KEPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 7 



unsolved, but the commission believe that at the present stage of 

 research the main difficulties in the way of developing a clam in- 

 dustry of great value, and of .credit to the State, lie in the atti- 

 tude of the people who frequent the shores. Ideal legislation 

 •which, in the opinion of the commission, would give immediate 

 and highly beneficial results is perhaps at the present time im- 

 practicable because of the great difficulty in enforcing its provis- 

 ions. The difficulty which has been experienced by this and other 

 States in enforcing laws regulating the oyster, scallop, and lobster 

 fisheries, where the apparatus used is comparatively expensive 

 and conspicuous and used in a limited territory, would become 

 very much greater in case of the clam legislation. The territory 

 is very much greater, and is scattered over a hundred miles of the 

 shore line of our Bay ; the apparatus used is practically of no 

 value and easily concealed, and it would obviously be extremely 

 difficult and expensive, even if it were possible, to patrol the 

 shores and prevent poaching. The proposition of leasing the 

 shores to private parties, to the exclusion of others, presents a 

 grave question of constitutional right and of general advisability. 

 While there seems to be no doubt that the clam output could be 

 greatly increased by prohibiting- digging for a limited time, 

 together with the planting of the shores with seed clams, or, on 

 the other hand, by leasing the shore to private parties, it is doubt- 

 ful if either of these extreme measures would be advisable at the 

 present time. 



The work of the commission upon the life-history of the scallop 

 has emphasized the necessity for the strict enforcement of the 

 scallop law, and has furnished positive and much needed means 

 of determining the age of the scallop. A new method of hatch- 

 ing flat-fish has been devised by the commission, which has the 

 advantage of the one commonly used, in being simpler and capa- 

 ble of installment in any protected harbor or estuary. The occur- 

 rence of "red-water" in such abundance as to constitute a plague, 

 which has caused the death of great quantities of fish and shell- 

 fish, has been investigated and found to be caused by the presence 



