54 Report of the Board of Shell Fish Commissioners. 



QUEEN ANNE'S COUNTY. 



The oyster-producing waters of Maryland situated within the 

 territorial limits of, and adjacent to, Queen Anne's County which 

 will be opened with Queen Anne's County with the object of leasing 

 the underlying barren bottoms for the purposes of oyster culture, 

 include those of that part of the Wye river and Eastern bay situ- 

 ated above the boundary line between Queen Anne's and Talbot 

 Counties; Prospect bay and Kent Island Narrows; Crab Alley 

 creek; Cox creek; the section of the Chesapeake bay adjacent to 

 Kent Island; Corsica river and the part of Chester river situated 

 below the boundary line between Queen Anne's and Kent Counties. 



The natural oyster bars of the section of Chesapeake bay adja- 

 cent to Queen Anne's County have been designated for the use of 

 dredgers, but those in all other waters of the county have been set 

 aside for the exclusive use of tongmen. 



The tongmen of Queen Anne's and Talbot Counties have equal 

 fishery rights on all of the grounds reserved to the public oyster 

 fishery of the State in Wye river proper, and its branch south of 

 Wye Island, and the tongmen of Queen Anne's and Kent Counties 

 have equal fishery rights on all of the natural oyster bars in Chester 

 river. 



The bottoms beneath all of these waters which were claimed by 

 the local assistant for Queen Anne's County to be productive of 

 oysters, aggregating a total area of about 27,922 acres, were surveyed 

 and examined. The bottoms found to be sufficiently well stocked 

 with oysters and cultch to justify their reservation to the public 

 oyster fishery of the State, have been charted within the limits of 

 98 natural oyster bars, covering 24,721 acres. 



The name, date of survey, area, number of corners, present con- 

 dition and prospective future yield of each oyster bar, is given in 

 statistical tables on pages 



The grounds which failed to measure up to the adopted standard 

 of a natural oyster bar together with other barren bottoms suited 

 for the purposes of oyster culture, aggregating a total area of about 

 6,000 acres, will soon be opened for lease. 



The table, or rule by which the status of the surveyed and exam- 

 ined areas was automatically determined is the one printed on page 



