36 THE MOLLUSK FISHERIES 



CAPITAL. 



Capital is needed for the best success of any business. In a broad 

 sense, the tools, implements, etc., of the shellfisherman are capital. In 

 the future, if the shellfisheries are to become a great industry, money 

 as working capital is indispensable. Blind objection to the employ- 

 ment of capital on the part of the fishermen works against the best 

 interests of the shellfisheries. 



SHELLFISH MONOPOLY. 



For years the fishermen have feared that the shellfisheries would fall 

 into the hands of a few companies or trusts, and the individual fisher- 

 man thereby lose his independence. As the present age tends toward 

 the formation of monopolies in all business, the fears of the fishermen 

 are not altogether groundless in this respect; nevertheless, while there 

 are certain chances of monopoly in the shellfisheries, these chances are 

 very small. In the first place, a monopoly of a raw edible product, 

 such as shellfish, is hardly possible. Never can it be possible for any 

 one company to control all or the majority of a shellfish supply, which 

 possesses unlimited possibilities of expansion. 



Secondly, there are but two ways in which a monopoly of the shell- 

 fisheries can be obtained: one is the control of the market by buying 

 up all the shellfish, a thing far easier under the present conditions ; 

 the other, by buying through contract the rights of the individual 

 planters. The success of such an enterprise would depend wholly 

 upon the personnel of the shellfishermen, and such a result could never 

 become possible if each shellfisherman would refuse to sell his rights. 



SUMMARY. 



This survey has shown (1) that the shellfisheries have declined (an 

 established fact) ; (2) that the causes of the decline are overfishing 

 and unwise laws; (3) that the remedy is, not to check the demand, as 

 has been previously attempted, but to increase the production by the 

 utilization of vast areas of barren flats, which have been experimentally 

 proved capable of yielding a great harvest; (4) that the present 

 chaotic laws render this impossible; (5) that there is a nee"d of reform, 

 or else the shellfisheries will soon disappear; (6) that the first step is 

 the removal of these laws to permit the application of proper cultural 

 methods. 



QUAHAUG (Venus mercenaria). 



Inhabiting common waters with the scallop, the northern range of 

 the quahaug (the hard-shell clam or " little neck ") in Massachusetts is 

 Plymouth. Commercially it is found both on the north and south 

 side of Cape Cod and in Buzzards Bay, the principal fisheries 

 being at Wellfleet, Orleans, Edgartown, Nantucket and in Buzzards Bay. 



