OF MASSACHUSETTS. 69 



to be taken, and see that it is properly enforced. Such a matter should 

 be attended to at once, as not only is the actual value of the catch 

 diminished, but the industry is seriously impaired by the capture of 

 these small quahaugs before they can spawn. 



The only other way to remedy this difficulty is to grant licenses allow- 

 ing the replanting of these small quahaugs on the barren parts of the 

 harbor until they have obtained a proper size. The results obtained 

 from the experiments of the commission in Polpis harbor show that qua- 

 haugs will grow rapidly when thus replanted in suitable places, and 

 that a gain of r /-2 to % of an inch, or 3 to 6 bushels for every bushel 

 bedded, can be obtained during the six summer months (May to 

 November). 



Summary of Industry. 



Area of quahaug territory (acres), 5,290 



Number of men, 48 



Number of boats, . 30 



Value of boats, $5,800 



Number of dories, .......... 10 



Value of dories, $350 



Value of gear, $600 



Production. 



" Little necks " : — 



Bushels, 303 



Value, $1,310 



Quahaugs : — 



Bushels, 5,991 



Value, $7,177 



Total : — 



Bushels, 6,294 



Value, $8,487 



New Bedford. 



The quahaug industry of New Bedford was practically annihilated 

 by the law of 1905, which closed the Acushnet River and Clark's Cove 

 to both clammer and quahauger. Good beds of quahaugs, particularly 

 "little necks," exist in both these waters, but can be taken only for 

 bait. As several sewers run into the Acushnet River, and the public 

 health was endangered by the consumption as food of the quahaugs 

 taken from the river and the waters near its mouth, nearly 400 acres of 

 quahaug territory were closed by the State Board of Health. What 

 little available territory there is outside the prescribed area, off Clark's 

 Point, is free to all. 



A license is required to dig quahaugs for bait in this territory, and 

 such is issued free of charge. The maximum amount permitted to be 

 dug is 2 bushels per week of clams or quahaugs, or of both. Some 



