OF MASSACHUSETTS. 39 



of the supply. Both are perhaps true of the quahaug industry. The 

 demand, especially for " little necks," has been steadily on the increase, 

 and a broad inland market is gradually opening, since the quahaug is 

 capable of long transportation without perishing. So the increased 

 prices are a sign of the diminution of the supply, as well as of an in- 

 creased demand, the undeterminal factor being what ratio the one bears 

 to the other. 



The only way to determine accurately the decline in the natural sup- 

 ply is to compare the amount the average quahauger could dig ten or 

 twenty years ago with the amount dug to-day. Even this comparison 

 is unfair, as the better rakes, improved methods, etc., of the present 

 time tend to increase the daily yield of the quahauger. 



This decline can best be shown by taking special localities : 



(1) Buzzards Bay. The quahaug industry in Buzzards Bay has 

 shown a great decline in the past ten to twenty years, and the industry 

 is now at a low ebb, especially in the towns of Marion and Matta- 

 poisett. Ware^am, Bourne and Fairhaven still manage to ship about 

 27,000 bushels annually, employing over 200 men ; but this is hardly up 

 to their former standard. To-day at Wareham the daily catch per man 

 is one-fifth of what it was twenty years ago; in 1887 a man could dig 

 5 bushels to a catch of 1 bushel now. Buzzards Bay perhaps has shown 

 the greatest quahaug decline. 



(2) South Side of Cape Cod. While not so marked a decline has 

 taken place as in Buzzards Bay, every quahauger agrees that the in- 

 dustry is gradually failing. In Bass River, at Hyannis, and in Chat- 

 ham, there is a marked decrease, while at Cotuit and Osterville the 

 industry has remained stationary. 



(3) North Side of Cape Cod. The best quahaug fishery of Massa- 

 chusetts, except at Edgartown, is found on the north side of Cape Cod, 

 in the towns of Wellfleet, Eastham and Orleans. These three towns 

 give an annual yield of 75,000 bushels. Only about fifteen years old 

 commercially, the industry has passed its prime and is on the decline. 

 This decline is shown both by production figures and by the gradual 

 moving to deeper water. As the quahaugs were thinned out in shallow 

 water, the fishermen moved farther and farther out, using long rakes, 

 until 60-foot rakes are now used at a depth of 50 feet. Probably the 

 60-foot limit will never be exceeded, unless a method of dredging is 

 devised; and it will be only a question of years when the industry will 

 become extinct. 



(4) Nantucket. The industry here has generally declined, though 

 in the last few years there has been a slight increase in production. 



(5) Edgartown. The quahaug industry at Edgartown has declined 

 little, if any, while the fishery has been carried on for many years. The 

 natural resources have not been seriously impaired, owing to the effi- 

 cient town management; and Edgartown can be congratulated on being 

 the only town in the State that can boast of a protected industry. 



