THE GREAT DECLINE OF THE OYSTER INDUSTRY IN 

 CONNECTICUT AND RHODE ISLAND. 



By Henry C. Rowe. 



Daytonia Beach, Florida. 



The Oyster Industry of Connecticut and Rhode Island is 

 progressing rapidly toward extinction. 



Between 1875 and 1881 a vast oyster farming industry was 

 developed in the State of Connecticut, which furnished for over 

 thirty years employment for thousands and food for millions. 

 Later, the same men, who created the Connecticut enterprise, 

 extended their operations into Rhode Island waters. During 

 the past ten years, however, the industry in both of these States 

 has been diminished by more than one-half and is rapidly declining 

 toward the point from which it commenced more than forty years 

 ago. 



We who devote our efforts to increase the production of food, 

 must consider the reverses and disasters, as well as the successful 

 enterprises, in order to intelligently point the way to a remedy. 

 The public interest requires that the facts should be known, 

 because the destruction of a great food producing industry is a 

 public calamity, especially when the demand for food so much 

 exceeds the supply that prices are more than double what they 

 were four years ago. Should we not, therefore, consider the 

 impending extinction of oyster production in these states, with 

 the cause and the remedy, if it is not too late? 



It appears that more than one-half of those formerly engaged 

 in the oyster industry in these two states have abandoned this 

 occupation and that the product is now less than one-third what 

 it was eight years ago. 



The official report of the Rhode Island Commission of Shell 

 Fisheries for 1918 (page 45) shows that the total annual rental 

 of oyster grounds was reduced in 1917 to $74,413. This was a 

 decrease during five years from $135,000, being a loss of about 

 45%. According to a statement of Hon. Brayton A. Round, 

 Clerk of Shell Fisheries, made in February, 1919, a still further 

 decrease of rental occurred during the year 1918, so that the 



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