82 THE FISHERIES OF THE UNITED STATES. 



But it is to be remembered, tliat this is a matter of public and common right, and that it is not only the 

 lirivilege but the duty of the state, in relation to this common property, to see that it is fairly and evenly distributed 

 among those to whom it equally belongs, and that no person or class of persons shall obtain more than a just share 

 of its benefits. This principle is invariably recognized and acted upon in our legislation, relative to our inland 

 fisheries; relative to game; relative to steam-dredging on private grounds in certain localities; relative to the taking 

 of mature oysters, and even in the designation of grounds for the planting and cultivation of oysters, and any 

 legislation that ignores this principle, by favoritism in the granting away of public land, or any other public j)roperty, 

 is justly subjected to the reproach of its constituents. 



Further, it is for the preservation of the public oyster-grounds. We have seen that the area was limited, there 

 being in all only about 5,728 acres of the 500,000 acres covered by the waters of this state. This comparatively small 

 fraction of the whole is the sole natural nursery of all our oyster-growth ; and the existence of this natural oyster- 

 ground depends entirely upon the condition of the bottom. 



In order that any portion of the bottom may constitute a natural oyster-bed, it is essential that it should be 

 composed of cobble-stones, gravel, shell, or other similar hard substance, from which, by the action of the water, 

 slime and other impurities are naturally removed. Without these conditions the spawn, which is floating in the 

 water, will not be deposited and adhere ; no germ will be deposited ; no oyster-bed be formed. 



It is obvious, therefore, that any jiractice which tends to remove, diminish, or cover up this indispensable 

 foundation for the bed, inevitably leads to the destruction of the bed itself, and reduces the area of the natural 

 oyster-grounds of the state. The process of dredging necessarily removes, together with the seed gathered, some 

 portion of this essential foundation of the bed ; but by the style of construction and the comparatively lightweights 

 of dredges ordinarily employed by sailing-vessels, this objectionable feature of the business is in a large measure 

 obviated ; while we find that by the different style of construction and much greater weight of the dredges naturally 

 and almost invariably used by the steamers, they sink deeper and penetrate further into the bottom ; they more 

 readily overcome resistance; they gather up and remove much larger quantities of the foundation-material of the 

 beds, leave the surface in a broken and uneven condition, more liable to be buried in sand and rendered barren by 

 the action of the waters in a storm ; and they plough under, smother, and thus destroy the seed-oysters they do not 

 gather up. We find, from the evidence, that such has actually been the result of steam-dredging on certain portions 

 of iiublic oyster-growth. 



Prior to the fall of 1878, on the tract known as the " Shippen" bed off Stamford, there had been for years a good 

 annual growth. 



In the fall of that year a steam-dredge was worked over a very considerable portion of that bed, which portion, 

 since that time, has been tried and found totally unproductive; but on other portions of the bed, immediately 

 adjoining the place other operations, a good supi^ly has since been annually obtained. 



Prior to the fall of 1879 the " Noroton " bed, a tract of some 300 acres, was for the most part yearly covered with 

 an ample "set" of seed. A steamer dredged on a portion of that bed in the summer of that year, and thereafter 

 the ground on which she dredged was found unfruitful. 



For many years off' Fairfield bar there had been a valuable bed. Two steamers worked it, and since that time 

 no oysters have been found there. 



In 1879 two steamers dredged upon a small tract of natural ground known as the "Pond point" bed, off the 

 mouth of Milford harbor, which before that time had borne large quantities of oysters. It has since yielded 

 nothing. 



The owners of steamers argue that they will go into deep water and make beds, and assert that " only a few 

 years ago the natural bed off Bridgeport was only a little patch. By the work of the vessels it has been spread out 

 until it is five miles long and nearly a mile wide. There is no reason why it should not be made four times as large 

 by the introduction of steam ". 



In respect to this a citizen of South Norwalk remarks as follows, claiming to know whereof he speaks : 



The Bridgeport bed was discovered in Jnly, 1867. Then it extended from Black Eock harljor to Point-No-Point, at least four miles, 

 and was from one-half to one mile -nide, covering about three thousand acres. Capt. Sanuiel Byxbee, Joseph Coe, and William M. 

 Saunders were the first to go on it from this town. In one drift, in a light breeze, they caught over 300 bushels of seed. Capt. J. 

 Levinness, in going across the bed three times, took 1,000 bushels. Capt. Barnes piled the deck of a fifty-ton sloop in one drift. Catching 

 seed there was a constant letting go and hauliug, and men became so exhausted they fell down from sheer fatigue. At one time 450 sails 

 were counted at work on the bed and they had plenty of room. That number of vessels eouhl not be set on three acres, place them side by 

 side. Now the bed does not actually cover 40 acres, and is in small patches, scattered over the ground of the former bed. It has been 

 worked almost to death, and it only needs one season of steamers to exterminate it entirely. 



TIlis same gentleman expressed the sentiment of many of his neighbors, too, when he wrote to the Sea World 

 in 1879: 



Permit me to say that your correspondent uses sophistry in his argument that steam and machinery have the right of way, and that 

 aiauual labor must quietly submit to be displaced by it. It is the right and duty of every citizen of this state to ask that the legislation 

 be for the benefit of the many and not the few ; in the interests of labor rather than capital ; the weak rather than the strong ; and that 

 the puL'.ic domain be reserved for the benefit of all its citizens. 



