286 



GEOGRAPHICAL KEV1EW OF THE FISHERIES. 



property, to be administered for the greatest good to the greatest number. Ehode Islanders are 

 extremely tenacious of these shore and water rights, and there has been no little quarreling over 

 some actions of the legislators and decisions of the courts with respect to this subject ; but, upon 

 the whole, there has been little alteration of the original law. The general statute, in substan- 

 tially its present shape, came into force in 1864. Previous to that time the State had let oyster- 

 grounds at $1 rent per acre, and not much business was done. 



Five out of the thirty-two towns that compose the State are situated on islands. The bays 

 embraced within the State and the extensive salt ponds near the southern coast abound with shell- 

 fish. To ascertain the extent and value of these fisheries the Bhode Island Society for the En- 

 couragement of Domestic Industry made great exertions, but without success, at the time of the 

 general census of 1860. A statement, nevertheless, exists in the report of 1800 that the oysters 

 of Ehode Island were valued at $382,170, out of a total of about $600,000 for all the fisheries, 

 excluding whales. In 1865 this point was made a special feature, and much fuller information 

 was gathered. " These statistics," says the report of the general assembly's committee, " must, 

 from the nature of the case, depend to some extent upon estimates. For example, the clams on 

 the shores are free to all the inhabitants of the State who choose to dig them. Persons come to 

 the shores from all quarters, and often from distances of several miles, and dig as many clams 

 as they choose to eat or carry home. Nothing is exactly known of the quantities thus removed. 

 The only estimates which could be made were from the opinions of the owners of shore farms." 



The following is the table of the product of the shell fish industry as presented by the 

 committee in 1865 : 



Although the amounts in the above table ought to have been doubled to represent the truth in 

 each case, on the average, yet they show that when the new law, putting a rent of $10 an acre and 

 organizing the oyster interest under careful control by the State, went iuto operation, the whole 

 value of the industry was very small, compared with the present. Since the passage of this 

 statute the oyster interest has steadily grown in importance. 



Nevertheless, there has always been more or less grumbling on the part of the owners of leases* 

 who pleaded that they are paying an exorbitant rent. The general financial depression of 1873-'76 



