750 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



It is asserted that the use of large dredges causes much 

 evil, as they ruin the beds by crushing or smothering, or 

 burying in the mud, more oysters than they capture ; bu; 

 the private farmers of Connecticut find it to their advantage 

 to use much heavier dredges, and their farms improve 

 under this treatment, although very heavy dredges are 

 hauled by steam over the beds, even in the spawning 

 season. 



After carefully considering the subject, your Commis- 

 sioners . . . recommend that dredging be prohibited 

 upon the public beds in the Potomac River and in Poco- 

 moke Sound ; but this recommendation is made as a poli- 

 tical necessity, as the State of Maryland has no power to 

 prevent illegal dredging in these waters, while she has the 

 power to prohibit all dredging. We do not believe that 

 this measure is desirable in itself, but it is the only measure 

 which it is in our power to adopt. 



If the prosperity of the natural beds were the only 

 thing to be considered, we should, for the reasons which 

 we have just given, favour the opening of all our oyster 

 area to the dredgers ; but the welfare of the beds is not the 

 only thing. The rights of the tongmen and those of the 

 planters also demand consideration. At present it is well 

 known that there is inadequate protection for our planted 

 oysters, and that the law which prohibits dredging in most 

 of our rivers and inlets is of no effect. Almost every day 

 the newspapers contain accounts of the piratical incursions 

 of the dredgers upon these reserved grounds, and the evil 

 increases from year to year as the large beds in the deep 

 waters become depleted. The chief duty of the nine sail- 

 boats of the State fishery force, as at present constituted, 

 is to guard the tonging and planting grounds from the 

 depredations of dredgers, and the lack of efficient protec- 



