REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF FISHERIES. 15 



BIOLOGICAL INQUIRIES AND EXPERIMENTS. 

 OYSTER [NVESTIGATIONS AND SURVEYS. 



The field work of the survey of the public oyster beds of James 

 River. Virginia, which was undertaken at the request of the governor 

 and the fish commissioner of Virginia, was brought to a conclusion 

 on September 15, the charts and report were finished on November 30, 

 and the printed report was issued about February 1. This survey 

 was designed to furnish definite data concerning the location, extent, 

 and condition of the public grounds in the James and Nansemond 

 rivers above Newport News and to provide a foundation for needed 

 legislation by the State. The present boundary lines are based on 

 the survey of 1892-1894, and their justice has long been a matter of 

 contention, the oystermen claiming that much productive bottom was 

 omitted from the public grounds, and the planters contending that 

 a large area of barren bottom was included. The present survey 

 could not demonstrate the validity of the first claim, as such bottoms, 

 if they existed, have been long since occupied for planting purposes, 

 but it was shown that about 58 per cent of the present area of the 

 grounds consists of barren bottom and an additional 15 per cent 

 bears oysters too sparsely scattered to be commercially valuable. Of 

 the 26,108.4 acres surveyed, but 7,153 acres can be regarded as actually 

 productive. It was found also that in certain places oyster planters 

 have encroached on the public rocks, and it was evident that in other 

 places adjoining the planted beds the rocks had been depleted by 

 illicit operations. 



To release from the public grounds and throw open to rental a 

 considerable area of the barren bottom and to rectify the boundary 

 lines so as to permit adequate policing, the state fish commissioner 

 had an enabling act introduced in the legislature at its latest session. 

 To attain the ends sought, it unfortunately was necessary to exclude 

 from the public grounds a small proportion of the productive bot- 

 tom, and as the legislature held that this was in contravention of a 

 constitutional provision relating to the oyster beds, the proposed 

 law failed of passage. 



At the request of the governor of Delaware, acting in his capacity 

 as chairman of the Delaware Oyster Survey Commission, the Bureau, 

 at the close of the fiscal year, was engaged in a survey of the natural 

 oyster beds of Delaware, the State defraying part of the expenses for 

 necessary temporary assistance. As in the case of the James River 

 survey, the steamer Fish. Hawk was detailed for the service, and a 

 considerable part of the work was performed by her personnel. 



The authorities of Alabama and Mississippi have also requested 

 assistance and advice in connection with the management of oyster 



