110 lii:i'01iT OF (.'OMMISSIONER OF FLSH AND FISHERIES. 



ATLANTIC COAST. 



C)V«TE]{ INVESTIGATIONS. 

 LONG ISLAND SOUND. 



The Steamer Fish llaick, Lieut. Robert Piatt, U. S. N., comniaiuling, 

 was at work upon the oyster- grounds of Loug Island Sound during a 

 part of both 1880 and ISOO. In tlie former year the investigations were 

 begun on August 18 and terminated on October 8; in the latter year 

 they continued from June 11 until October 16. 



During the season of 1889, Dr. C. F. Hodge, of Clark University, 

 served as naturalist, and the operations were restricted chiefly to dredg- 

 ing on and about the oyster beds, and to experimenting with traps and 

 other devices intended for the capture of starfishes. Certain state- 

 ments having gained currency, to the effect that the waters of Long 

 Island Sound do not interchange freely with the waters of the open 

 ocean, and are thereby rendered more or less stagnant and impure 

 from the accumulation of town sewage and the effects of the dumping- 

 grounds, to the serious detriment of the oyster beds, the greater part 

 of the season of 1890 was occupied in making physical and chemical 

 investigations to determine the actual sanitary ccmdition of the region, 

 but after their completion the dredging and natural-history work was 

 again taken up. Mr. E. E. Haskell was detailed by the Superintendent 

 of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey to conduct the physical inqui- 

 ries, wliile Mr. FredNeher, of Princeton College, was employed to make 

 the chemical observations. The natural-history work was attended to 

 by Mr. James E. Benedict, of the U. S. National Museum, and Mr. W. C.- 

 Kendall, of the Fish Commission. 



The luitural oyster beds of Connecticut are restricted to the bays and 

 inlets and to the shallow waters near the shore, extending sometimes, 

 however, into deptlis of 3 to 5 fathoms. The artificial or planted beds 

 are for the most part outside of the natural ones, and they have been 

 carried in some instances as far as the middle of the sound, and into 

 depths occasionnlly of 13 to 11 fathoms. Both the natural and ])lanted 

 beds are mostly limited to the western half of the sound, comparatively 

 few areas occurring to the eastward of New Haven Harbor. The Fish 

 Commission o])tiiined for its use, through the courtesy of the State Fish 

 Commission, n complete set of the engineer's charts showing the exact 

 position of all the grounds sold for planting purposes. The same data 

 has since been ])ublished by the Connecticut Bureau of Labor Statistics 

 on a. smaller scale, and in a very convenient form for reference. An 

 examination of these charts shows that the area of bottom which has 

 been sold for oyster ])urposes is relatively very large, covering up to 

 1889 a total extent of over 78,000 acres, it must be borne in mind, how- 

 ever, that not all of tliis bottom has been planted with oysters; in some 



