r.i' Report of the Board of Shell Fish Commissioners 



fifty-eight days, he would cover a total of 464 acres, or more 

 than three times the amount of ground available to each 

 dredger. 



It is a matter of observed fact, as- well as of calculation, that 

 dredgers practically exhaust the v grounds- available for dredg- 

 ing by the time the dredging season is one-third over and that 

 those who continue to dredge longer than this go over ground 

 already covered, one or more times. This accounts for the fact 

 that dredging grounds are everywhere more depleted than tong- 

 ing grounds. 



A boat of 200-400 bushels capacity equipped for scraping 

 usually carries scrapes three feet in width. During a day 

 when average scraping conditions exist an area is covered 

 about equal to a strip of bottom five feet wide, and ten miles 

 long, or six acres. Allowing one-third of this area, as in the 

 case with dredgers, for laps and fouls, the average amount of 

 ground covered per day is four acres. During the scraping 

 season of sixty-five actual working days a scraper would cover 

 about 260 acres but, as in the case of dredgers, this area is far 

 in excess of the amount of ground available to each scraper. 



to work, forms a better basis for estimating the total yield of oysters 

 from the natural oyster bars of the State during an oyster season than 

 is usually used for this purpose. 



The following estimate of the total output of oysters from the pub- 

 lic oyster grounds of Maryland during the season of 1906-1907, 

 although about twice that hitherto made, is probably still considerably 

 under the quantity of oysters actually gathered and sold, for, as far as 

 the actual catch of oystermen has been ascertained, the indications are 

 that very few oystermen did not catch more than the number of bushels 

 taken as the average catch. 



6,559 tongmen at 450 bushels each 2,951,550 bushels 



930 scrapers at 1,500 bushels each 1,395,000 



544 dredgers at 3,500 bushels each .1,904,000 



Total 6,250,550 bushels. 



The output for the season of 1907-1908 promises to be even greater 

 than that of the season of 1906i-1907. 



-"All licenses to dredge for oysters are issued from the Comptroller's 

 office at Annapolis. They are separated in the table to show the locali- 

 ties from which the owners of the boats hailed. 



