OF MASSACHUSETTS. 7 



opportunities for employment, in addition to increasing the 

 quantity of sea fish landed upon our shores. 



For these reasons it has seemed wise to the Legislature to 

 devote some attention to the questions involved in the very 

 obvious decline in the shellfish production along our coasts, 

 since this decline affects not alone the shore communities, but, 

 to some degree, every citizen of the State. The problem must 

 be viewed in its broad aspect. The source and the supply of 

 sea food is not solely and exclusively the peculiar asset of the 

 seashore town, to be kept forever closed to development. It 

 should be truly public, in the sense which our forefathers in- 

 tended, i.e., " free to every citizen of the Commonwealth," free, 

 not for plunder and destruction, but for intelligent development 

 for the increased production of food and wealth. 



Inasmuch as the scallop (Pecten irradians) and the lobster 

 (Homarus vulgaris), though formerly exceedingly numerous 

 and cheap, have now become merely a delicacy, practically be- 

 yond the reach of the average citizen, it -seemed desirable to in- 

 vestigate for the purpose of suggesting some feasible methods for 

 increasing the market supply, before the source is commercially 

 exhausted. 



To say that the fault lies in the increased use of these foods 

 is but idly begging the question. The fault rather lies in the 

 failure to assist Nature, which is ever ready to respond to 

 intelligent and well-directed efforts to increase her bounty. 



The report covers in very considerable detail the facts con- 

 nected with the scallop industry. The notable peculiar fact in 

 the life history, the weak link in the chain of supply, and, there- 

 fore, of greatest importance, is that the abundance and even the 

 continuance of the scallop depend chiefly upon the generation 

 immediately preceding. Thus, successful fishing depends upon 

 the number of eggs laid by the previous generation of scallops. 

 The number of eggs laid depends upon how many adults lived 

 through the vicissitudes of the previous winter, after escaping 

 the dredges of the scallopers. As a general rule, the scallop 

 lays but a single litter of eggs, inconceivably vast in numbers, 

 but yet only a single litter. It seems surprising that nature 

 should, so to speak, rest all on a single throw. So narrow, indeed, 

 is the margin of safety that the excessive destruction of scallops 



