PORT, 
To the Governor and General Assembly of the State of Con- 
necticut : 
The Shell-fish Commissioners respectfully present a report 
covering the period commencing November 1, 1888, and ending 
October 31, 1890. 
The financial statement embraces the two fiscal years ending 
June 30, 1890. 
Your Commissioners find themselves in a peculiar position. 
Under the law, on the first day of July, 1889, the powers and 
duties vested in the fisk commissioners, as a board of commis- 
sioners of shell-fisheries, were vested in three shell-fish com- 
missioners, to be appointed by the Governor and confirmed by 
the Senate. 
Section 4 of the law constituting the commission provides 
that, “all the powers and duties now vested by law in the board 
of commissioners of shell fisheries, except the assessment of 
oyster-grounds for taxation, shall be hereafter performed by 
said shell-fish commissioners.” 
Your Commissioners therefore feel it incumbent upon them 
not only to make a report for the year during which they have 
held office, but also to include such statistics of the year pre- 
vious, as may be necessary for a proper understanding of the 
operations relating to shell-fish. 
There are some very material changes in the working force 
of the board under the new law. One of the most important 
is that the assessment of oyster-grounds is no longer made by 
the commissioners, but by a clerk, appointed by the governor, 
and confirmed by the senate. The commissioners are required 
by section 5, to act as a board of relief. Section 7, assumes that 
the commissioners have little or no need of the services of an 
