OYSTER-INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 293 



service to our shell-fisheries in general. It is, as its name indicates, an 

 immense pair of pincers, with rakes attached to its lower extremities, 

 the teeth of which interlock when the instrument is closed. These rakes 

 are about 14 inches in width, and the teeth, placed about 1£ inches 

 apart, are only 4 inches long. The handles are from 15 to 20 feet in 

 length, and the point of intersection is about a yard from the lower 

 extremity. To take the oysters with this instrument, the fisherman first 

 auchors his boat oyer the bed to be worked ; then seating himself at 

 the side, he takes the upper extremities of the two poles, one in each 

 hand, and opening and closing the instrument successively, endeavors, 

 as it were, to nibble the bank with the rakes and pick up the mollusks. 

 As soon as he feels that he has a sufficient number, he draws up the 

 instrument and deposits the captured oysters upon the deck. A large 

 part of the oysters furnished by Chesapeake Bay are taken in this 

 manner. The tongs is also used on the plantations and in fishing for 

 clams. 



The boats used are generally of small tonnage. Most of those which 

 I saw in the bay of New York, and in the great bay south of Long 

 Island, were constructed with flat bottoms, in order to pass easily over 

 the banks, and provided with a sail, and three or four men constitute 

 their crew. 



The working of the banks, by means of the tongs, is eminently pre- 

 servative, as there is no loss by the destruction of many of the mol- 

 lusks, as is the case with the drag. Undoubtedly, the use of this instru- 

 ment is impossible on many of the banks of the French coast, but in the 

 basin of Arcachon, in the salt ponds of the south, and those of Corsica, 

 it might be employed to advantage. 



Local regulations. — Notwithstanding the extraordinary richness of the 

 oyster-production on their coast, the Americans have felt the necessity 

 of protective legislation to prevent the exhaustion of the banks, and for 

 this purpose the various seaboard States have established special laws 

 determining the time of the fisheries, and the mode in which they must 

 be worked. 



A few years ago, on the shores of Maryland and Virginia, the oysters 

 were taken in such great quantities for consumption, for the manufac- 

 ture of lime, and for manure, that the danger of diminishing the value 

 of the fisheries was recognized, and very severe restrictive laws were 

 passed in these States. In general, however, the legislation which con- 

 trols the oyster-industry is very complicated, since, with great want of 

 uniformity, each State enacts its own laws without reference to those of 

 the neighboring States. Its objects may be enumerated thus : 



1. To prevent the destruction of the natural bauks, by determining 

 the time and mode of the fisheries. 



2. To protect the plantations from lawless depredations. 



3. To reserve, with a few exceptions, for the residents of each State, 

 the right of local fishing. 



