756 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



. We therefore recommend that, for the next 

 two years, the taking of oysters from the public beds be 

 prohibited from April ist to October i5th, and that all 

 laws or parts of laws inconsistent with this recommendation 

 be repealed. 



ON THE OYSTER FISHERIES OF TANGIER SOUND. 



Your Commissioners believe, as the result of their 

 personal examination of the State Fishery Force, that one 

 of the most serious hindrances to the thorough enforce- 

 ment of our laws is the existence of local laws, giving to 

 certain counties the right to permit dredging without a 

 license from the State. 



The history of this subject is as follows : In 1874 a 

 law was passed . . . which . . . gives to the 

 clerks of the Circuit Court of Dorchester and Talbot 

 counties the right to issue to any resident of these counties 

 a license to use any boat of not more than ten tons capa- 

 city, for dredging in certain specified waters of the Chop- 

 tank River, upon the payment of two dollars per ton annu- 

 ally. 



(This law seems) to be worded with suffi- 

 cient care, and the practice of apportioning our oyster 

 lands out among the counties would be a good one, if the 

 counties could be relied upon to preserve the beds from 

 destruction, and to enforce the laws. It is plain, however, 

 that the people of the State at large should not be taxed to 

 support a navy, for the protection of property of which 

 certain counties have the exclusive use, and which pays no 

 revenue to the State Treasury. Your Commissioners also 

 submit that they find, by personal examination, that the 

 local laws are not enforced. 



In November, 1882, we visited the waters of Dor- 

 chester and Somerset Counties, on Tangier Sound, and 



