14 REPOBT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 



The shores of the bay from Field's Point to tlie Bonnet were 

 examined for the extent of the yearly clam set. The set was, as a 

 rule, poor, and in only one place was it very abundant. In nearly 

 every year there are limited areas discovered in which the set is very 

 abundant — as has been shown in previous reports — but it is not 

 possible to predict where this will be. Last year the only place in 

 which a great abundance was discovered was a small area near Field's 

 Point, about an acre in extent. Here, toward the last of September, 

 the small clams about half an inch long averaged about three hundred 

 to the square foot. 



In order to demonstrate again the feasibility of clam culture, your 

 Commission, through the Wickford station, transplanted from this 

 area to various comparatively barren areas, taken out in the name of 

 the Commission, about fifty bushels of these small clams. 



The State of Rhode Island has a unique interest in the soft-shell 

 clam, not only on account of the famous institution — the clambake — 

 but because through your Commission it was the pioneer in the dis- 

 covery of the possibilities and the methods of clam culture. The 

 results of the work which your Commission commenced more than 

 ten years ago and continued under Chapter 174 of the General Laws 

 have been confinned, extended, and exploited in other States — nota- 

 bly in Massachusetts. For these reasons, and because the clam in- 

 dustry, at present at low ebb, has splendid possibilities, we recom- 

 mend the question of regulation of the clam fishery to your serious 

 consideration. Under the prevailing conditions the clam product of 

 the State is an insignificant fraction of what it might be, and does 

 not begin to supply the clams for home consumption. Occasionally, 

 after an exceptionally good set of clams, the condition is temporarily 

 improved, but even so the clams are dug or destroyed by digging be- 

 fore they are half grown. 



With respect to the most feasible means of reinstating the clam 

 industry, the expedient of closing a portion of the shore for a term 

 of two or more years and then opening it to the public, under suitable 

 restrictions, might be commended, but it is impracticable. Nothing 



