THE COAST FISHERIES OF TEXAS. 389 
Many of the well-known natural oyster reefs in Texas have not been 
fished on for several years, and some have never been extensively re- 
sorted to, because other grounds are more conveniently situated from 
which the oystermen have been able to obtain a supply; and it is 
highly probable that there are large areas of oyster reefs within the 
bays along this coast of which the fishermen have no knowledge. No 
search for them has been made; the finding of the beds is in most 
instances caused by the centerboard of a boat grating on the oysters 
when the boat is sailing over the bed. The average length of the shafts 
used in the tongs is only 10 feet, and the fishermen do not ordinarily 
attempt to obtain oysters at a greater depth than 8 feet; consequently 
they know little of the animal life on deeper grounds. 
VESSELS, APPARATUS, METHODS, ETC. 
Making use of a local expression, when “grubbing oysters,” or in 
other words when fishing for oysters, the outfit usually employed con- 
sists of one sailboat, one or two skiffs, a pair of tongs for each fisherman, 
several baskets, one or two small hammers for separating the clusters 
of oysters or culling, and the necessary outfit for cooking and living on 
board of the sailboats. The sailboats and skiffs employed do not 
differ from those in general use along the coast; only four of them meas- 
ure over 5 tons, the total measurement of these four being 40.01 tons. 
The oysters are taken either by means of tongs or are picked up by 
hand from such reefs as are exposed at low tide. During the season of 
1890-91 one schooner, the C. Highland, used dredges experimentally for 
taking oysters at Corpus Christi. Dredges have not been employed 
in the other bays along the coast on account of the unevenness of the 
reefs and alack of knowledge of the methods of handling these imple- 
ments. 
On April 11, 1891, a law was enacted prohibiting the use of any form 
of oyster dredge in the waters of this State. It is possible that the 
effect of this enactment may be injurious rather than beneficial. 
Dredges could undoubtedly be used with excellent results in many 
places, not only where the water is so deep that tongs are not avail- 
able, but also where the oysters grow in ridges, which by action of the 
dredge are torn down and spread over a greater surface, thus furnish- 
ing a larger area for growth. An excellent example of this is found 
in the Choptank River, on the eastern shore of Maryland. In this 
river, prior to 1874, oysters were taken only by means of tongs. Since 
that time the use of small dredges in a large portion of that river has 
been permitted. By their action the reefs have been spread so as to cover 
the greater part of the river bottom, and the catch of oysters has been 
many times multiplied. If the taking of small oysters be properly 
regulated, the only manner in which dredges destroy a reef is by re- 
moving so many oysters that the reef is made lower than the surround- 
ing mud and is covered thereby. But this “sinking” of a reef may be 
caused also by the use of tongs; and for every oyster reef on the Atlantic 
