8 SEVENTH REPORT OF THE SHELL FISH COMMISSIONERS 
What this burden was will appear in the following abstract of 
the law. They were required: 
rt. To run a shore line the whole length of the State, from 
New York on the west to Rhode Island on the east; by which 
line the grounds reserved for the State’s jurisdiction were separ- 
ated from the grounds left to the towns. 
2. To make a survey and a complete map of all the oyster 
grounds which had been designated in previous years by the 
several town committees for oyster cultivation within the area of 
Long Island Sound, between said shore line on the north and the 
New York boundary line on the south, and to ascertain who were 
the owners thereof. 
3. To ascertain what proportion of each lot of said grounds 
was in actual use. 
4. To explore and survey all zatural oyster beds and clam 
beds in said area. 
5. To outline each natural bed and map it in its proper place. 
6. ‘To employ a clerk. 
7. To grant designations of grounds for oyster cultivation, 
8. To prepare forms for applications, notices, designations, 
and assignments, to be approved by the Chief Justice of the 
State. 
9. To devise a plan of equitable taxation of the property in 
the oyster fisheries, and report the same to the next session of the 
Legislature. 
to. To hear and pass upon all objections which might be 
made against any application for grounds. 
11. To survey and map every lot which might be designated 
by the Commissioners, and cause the same to be marked out by 
buoys, stakes, ranges, or monuments. 
12. To commence proceedings in the Superior Court to re- 
cover back for the State all designated grounds which are not 
cultivated in good faith within five years. 
13. To hear petitions for the surrender of grounds of not less 
than roo acres area to the State, after reasonable, but unsuccess- 
ful, attempts at cultivation. 
14. Besides the maps above mentioned, to make a general 
map of all the grounds; and also sectional maps of grounds oppo- 
site each town; to be lodged in the town clerk’s office of each 
town respectively. 
