Report of the Board of XltdJ Fixh Commissioners 59 



stocked with three hundred and twenty-five bushels of oysters 

 per acre. 



Tongmen prefer to work on grounds located in shallow 

 water, so- long as such grounds yield a livelihood, not only on 

 account of the greater area it is possible to cover, but also on 

 account of the greater ease with which he can use short, light 

 tongs. This, in part, accounts for the observed fact that oyster 

 grounds located in shallow water are very much more depleted 

 of oysters than grounds located in deep water, and that nearly 

 all tonging grounds located in deep water are in excellent con- 

 dition. 



According to the survey made by the Commission, there are 

 33,676 acres of natural oyster bars in Anne Arundel County 

 waters, of which 19,398 acres are designated for the use of 

 tongmen. During the tonging season of 1906 and 1907 licenses 

 were issued in Anne Arundel County to 847 tongmen. (See 

 page 61.) To each tongman in the county there is therefore 

 -9 acres of tonging ground.- 4 According to the computations 

 made by the Commission, however, a tongman can cover but 

 about twenty acres per season, even should he work no ground 

 located in water deeper than five feet. If the ground worked 

 upon were all situated in water twenty-five feet in depth, he 

 could cover but little more than one acre. Probably the aver- 

 age depth of water in which tongmen work during an entire 

 season is about twelve feet. Under these conditions each tong- 

 man should be able to cover about eight acres- of ground during 

 a tonging season of 100 working days, or a little more than 

 one-third of the ground available to him. It follows from the 

 above that in Anne Arundel County it is not possible for the 

 number of tongmen now licensed to cover the natural oyster 

 grounds designated for tonging oftener than once in about 

 three or four vears. 



2-tIn Somerset County there are 9,346 acres of natural bars for the use 

 of 513 tongmen, or 18.2 acres per tongman; 12,922 acres for the use 

 of 428 scrapers, or 30.1 acres per scraper; and 5,458 acres for the use 

 of dredgers, or about 101 acres per dredger. 



