DETERIORATION OF AMERICAN OYSTER-BEDS. 41 



of mature oysters, and in the latter case it is so large as to be abnormal ; 

 the amount of debris found on the beds is much greater than in the 

 newly discovered areas ; and the number of oysters to the square yard 

 not only falls below what it should be, but has decreased since the 

 first examination in 1878. The testimony of all persons living in the 

 vicinity of the sounds is to the effect that there has been a marked 

 deterioration of the beds since they were first discovered and worked, 

 and it is the general opinion that, had the improved implements and 

 appliances now used in the fishery been available when the beds were 

 first discovered, from three to five times as many oysters as are taken 

 at present could have been obtained in Tangier Sound, and about 

 seven times as many in Pocomoke Sound ; that even with the insuffi- 

 cient implements then in use more oysters were taken, per sail, in the 

 same time than was possible at present. 



Considering this testimony, and the results of the comparison of 

 the worked beds in the sound with the unworked ones in the bay, it 

 may be concluded that the former areas are much impaired in pro- 

 ductive power, and, the same causes continuing to operate, there will 

 be a constant deterioration until that productive power is entirely 

 destroyed. As there is no indication of any natural cause influencing 

 the beds in the sounds and not the contiguous ones in the bay, we are 

 compelled to assign, as the cause for the deterioration and impaired 

 fecundity of the beds in Tangier and Pocomoke Sounds, the excessive 

 and exhaustive fishery peculiar to them, and from which the beds in 

 the bay have heretofore been free. 



The fishery in the sounds is not more extensive than it is in many 

 other localities in Chesapeake Bay : the conditions under which the 

 beds exist are nearly the same ; the laws governing the fishery are 

 the same ; and about the same amount of attention is paid to them. 

 It is probable, then, that were the remaining beds of the Chesapeake 

 examined carefully, they would present indications of deterioration 

 similar to those shown by the Tangier and Pocomoke beds.* That 

 this deterioration is due to the severe fishing can not be doubted. 

 That in time it will amount to utter exhaustion is a fact well known 

 to those who have given any attention to the matter. To those who 

 have not, the following information may be interesting. Only a few 

 of many cases are cited, but enough, it is hoped, to show that the 

 experience is not confined to small areas or one country ; that one 

 result follows invariably upon the heels of over-fishing, and that result 

 is, exhaustion. 



The records of the production of the beds of Cancale Bay, on the 

 northwest coast of France, which extend over a period of sixty-eight 

 years, from 1800 to 1868, are perhaps the most instructive : 



The beds in the bay comprise an area of about one hundred and 

 fifty acres, and, from 1800 to 1816, produced annually from 400,000 to 



* Recent investigations by the Coast and Geodetic Survey confirm this opinion. 



