University of Virginia Library

ON THE ADVISABILITY OF DIVIDING OUR OYSTER AREA
INTO OPEN AND CLOSED DISTRICTS.

We cannot hope for any marked improvement in
the condition of our oyster-beds through the enforcement
of laws closing them for certain months in the
year.

The rapidly increasing demand for oysters must be
supplied in one way or another, and the effect of a
closed season is simply to gather the oystermen upon

the beds in greater numbers than ever at the end of the
season.

This is equally true whether the closed season is
long or short. If our waters, or any part of them,
should be closed to the public for a term of years, the
oysters would increase and multiply and finally restock
the beds. It is difficult to state exactly how long a
time would be required, as this depends upon the condition
of the beds. When there are plenty of mature
oysters to supply the spat, and plenty of clean shells
for the young to fasten upon, a few years will suffice
to restore the bed; but after an oyster-bed is thoroughly
exhausted there is no reason why another natural bed
should ever grow up in the same spot rather than anywhere
else, and in any case the closure of certain
districts cannot increase the supply beyond its natural
limits. In some parts of France the oyster territory
has been divided into sections, and each section is
fished in turn while the others are closed and left to
repair their losses. We are told by a recent French
writer that, while the provinces which have made use
of this system have been able to preserve their beds
from complete ruin, they have not been able to increase
their fruitfulness or to restore them to their ancient
splendor.

Even if the waters are loaded with spat from adjacent
beds, there is no reason why the young should
gain a foothold on the site of the exterminated bed.
Between the natural beds there are areas where the
bottom is perfectly adapted for oysters, except that
there is nothing for the spat to fasten to, and an exterminated
natural bed is in the same condition.

The regrowth of such a bed is, therefore, exactly
like the original formation of a natural bed, and it
must be a very slow process indeed; how slow it is
very difficult to say, as we have very little information
which will help us to decide, although we have facts to
show that a century may not be long enough.

When New England was settled there were very
many valuable beds between Cape Cod and the northern
limit of our coast. Many of these beds were
destroyed so long ago that we have no records of the
date when they ceased to be productive, and others
were yielding oysters about one hundred years ago.
There are still a few scattered oysters at certain points
on the coast, and we may be sure that the conditions
are still favorable, but there is no evidence to show
that any of these beds have become restocked, although
some of them have certainly been untouched for two
hundred years or more. It is possible that the beds
which were discovered by the United States Coast
Survey in 1874, near Portsmouth, New Hampshire,
have grown there since the oysters were exterminated, a
hundred years before. This region was renowned
among the Indians for its oysters, and in 1697, a river
emptying into the bay was known as Oyster River. One
hundred years ago a number of vessels were loaded with
oysters there, but since that time the region has yielded
no oysters until 1874, when the officers of the United
States Coast Survey found about a dozen large beds or
clusters of beds in about ten feet of water.

It is impossible to state whether these beds occupy
the place of the beds which were exterminated a century
ago, but it is probable that most of the old beds

were in shallow water. The bay must have contained
enough oysters to furnish spat, and as no new beds
have grown up in shallow water, we are forced to conclude
that, even when spawn is present, a period of a
hundred years is not enough to restore a bed which has
been completely destroyed.

The adoption by the State, of a plan to close certain
districts long enough for the beds to recover, would,
undoubtedly, delay the work of extermination, but it
would also cause an immediate decrease in the supply.

I believe that if our present policy is continued,
measures of this kind must be adopted, but such an
expedient can have only a temporary value, as it will
do nothing in itself to enlarge our oyster area, or to
increase the productiveness of our waters.

I believe that the districting plan is neither a real
remedy nor the best method for arresting the destruction.
It is the best which can be put into force without
delay, but while recommending it, I feel that it is my
duty to call attention to the fact that there is a still
better method, although it is one which would require
considerable time and the expenditure of large sums
of money.

Under natural conditions each bed is able to yield a
certain number of oysters each year, and whenever
this number is exceeded the bed suffers, and if the
practice is continued it must be destroyed. It makes
no difference whether the oysters are taken in one
month or in twelve, or in one year or in five. The
ultimate effect upon the bed is the same in all cases.

In the absence of measures for artificially increasing
the productiveness of the oyster grounds, or even when

such measures are employed, the only way to effectually
protect a bed is to examine it each year, and to
learn how many oysters it can furnish without injury,
and to take such steps as may be necessary for preventing
each bed from being drawn upon in excess of
its capacity.

When the natural beds are small and few in number
it is easy to do this, and the plan has been employed
in some parts of our own country, and also in many
parts of Europe, where a few-guard-boats are enough
to protect the beds, and to learn how many oysters are
taken from each one.

The waters of Maryland cover nearly one-third of
the whole area of the State, and as oyster-beds are
found in nearly all our waters, there are very great
practical difficulties; and the attempt to learn how
many oysters are taken, and how many should be taken
from each bed, demands great executive ability and a
large and well-trained and equipped force. Our present
Fishery Force is totally incompetent to undertake
such a work, and no force could do it efficiently
without devoting much time to organization and to preliminary
work.

The restriction of the crop according to the capacity
of the bed is absolutely necessary, if our beds are to
remain public property, and it must be brought about
in one way or another.

The result can be reached by a system of intelligent
private cultivation upon grounds held for the purpose
upon long leases, or deeded outright by the State; for
personal interest is the strongest motive which can
exist to prevent the needless destruction of property.

If all our oyster area were divided up into private
holdings, the whole could be watched and its condition
and capacity much more carefully and exactly ascertained,
than can ever be the case under State management,
and an enlightened system of private cultivation
would be the most sure safeguard against the exhaustion
of the beds.

The first step, the survey of all the beds and the
construction of accurate maps, would employ a large
and well equipped force for several years. After all
the beds are mapped, a large force will still be needed
to make the annual examinations, and to obtain the
data which are needed to determine how many oysters
each bed can yield without injury.

The enactment and enforcement of the necessary
laws would even then present many difficult and complicated
problems, but if our public beds could be
placed for a term of years under the supervision of an
officer or a commission to study the subject, and to
superintend and direct the survey and examination,
and to develop a plan for protection; and if competent
persons could be found to devote themselves to
this work; and if an efficient navy, under the command
of trained officers, could be employed to act
under their supervision and direction, a practical and
efficient plan could no doubt be devised and put into
execution. Possibly the same thing could be accomplished
by an organized co-operative company of
oystermen.