. a longer
who heads up the local water
mems association, summed it
up: We're not happy with
the way things are now, but
the guys trying to tell us what
TO do or not do have never
lifted a pair of oyster tongs
IN their life. How can they
possibly know what's best for
us?,.
i Several notes of optimism
appear in the overall picture,
however. Topping the list is
a hiterto untapped natural
resource-the soft-shell clam.
= Scorned by the Bay water
men as much as it is relished
by New. Englanders to the
north, the clam is suffering
the same fate in New Eng
land the oyster is in the Bay.
They are being fished out.
But the clam, called locally
= a maninose. thrives in tn e
Chesapeake, can be dug year.
round and the new hydraulic
sdredges used to dig them
actually stimulates clam
propagation. AS a result Mary
land, which in 1854 produced
virtually no clans, now leads