206 



THE MOLLUSK FISHERIES 



Productive area (acres) : — 



Good clamming, .... 

 Scattering clams, 



Barren area possibly productive (acres), 



Waste barren area (acres), 



Possible normal production, 



5 



5 



150 



440 



$18,000 



Plymouth. 



The clam industry at Plymouth is at a low ebb. The same problems 

 which baffle progress at Duxbury and Kingston are present here with 

 all their complications. The combined available territory, exceeding 

 1,600 acres, save for a few unimportant sections, is wholly barren. 

 While it is true that fully two-thirds of this great area is eel-grass 

 waste, and in its present state of little value for the production of 

 clams, there remains over 500 acres of good flats, for the most part 

 sand well adapted for shellfish culture. It is certain that a flourishing 

 industry has existed here in former times. From the earliest history 

 of the colony, records tell of the excellent clam flats at Plymouth; and 

 we leam that the Pilgrims during the darkest hours of the early settle- 

 ment depended in large measure upon these flats for support. As late 

 as 1879 Ernest Ingersoll reports an annual output of 5,000 bushels of 

 clams, and states that the industry had then greatly declined. It 

 appeal's to have gone down steadily ever since, until now it merely 

 furnishes transient employment to 4 or 5 men, who dig at rather un- 

 certain intervals for local markets. 



The best clamming, probably because the most inaccessible, is around 

 Clark's Island. Scattering clams occur on Wind flat, the Oyster grant, 

 and in patches along the shore. But no considerable extent of good 

 clamming occurs anywhere, and the bulk of the territory is wholly 

 barren. 



The town of Plymouth has endeavored in several ways to develop 

 the industry. It has appropriated money to restock the flats, a close 

 season has been tried, and an attempt made to solve the problem by the 

 giving of private grants. While these grants have not always been 

 run in as energetic a manner as could be desired, the experiment has 

 proved conclusively that there are great possibilities in such a system. 

 In short, there can be little doubt that in the proper administration of 

 private grants lies the key to the solution of the problem which eon- 

 fronts this whole region. As clams were once abundant in Plymouth 

 harbor, and as no apparent causes other than excessive digging appear 

 to have brought about the decline, there seems to be no logical reason 

 why this amount of territory (500 acres) should not yield its proper 

 harvest. As for the vast extent of eel-grass flats, with all their unde- 

 termined possibilities, they can well afford to wait until the more im- 

 mediate and pressing problems of the flats already available for clam 

 culture have been solved. 



