58 Report of the Board of Shell Fish Commissioners 



AMOUNT OF GROUND COVERED. 



BY TONGMEN. 



On page 42 the unit of measurement of the work of tongmen 

 and the method by which the dimensions of the unit are calcu- 

 lated are explained. 



The amount of ground which a tongman of average ability 

 is able to cover per day, expressed in terms of this unit, might 

 have been easily reckoned from the observed and recorded work 

 of the tongmen employed to make the examinations of the oyster 

 grounds but, to make the estimate more accurate, the Commis- 

 sion made numerous observations of the work of several tong- 

 men while engaged in tonging for a livelihood on Three Misters, 

 Toilet/ f'ohit and tlackett Point bars, counting the number of 

 grabs each tongman made during ten-minute intervals when 

 working in various depths of water. The results of these 

 observations are to be found in the averages given in column 

 4 in the table printed on page 65. In the column adjoining 

 the above, the areas are given which, according to these observa- 

 nt 11 is, tongmen are able to cover during a season of one hundred 

 working days. 



A study of the results of these observations reveals the 

 striking fact that a tongman can cover sixteen times as much 

 ground per day or per season when working in water .five feet 

 deep as he can when working in water twenty-five feet in depth. 

 Not only does the amount of ground covered at each grab dimin- 

 ish as the depth of water increases, but the number of grabs it is 

 possible for a tongman to make in a given time is very much 

 less in deep water than in shallow. 



It is thus seen that the value of an oyster ground to tongmen 

 depends not only upon how well it is stocked with oysters, 

 but also upon the depth of water covering the oj'sters. A 

 ground covered by water five feet in depth, stocked with 

 twenty-two bushels of oysters per acre, is of as much value to 

 tongmen as ground covered by water twenty- five feet deep, 



