DETERIORATION OF AMERICAN OYSTER-BEDS. 153 



1. By the general appearance and condition of the beds and ani- 

 mals, the former being broken up with mud and sand among the shells, 

 and but little healthy, growing sponge ; the oysters will be large and 

 single, the shells covered with worms, and much broken and bored in 

 many places. Very few barnacles will be found, and the general ap- 

 pearance of the shells will be one of decay. 2. The ratio of "young" 

 to " mature " oysters will be abnormally large or small ; should it be 

 greater than as two to one, or less than as one to one, it may, until 

 we have more information on the subject, be considered abnormal. 

 3. The amount of debris in the bed will be very large, and, should it 

 exceed fifty per cent, of the contents of the dredges, it would be 

 unusually large. 4. The number of oysters on the beds will be found 

 to decrease each year, though slight improvements may from time to 

 time occur. 5. The discovery of unusual inhabitants of the beds, 

 other than the oysters, or the disappearance of those usually found, 

 or, in general terms, marked changes of the fauna of the beds, are an 

 indication of deterioration. 



If a bed or any number of beds present these peculiarities, in order 

 to prevent their entire destruction it will be necessary to insure the 

 animals some adequate protection. The best remedy for any evil is 

 the removal of the cause ; and, should the deterioration of the beds be 

 due to excessive fishery, the prohibition of such fishery would be the 

 readiest and most certain means of arresting the deterioration : but, 

 as a large number of the poorer class of people is dependent, in one 

 way or another, upon the beds, or the oyster industry, for support, it 

 would be impossible to prohibit all fishing of any extensive area with- 

 out causing great distress, and the working of the beds can conse- 

 quently be only restricted and not prohibited. 



As the number of dredging- vessels employed directly in the fish- 

 ery is, for a time at least, constant, it follows that, the larger the area 

 open to these workers, the less exhaustive will be the fishery of any 

 particular locality, for the fishermen will naturally seek the most pro- 

 ductive fields for labor, and leave old and worn-out beds for those 

 newly discovered and well stocked. Therefore, one of the best means 

 of affording protection to the overworked beds is the discovery of 

 new ones, as thus without prohibitory laws the fishery will be trans- 

 ferred from the former to the latter. Fortunately, the area covered 

 by oysters along the coast of the United States is so great that at 

 present, when any bed or locality ceases to give an adequate return, 

 the fishery is transferred to other points as, for instance, those vessels 

 accustomed to work in Tangier and Pocomoke Sounds have left that 

 locality for the Potomac River and the beds in the Chesapeake bay. 



In time, however, the areas covered by oysters will be known, and 

 all future extension of the fishing-ground must be an artificial one of 

 those known areas. 



In searching for new beds they will probably be found off the 



