IV-476 



"Coastal Watershed" by the New Hampshire Water Pollution Commission, 

 July 1965, Staff Report No. 51, and "A Biological Survey of Great 

 Bay, New Hampshire by the Marine Fisheries Commission, No. 1, 

 Physical and Biological Features of Great Bay and the Present 

 Status of its Marine Resources," C.F. Jackson, Director, Biological 

 Institute, University of New Hampshire, Durham, New Hampshire, 

 March 1944. 



Historical data indicate that the Great Bay area was at one time 

 especially rich in natural resources, such as salmon, shad, cod, 

 and various shellfish. Rapid decline or ultimate disappearance of 

 many of these food fishes dates from the beginning of the industrial 

 development of this region about 1800. 



Great Bay and the tidal rivers afford some 2,815 acres of potential 

 clam flats. Most of these are non-productive due to pollution, 

 silt or the growth of Spartina. The situation in reference to 

 oysters parallels closely that of clams. In early days the oyster 

 fisheries probably exceeded in commercial importance those of the 

 clam. In later years, however, this situation has been reversed, 

 due first, to the growing scarcity of the oyster, and secondly, 

 to restrictive legislation. 



Clams and oysters were once harvested in Great Bay Estuary. In 

 1938 the estuary was closed to the commercial production of clams 

 due to bacterial pollution. In his biological survey of Great Bay 



