Report of the Board of Shell Fish Commissioners. 41 



Barren and exhausted bottoms suitable for oyster culture cover- 

 ing about 40 acres will be available for lease when the county is 

 opened. 



CHESAPEAKE BAY. 



(Shown on charts of natural oyster bars Nos. 28 and 29.) 



The lines bounding the section of the Chesapeake bay adjacent 

 to Kent County, to be opened with the territorial waters of Kent 

 County, which have been established by the Shell Fish Commission 

 for the purpose of leasing the underlying barren bottoms for the 

 purpose of oyster culture, are described in this report on page 34, 

 and they will be technically described and denned in a report en- 

 titled "Survey of Oyster Bars of Kent County," prepared by Cap- 

 tain C. C. Yates in co-operation with the Shell Fish Commission, 

 and published by the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey.* 



In this section of the bay nine natural oyster bars which have 

 been charted to contain 6,172 acres, have been reserved to the Pub- 

 lic Oyster Fishery of the State. From eight of these bars oysters 

 may be taken with dredges, but, as stated on page 34, Swan Point 

 bar has been set aside for the exclusive use of tongmen. 



East Neck Bay bar as charted appears to be continuous with Love 

 Point bar, the two being separated by the Kent-Queen Anne bound- 

 ary line. The oyster producing part of the reserved bottom, how- 

 ever, is confined to the hard sandy area situated northeast of the 

 deep, muddy channel at the end of Love Point sandbar. The 

 water over the bar varies in depth from 20 to 30 feet. As a whole 

 the bar was found to be very much depleted and about 90 acres of 

 the bottoms pointed out for survey and examination failed to meas- 

 ure up to the adopted standard of a natural bar, and was not in- 

 cluded within the limits of the reserved area. 



Swan Point bar, which constitutes a very considerable part of 

 the ground on which the tongmen of Rock Hall and vicinity secure 

 their livelihood, does not include the sand bar of that name, but lies 

 west of it. Something more than one-half of the bar, the part 

 south of Swan point, is situated upon bottoms composed almost en- 

 tirelv of sand, but with sufficient sediment intermixed to produce 



* Copies of this report, and the accompanying charts, can be secured by apply- 

 ing to the Superintendent of the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey, Washing- 

 ton, D. C. 



