442 REPORT OP COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



The study of the fisheries of this region will ))e greatly facilitated 

 by consulting the earlier publications relating to them, as follows: 



The Fishery Industries of the United States, Section ii. Geograx)hical Review of the 



Fisheries for 1880. Parts vi to xi, inclusive. 

 The Fishery Industries of the United States, Section v. History and Methods of the 



Fisheries. 

 A statistical report on the Fisheries of the Middle Atlantic States, by Hugh M. 



Smith, M. D. Bull. U. S. Fish Com. 1894, pp. 339-467. 

 The Oyster Industry of Maryland, by Charles H. Stevenson. Bull. IT. S. Fish Com. 



1892, pp. 203-297. 

 The Sturgeon and Sturgeon Industries of the Eastern Coast of the United States, by 



John A. Ryder. Bull. U. S. Fish Com. 1888, pp. 231-328. 

 The Sturgeon Fishery of Delaware River and Bay, by John N. Cobb. Rept. U. S. 



Fish Com. 1899, pp. 369-380. 

 Notes on the Oyster Industry of New Jersey, by Anslev Hall. Rept. U. S. Fish 



Com. 1892, pp. 463-528. 

 The Shad Fisheries of the Atlantic Coast of the United States, by Charles H. Steven- 

 son. Rept. U. S. Fish Com. 1898, pp. 101-269. 

 Notes on the extent and condition of the Alewife Fisheries of the United States in 



1896, by Hugh M. Smith. Rept. U. S. Fish Com. 1898, pp. 31-43. 

 Statistics of the Fisheries of the Middle Atlantic States. Rept. U. S. Fish Com. 1900, 



pp. 195-310. 



FISHERIES OF NEW YORK. 



Considering the value of the fisher}^ product, New York now ranks 

 second among the Middle Atlantic States, being surpassed only by 

 New Jersey. The returns for 1901 show about 10 per cent increase 

 over those for 1898, the total value amounting to $3,545,189 in 1898, 

 and $3,894,270 in 1901. 



The oyster industry yields about 50 per cent of the value of the 

 fisheries of New York, the product in 1901 amounting to 1,768,703 

 bushels of market oysters and 544,075 bushels of seed oysters to be 

 replanted, the whole worth $1,972,540. This industry is now almost 

 wholly dependent on the growing of oysters on private areas, which 

 a few years ago were entirely barren and unproductive. In the same 

 year, the natural oj^ster reefs, to which the public resorted, yielded only 

 5,480 bushels of market oysters and 33,890 bushels of seed oysters, 

 with a valuation of $20,104, or little more than 1 per cent of the total 

 oyster product of the State. 



One of the most interesting of the recent developments in the oyster 

 industry of New Y^ork is the extensive planting of seed oysters at the 

 eastern end of Long Island, especiall}^ in the vicinity of Greenport 

 and Southold. This began ten years ago, and at present about 350,000 

 bushels are planted annually, the seed being obtained from Long- 

 Island Sound. The oysters in those waters grow very rapidly, but, 

 not fattening readil}-, they are usually taken up within a year and 

 again planted in Great South Bay and elsewhei'e. 



An offset to the development of oyster-planting in Peconic Bay is 

 the decrease in this industry in Shinnecock Bay, on the south side of 

 Long Island. In 1898 the private areas in that bay yielded 43,000 

 bushels of oysters, worth about $1 per luishel; but, owing to the fail- 

 ure on the part of the town tuithoritics to secure the planters in their 



