62 Report of the Board of Shell Fish Commissioners. 



the lower part of Crab Alley creek and in the small cove above- 

 Johnson's Islands. 



COX CREEK. 



(Shown on chart of natural oyster bars No. 31.) 



All of the waters situated north of the broken line, connecting 

 the following points are considered to belong to Cox creek, namely, 

 Turkey Point, at the southeastern end of Cox Neck, the points form- 

 ing the northwestern and southeastern extremities of the chain of 

 small islands in the vicinity of Turkey point, the points at the north- 

 eastern and southwestern ends of the small island at the entrance 

 of the small unnamed creek south of Shipping creek, and the point 

 on Kent Island at the mouth of this creek on the south. As thus 

 defined, the creek expands abruptly at its mouth into a wide bay 

 into which three small creeks empty from the west and north,, 

 through a common mouth, none of which are productive of oysters. 

 Into the upper part of Cox creek two other tributaries enter also 

 from the west, Warehouse and Thompsons creeks, the lower por- 

 tions of which contain natural oyster grounds. 



The wide and almost direct connection of these waters with 

 those of the Chesapeake bay through Eastern bay, gives to them a 

 salinity favorable for the growth of oysters to a point nearly four 

 miles above the mouth of the creek, and productive oyster beds 

 were found to occupy practically all of the underlying bottoms. 

 These productive oyster grounds, aggregating a total area of 1,73a 

 acres, have been charted and reserved to the Public Oyster Fishery 

 of the State within the limits of fourteen natural bars. 



The muddy bottom in the middle of the channel of the wide lower 

 part of Cox creek is too soft to support oysters, but this barren area 

 is not extensive and it has been included within the limits of Ring old 

 Middleground and Batts Neck bars. In this region the hard, sandy 

 beaches along the shores are wide and constitute the greater part of 

 the bottoms upon which oysters were found to grow. The strips of 

 soft, sticky oyster-bearing bottoms which are sandwitched between 

 the sandy bottoms and the soft barren channel are here very nar- 

 row, but in the upper narrower part of the creek they unite (the 

 channel itself becoming productive of oysters) and toward the 

 shore they expand until practically all of the area occupied by natu- 

 ral bars is thus constituted. In the upper part of the creek the 

 beaches of sand become very narrow and at some places they are 



