CLAM FISHERY OF PASSAMAijUODDY BAY 

 SESSIONAL PAPER No. 22a 



Year 1899--1900. 



35 



Leaving Date. 



1890. 



1900. 



Oct. 

 Nov. 



Schooner. 



Trilby.... 

 Icelda. . . 



Kate 



Fleetwing 



Charlie Richardson 

 .1 11 John Franklin. . . . 

 April 20iCharlie Richardson 



„ 20 M. Owen 



.- 28 Cilish 



1 Katie 



SiAltona 



SlTrilby 



June 15 1 Mary Kate 



May 



Tonnage 



34 

 19 

 14 

 15 

 40 

 20 

 18 

 26 

 72 

 39 

 14 

 28 

 31 

 13 



Of 



Shelburne 



Liverpool. 

 Shelburne 



Halifax. . . 



Men. 



To 



17 



7 



5 



(i 



10 



11 



5 



11 



15 



11 



5 



11 



11 







Barrels. 



Lockeport 



Yarmouth 

 Le Have. . 

 Lockeport 



Shelburne 



Value. 



It takes five barrels of fresh clams (in the shell) to make one barrel of salted, 

 shelled clams, so that last year the Nova Scotia fishermen took 5,825 barrels of fresh 

 clams — five times as many as are shipped to Boston for food. Many people in St. 

 Andrews object that the Nova Scotians come and take nearly 86,000 worth, and with- 

 out leaving a dollar in the town. Accordingly, last year, it was arranged to make it 

 unpleasant for them, and an attempt was made to drive them away. But instead of 

 going away as was desired, or of anchoring in the harbour or close by as formerly, they 

 went to Chamcook Harbour, and the northern part of the bay round Bocabec, Digde- 

 quash, &c., where large quantities of shells mark their camping grounds. Judging from 

 the large numbers of clams taken I should think that these fishermen do not so much 

 require them for their own use as for selling to and supplying others who go to the fish- 

 ing waters of Newfoundland. This supposition appears to be strengthened also by the 

 fact that some of the vessels come twice a year— in the autumn and again in the spring. 



REGULATIONS, TRANSPLANTING, ETC. 



In Canada there are no regulations restricting the clam fisheries. The territory 

 is free to everybody to dig where he likes, and when and how it pleases him, whether 

 he is resident at the place or comes from other parts of Canada or the United States. 

 The large number of clams yearly taken from the vicinity of St. Andrews is a good 

 indication of the value that might accrue from a judicial working of our natural clam 

 beds, and from encouraging and facilitating their growth, multiplication and distribu- 

 tion. There is, perhaps, no ground for fear of the clam ever becoming extinct on our 

 shores. The fisherman has no use for undersized clams, and could not find them all any- 

 way, so that there will always be enough of these left to grow up and continue to pei*- 

 petuate the species. On the other hand the removal of so many of the largest clams 

 from a small district each year cannot but have some effect in diminishing the amount 

 of spawn deposited for replenishing the depleted mud flats. Besides there is the effect 

 of interference with their natural beds. Of those clams rejected by the fishermen 

 many large ones are broken and left to die and putrefy, while thousands that az^e too 

 small for market are disturbed, injured or left exposed to the sun, or in such conditions 

 that they are incapable of readily becoming buried again. The adult clam does not 

 easily move to a fresh place when left exposed on the surface, neither can it quickly 

 make a new burrow. Recognizing the small size of its foot in proportion to the whole 

 size of the animal when compared with one of our fresh-water forms, I performed some 

 simple experiments to discover if Mya arenaria could bury itself again after being once 

 disturbed. A little way above low water mark I made several stone pens by placing 

 good sized stones together in a circle, sufficiently close together to prevent egress 

 of the clams or ingress of whelks, as well as to protect against tide currents. 

 22a — ?>\ 



