Report of the Board of Shell Fish Commissioners 61 



The amount of oyster ground in Anne Arundel County desig- 

 nated for dredging operations is 6,953 acres, 25 or about 128 

 acres to each of the fifty-four dredgers. 



Table Showing all Licenses** issued to Oystermen in Maryland during 

 the season of 1906 and 1907. 



County. Tonging. Scraping. Dredging. 



Anne Arundel 847 ... 13 



Calvert 733 ... 23 



Charles -. 197 ... 1 



Dorchester 1,168 401 83 



Kent fc 449 



Queen Anne 429 ... . . 



Somerset 513 428 320 



'St. Mary 1,015 ... 50 



Talbot -. 632 101 18 



Wicomico 576 ... 4 



Worcester No licenses required. 



Baltimore City ... 32 



Total 6,559 930 5442T 



According to the estimate made above, a dredger is able to 

 cover about eight acres per day and, in a dredging season of 



25The area given in the report as that designated for dreging pur- 

 poses in Anne Arundel County, is 14,278 acres, and this is the amount 

 which has been chartered and buoyed by the Shell Fish Commission. 

 The actual amount of this ground, however, which is oyster producing 

 is 6,953 acres. The law (Section 90), requires that all natural bars 

 shall be bounded by straight lines and, by reference to the table on 

 page 140, it will be seen the process of thus bounding a natural bar, 

 results in a considerable gain in acreage. The very great discrepancy, 

 however, between the actual acreage of the dredging grounds and the 

 area which has been buoyed, is to be found in the condition of the 

 "Lumps, East of Craighill Channel." When surveying this dredging 

 ground, which contained about 8,000 acres, it was found that about 

 one-twentieth of the bottom only, or 400 acres, is oyster bearing. 

 "Lumps" of oysters, varying in size from a few square yards to several 

 acres, are scattered here and there over the entire area, but the barren 

 bottoms between are not of sufficient size or value to have been excluded 

 for the purposes of planting. 



aeThe number of licenses issued during an oyster season, together 

 with the minimum quantity of oysters for which oystermen can affo 



