112 



THE MOLLUSK FISHERIES 



production. More men are engaged in the business than twenty-five 

 years ago, but the beds are raked clean in a shorter time. The annual 

 yield has sadly fallen off, in spite of improved methods of capture and 

 increased number of fishermen. This decline cannot here be attributed 

 to either of the natural enemies of the scallop, as neither the starfish 

 nor oyster drill are abundant. Severe climatic conditions and over- 

 fishing by man are the direct causes of this decline. 



The scallop area of New Bedford comprises approximately 400 acres, 

 principally in the Acushnet River and in Clark's Cove. 



In 1906-07, 38 licenses were issued by the city for scalloping. This 

 is a marked decrease over former years. Probably not all these men 

 fish regularly. In the last few years the season has been rather short, 

 lasting between three and four weeks, as the scallops were practically 

 all caught in that time. 



The capital required for the business, consisting of eat boats, skiffs, 

 dredges, shanties, etc., amounts to about $5,600; but this is merely 

 transient, and is only employed for three or four weeks, and then de- 

 voted to other fisheries. 



ANNUAL PRODUCTION. 



All scalloping is done by dredging from either cat boats or dories. 

 Since 1879 improvements have been made, and cat boats instead of 

 dories, each manned by one man with six dredges, now do the work 

 once wholly performed, as Ingersoll says, by dories. All the scallop- 

 ing takes place in deep water. 



When the law of 1905 made the Acushnet River and Clark's Cove 

 forbidden shellfish territory, because of the sewage pollution of the 

 harbor, the capture of scallops in season was still allowed. This was 

 based on the principle that there is no danger in eating the clean 

 "eye" of the scallop, although as a matter of fact there is actual 

 danger of typhoid infection to those handling anything from sewage- 

 polluted waters. 



The following notes were made Nov. 21, 1905, upon the fishery of that 

 year : 



At the opening of the season a bed of scallops was discovered just 

 outside the harbor beyond the light. Twenty-five boats set to work 

 immediately, but there was not a sufficient supply of scallops to keep 

 them long employed, and one by one they dropped out, until by No- 

 vember 21 only two or three boats were still engaged in the fishery. 



