BIOLOGY AND NATURAL HISTORY 159 



Sound the maximum acreage that can be leased by an individual, firm, or 

 corporation is two hundred acres, but leasing of bottom is prohibited 

 within the waters of Pamlico and Hyde counties. In the various tributaries 

 the maximum is fifty acres. The Department of Conservation and Develop- 

 ment has the authority to specify the acreage any one person may lease in 

 Pender, New Hanover, and Brunswick counties. It is doubtful that 

 developing such small plots of ground as fifty acres could be profitable. 

 Many who are interested in leasing bottom and attempting oyster culture 

 will not do so because of the lack of protection afforded to their holdings. 

 Persons living close to the water's edge have leased bottom, where they 

 can readily watch the area, but too often such locations are not the best 

 suited for grov/ing oysters. The number of areas that fulfil) this pre- 

 requisite are naturally limited. 



Other causes contribute to the static condition of the industry in North 

 Carolina. With its first development in 1890 to 1900, oysters were shipped 

 to the Chesapeake area and marketed as Chesapeake oysters, as already 

 stated. This condition still exists and the majority of the oysters produced 

 in Pamlico Sound are sent to Baltimore markets for reshipment. The 

 Pamlico Sound area has been depending in the past upon a market that 

 would come to it, rather than aggressively striving to create a market of 

 its own. This attitude has placed the oystermen in a position where they 

 are more or less dependent upon the weather. When severe winter weather 

 makes it difficult to harvest oysters in the north, a market demand arises 

 in North Carolina. During warm weather, the oystermen engage in activi- 

 ties on land or in fishing until a demand for oysters is created. In some 

 instances the oyster dealers have recognized the disadvantages of this 

 situation and are attempting to create markets for their products. 



The position of North Carolina in the south creates a condition that is 

 not always desirable. Oysters may develop their sex products to spawn in 

 the fall months, with the consequence that they are in poor condition 

 immediately after spawning, and yield a low volume in meat content. A 

 month or longer may be required to recover from spawning, so that the 

 first oysters to go to market in the fall may be in poor condition and cause 

 the dealers and buyers to seek other sources. 



The oyster industry in the northern areas, where it is chiefly controlled 

 by private enterprise, has become highly mechanized, with new methods 

 and ideas constantly being applied. The result is that greater investments 

 are incurred and an effort is made to produce high quality products in as 

 great a quantity as possible. In areas such as North Carolina, the emphasis 

 is more on quantity than quality, and in order to compete with quality it 

 is necessary to undersell and thus offer a lower grade product to the ulti- 

 mate consumer. The effects of this are often disadvantageous. 



