OF MASSACHUSETTS. 223 



Fairhaven. 



The clam industry at Fairhaven suffers from the unsanitary condition 

 of the flats, though in a lesser degree than at New Bedford. The finest 

 clam grounds of this town lie in the .proscribed district of the Acushnet 

 River, and handling or eating shellfish from this area is a positive 

 menace to the public health. 



A strip of gravel-mud about 100 feet in average width fringes the 

 shores of Priest's Cove, and this strip furnishes at present the best 

 digging-. Scattered patches of clams occur along the indentations of 

 Sconticut Neck, around West Island and along the coast of Little Bay. 

 No men are regularly employed in digging clams, though a rather 

 inefficient attempt is made at times to supply the local demand. 



SUMMARY OP INDUSTRY. 



Number of men, .......... 



Capital invested, .......... 



Production, 1907 : 



Bushels, 100 



Value, $100 



Total area (acres) : 



Sand, 



Mud, 25 



Gravel, 25 



Mussels and eel grass, 



Total, 50 



Productive area (acres) : 



Good clamming, 



Scattering clams, 25 



Barren area possibly productive (acres), 25 



Waste barren area (acres), ........ 



Possible normal production, . . $7,500 



New Bedford. 



The clam industry at New Bedford was never of any great im- 

 portance, but the unwise methods of sewage disposal of the city, 

 whereby the effluent enters the harbor in close proximity to the clam 

 flats, renders the taking of shellfish a positive menace to the public 

 health. The action of the State Board of Health in closing the Acushnet 

 River and Clark's Cove to the clam digger virtually annihilated the 

 remnant of the industry. Now practically all the available territory 

 of the city is proscribed, and no clams are allowed to be taken from this 

 area except for use as bait. Licenses are also required to take clams 

 even for bait from this proscribed territory. Three hundred and 

 twenty of these licenses have been issued since the passage of the act 

 in 1904. The annual yield of clams for this purpose cannot be accu- 

 rately ascertained, but probably does not exceed 250 bushels. No 

 important clam industry would ever have been possible at New Bed- 



