466 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



hold non-produciTig areas, for the purpose of planting oysters, as against 

 tlie individual citizen, but not as against tlie State; and even this 

 advantage has, in some sections, been gained in the face of strenuous 

 opposition. 



The following notes are not intended to deal vrith every phase of the 

 oyster industry of the State, but relate chiefly to the planting and cul- 

 tivating business, and to the methods and conditions under which it is 

 conducted in the more important localities. The tabulated statistics 

 apply to the years 1889, 1890, 1891, and 1892. 



I.— THE NORTHERN COAST OF NEW JERSEY. 



That part of New Jersey lying within or west of Sandy Hook 

 maintains an oyster industry of great extent. The importance of the 

 business is owing to the valuable j)lanting-grounds which exist off the 

 shores of this part of the State, to the favorable conditions, and to the 

 I)roximity of New York, Brooklyn, Jersey City, and other large cities 

 which furnish a constant market. The industry is centered in the cities 

 of Perth Amboy and Keyport, and in the Navesink and Shrewsbury 

 rivers. 



HUDSON AND UNION COUNTIES. 



These counties, bordering on Newark Bay and the upper part of 

 Staten Island Sound, have no oyster-cultivating industry, but are 

 quite extensively interested in the taking of oysters from the natural 

 grounds. The gathering of the small native oysters found in the 

 waters named is participated in by citizens of Middlesex and other 

 counties as well as by those of Hudson and Union counties, and con- 

 stitutes an important business, furnishing employment to a large 

 number of persons, most of whom are not otherwise engaged in the 

 oyster industry. 



In these waters oysters were formerly very abundant. The crop 

 derived from these grounds in 1892 by citizens of New Jersey was, 

 approximately, 100,000 bushels, and was worth about $60,000. The 

 product is almost wholly utilized as seed by the planters of New Jer- 

 sey and other States. For a number of years considerable quantities 

 of small- sized oysters from this section have been purchased by New 

 York dealers for shipment to San Francisco, to be planted chiefly in 

 San Francisco Bay. 



PERTH AMBOY. 



Perth Amboy, in Middlesex County, is the most northerly point in 

 New Jersey where the oyster-planting industry is systematically con- 

 ducted. The town has about 10,000 iuhabitants, and is situated on 

 Staten Island Sound, about one-fourth of a mile from its southern 

 entrance, and on the nortli side of the Earitan Eiver, which empties 

 into Earitan Bay. Oyster-planting was begun in this locality about 

 fifty years ago. The business is not now as extensive as it Avas m 

 fermer years, but is still of considerable imx)ortance. 



