48 Report of the Board of Shell Fish Commissioners. 



THE UPPER BAY- "LUMPS" PROBLEM AND THE 

 CULL LAW. 



INTRODUCTION. 



On account of frequent controversies and discussions in which 

 the "Lumps," situated in the upper part of the Chesapeake bay, are 

 the subject, the results of the examinations of these oyster bottoms 

 which were carried on by the Shell Fish Commission will be re- 

 ceived with more than usual interest by those who take an active 

 interest in problems connected with the oyster fishery because great 

 difficulty has been experienced in securing accurate and unbiased 

 information concerning the conditions which prevail in this section. 



The object in stating and briefly discussing the problem presented 

 by the lumps in this connection, however, is that the General As- 

 sembly may see how the problem involves not only the relatively 

 unimportant oyster grounds known collectively as "the lumps," but 

 that it presents a condition which may involve and threaten the wel- 

 fare of the entire oyster industry of the State, and one therefore 

 that calls for consideration and solution. 



THE CASE AS REPORTED. 



The belief seems to be general that an enormous area of natural 

 oyster beds exists in the part of the bay situated above a line con- 

 necting Bodkin point, on the Western Shore, with Swan point, on 

 the Eastern Shore, on which young oysters become attached in ex- 

 traordinary abundance each spawning season only to stunted in 

 their growth or possibly killed in the spring by the floods of fresh 

 water which are poured into the headwaters of the Chesapeake by 

 the Susquehanna river and other tributaries following the spring 

 rains and thaws. It is said that on account of the many vicissitudes 

 which attend the lives of these oysters they seldom attain market- 

 able size, but that fully 90% of the stock on the beds even at the 

 end of the oystering season is made up of oysters measuring less than 

 2J/2 inches in length, hence not marketable under the Cull Law, and 

 that it is not profitable to cull out the large quantity of undersized 

 oysters in order to secure the 10% of salable stock. 



It is known that the canning houses of Baltimore are in a position 

 to handle enormous quantities of oysters and that their demand 



