202 American Fisheries Society. 



of oysters a year and it required many years for the fishermen 

 to awaken to the fact that the oyster rocks were exhaustible. It 

 was but a few years after the migration of the Chesapeake oyster, 

 however, before the New England oyster culturists started on their 

 successful career as oyster growers. The cultivated oysters com- 

 manded a higher price and the product was marketed in a manner 

 which greatly increased its value. The little State of Rhode Island 

 developed bottoms which brought in considerable revenue, the 

 oyster planter paying a rental of $10 an acre a year. The State 

 of Connecticut sold its bottoms in fee, a great mistake from the 

 state's standpoint as it was later realized, since it materially re- 

 duced the annual revenue from oyster bottoms. 



It is said that until 1910 Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Con- 

 necticut, and New York were most successful with the cultivation 

 of the oyster. The culturist had met and overcome all difficulties. 

 The most dangerous and serious enemy to the northern bivalve, 

 the starfish, had been successfully controlled by means of "tangles," 

 and even the drill, with its rasping tongue, did not affect successful 

 oyster propagation in New England waters. 



For practically the past ten years, however, the necessary set 

 of spat has failed in northern waters and thousands of acres of 

 the best planting bottoms are now considered of little value. The 

 cause of this serious setback has been investigated by the Bureau 

 of Fisheries for several years, and while their report on this sub- 

 ject has never come to my attention, I understand that pollution 

 of the waters is largely responsible for the lack of young oyster 

 larvae, and the most serious pollution has been found to be caused 

 by oil sludge from oil-burning ships. 



The South Atlantic States and especially Louisiana, which 

 borders on the Gulf, have made much progress in oyster propaga- 

 tion and have experienced a noteworthy augmentation of yield dur- 

 ing recent years. A government report in 1913 gave the seven 

 leading oyster states at that time as Rhode Island, Connecticut, 

 New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia and Louisiana ; in 

 each of these states over 1,000,000 bushels of oysters were marketed 

 annually. Virginia was the ranking state as regards production, 

 with over 6,000,000 bushels, followed by Maryland, with over 

 5,500,000 bushels, and Connecticut with 4,000,000 bushels. - As re- 

 gards value of oysters taken, Connecticut and New York led, with 



