21 REPORT OF COMMISSIONERS OF INLAND FISHERIES. 



V. The Continued Examination of the Physical and Biologi- 

 cal Conditions of the Waters of the Bay, Begun in 1898. 



Data concerning- the temperature and density of the water, the 

 occurrence of microscopic animals and plants which furnish food 

 for shell-fish, and miscellaneous notes in regard to various other 

 physical and biological conditions, which may be of use in future 

 investigations, are being collected by the commission. 



The changes in these conditions which have been brought 

 about by the opening of the breach into Point Judith Pond are 

 extremely interesting, and are of great importance from a practi- 

 cal point of view. The pond comprises a considerable body of 

 water. It is about four miles long, and one and a half miles wide 

 in the widest portion. The pond was formerly in more or less 

 free communication at its lower end with the salt waters of Long 

 Island Sound, but for many years has been closed during a con- 

 siderable part of the time by the sand bars. Through the efforts of 

 the local fishermen, the breach has from time to time been opened 

 enough to provide a runway for ale wives, which are annually 

 caught and prepared for export to the number of from 1,000 to 

 4,000 barrels. 



For several years, those who have recognized the possibilities 

 of this body of water, if its communication with the sea could be 

 maintained, have urged the permanent opening of the breach, and 

 in the spring of 1901 the work of making such a permanent open- 

 ing was begun, and is now near completion. The operations include 

 the dredging of a canal through the bar and well into the pond, 

 and the building of a jetty on the outside to prevent the subsequent 

 falling of the canal with sand. The results of the opening of the 

 breach have equalled the highest expectations. During the first 

 summer clams and oysters set very abundantly all over the pond, 

 the oysters lodging, not only on gravel, old shells, brush, etc., but 

 upon the widgeon grass. In the latter part of September, 1901, 

 the breach was closed, and was opened again on February 18th, 



