15 
Besides these submarine marauders with which the oysterman has 
to contend, there are foes above the water quite as dangerous. A 
great many bushels of oysters are stolen from the beds annually. In 
the report of last year, the exposure of oyster grounds, especially the 
more remote, to the depredations of oyster thieves was clearly shown; 
and it was then believed that some action would be taken looking to 
more effective protection of the beds by law. ‘To this end, after con- 
sultation with all parties interested, a law was prepared, against 
which no opposition was manifested in the committee or elsewhere; 
and yet it was reported on adversely, and so defeated. The sole ob- 
ject of the law was to provide for numbering all vessels employed 
upon the oyster grounds of the State, and compelling them while so 
employed to display their numbers continuously, so that they could 
be readily recognized at a distance. Vessels without numbers found 
on the beds, or vessels with numbers if working on their neighbors’ 
grounds, would be easily detected. Sucha law would render thieving 
without detection almost impossible. The text of the law was as 
follows. It is fully approved by the Commissioners and the oyster- 
men alike, and it should be adopted: 
An Act pertaining to shell fishery grounds within the exclusive jurisdic- 
tion of the State, and to vessels and steamers employed thereon. 
SECTION 1. The owner or owners of every sail vessel or steamer 
which shall hereafter be employed in the business of cultivating, gath- 
ering, planting, or transporting shellfish on the shell fishery grounds 
within the exclusive jurisdiction of the State, or which shall be other- 
wise used or employed hereafter on said grounds, shall, previous to 
such use or employment, file in the office of the Commissioners of Shell 
Fisheries a sworn statement, signed by such owner or owners, which 
shall contain the name and description of such vessel or steamer, its 
home port, the name or names and the residence or residences of its 
owner or owners, and her proposed employment; whereupon the Com- 
missioners of Shell Fisheries shall grant to such owner or owners a 
license to use such vessel or steamer in such employment, and shall 
give a number to such vessel, which shall be plainly painted or marked 
in figures of such character, size, and color, and in such place or places 
on such vessel or steamer as the Commissioners may direct; and such 
number shall be conspicuously and continuously displayed as so 
directed, by such vessel or steamer while on any shell fishery eros 
within the exclusive jurisdiction of the State. 
SEC. 2. The owner or owners of any vessel. or steamer that shall 
hereafter be employed or used upon any shell fishery grounds within 
the exclusive jurisdiction of the State, without the license provided in 
the foregoing section, or without displaying the number of such vessel 
