32 FISH AND GAME. 



that the fishermen might be given extra years of fishing in this 

 locality. Only through private control, and the development of 

 the quahaug farm with adequate facilities for worldwide distri- 

 bution of the product, can the real interests of the fishermen and 

 consumers be permanently advanced. 



Oyster. - - The oyster industry has to some extent increased 

 on Cape Cod. In Buzzards Bay the dredging of the Cape Cod 

 Canal caused considerable damage to the oyster industry, and, 

 as required by chapter 448, Acts of 1899, the Commissioners on 

 Fisheries and Game assessed the amount of damage to the 

 various oyster grants near the entrance of the Cape Cod Canal 

 in the towns of Bourne and Wareham. Twenty-six civil suits, 

 aggregating $106,000, with twenty-four claimants, were entered 

 against the Boston and Cape Cod Canal Company. Hearings 

 before the commissioners were held at Buzzards Bay, Hyannis 

 and Boston. Their decisions covered two main propositions: 

 (1) the utter destruction of the oyster beds by the channel of 

 the canal; (2) the damage to the near-by grants during the 

 dredging by suspended silt and other material in the water, 

 which destroyed or rendered unmarketable the oysters on these 

 grants. The canal company appealed from the decision of the 

 commissioners, and the matter is still under litigation between 

 the canal company and the claimants. 



Clam. - - Notable progress has been made in clam culture, 

 especially in Plymouth and Barnstable harbors. At Plymouth 

 the Andrew J. Kerr Company has leased 260 acres of flats from 

 the town authorities, and has made a successful undertaking of 

 raising clams on a large scale on practically barren flats, which 

 were planted with seed clams from other localities. The estab- 

 lishment of this industry is a distinct benefit to the town of 

 Plymouth, furnishing additional taxes and at the same time 

 establishing a spawning center for seeding the public flats in 

 the harbor. On the other hand, neither the State nor the town 

 of Plymouth receives a direct revenue from the leasing of such 

 a valuable privilege. We are of the opinion that since the right 

 of fishing is a public one such valuable privileges should yield 

 a revenue to the State, and that a return, based on a fixed 

 price per acre, should be paid into the State treasury, while 

 the town would benefit from the increase of taxable property. 



