414 MARINE FISHERIES OF NORTH CAROLINA 



For many years toward the end of the last century and the first decade 

 of this, the net weight of edible meats of the oyster exceeded even the gross 

 weight of any other product of the fisheries except menhaden (which is 

 not considered edible), see Table 53, Appendix; in 1890 its value was 38 

 per cent of that of all food fish and four times that of its nearest rival, the 

 five Pacific salmons combined; it exceeded the combined values of all 

 salmons, cod, shad, clams, mackerel, lobster, haddock, halibut, and sea trouts. 

 The oyster production of the Atlantic-Gulf regions continued until the 

 period of meager statistics at the time of World War I, as by far our most 

 important United States fishery. By 1920 it had already decreased sharply, 

 and from then onward production expressed as per capita of the Eastern 

 States declined steadily to about 24 per cent as much, in the 1938-40 period, 

 as it had been in 1890, and, expressed as total quantity of production of 

 the Atlantic-Gulf regions, to 47 per cent of what it had been in 1890 and 

 54 per cent of what it had been in 1908. 



In 1890 the oyster was the highest priced of all major fishery products 

 of the country (i.e., of all which amounted to one per cent or more of the 

 total quantity or value); in 1908 the oyster ranked third; in 1930 and 1940 

 fifth and fourth, respectively; prices of oysters, actual as well as relative 

 to other commodities and to fish generally did not rise consistently; for a 

 short period during the prosperity boom of the 1920's they were up, but 

 in the 1930's they reacted to the pre- 1908 level. Actual money value of the 

 total production in 1940 was 55 per cent of what it was in 1890 and the 

 purchasing power equivalent of the total money value in 1940 was 39 

 per cent of what it was in 1890 and 51 per cent of 1908. The behavior is 

 therefore a long continued decline in volume, absolute and per capita, at 

 prices which have not risen in response to the diminishing supply, for 

 a rapidly increasing population with improving standard of luxurious living. 

 In this respect the economic behavior of the oyster resembles that of the 

 shad, but on a much larger scale. 



Insufficiency or depletion of supply does not seem adequate to explain the 

 persistent decline in the production of oysters. If biological scarcity alone 

 had set the limit to production, then prices should have risen as they did 

 rise sharply for Lakes fishes, lobsters, etc., when these were in short supply; 

 a three or fourfold increase in prices would have provided the incentive for 

 extension of oyster production by cultivation on old bottoms or, failing that, 

 the opening of new territory, of which there appears to be a plenty south 

 of Chesapeake Bay. 



The decline in production of oysters combined with the failure of prices 

 to rise suggests that something happened to demand in the years following 

 19 12, for an examination of the available data on oyster production indicates 



