77 



are the Woman's Marsh and the Great Rock, and, by means of the record of statistics, I estimate 

 that the following number of oysters have been removed from them: 



Table showing number of oysters removed from Great Bock and Woman's Marsh. 



Removed in a year. 

 Name of bed. 



Mature. Young 



Great Eock 



Woman's Marsh . 



10, 176, 000 

 1, 740, 000 



5, 640, 000 

 768, 000 



Total both ! Percentage 

 classes. ! of mature. 



15, 816, 000 

 2, 508, 000 



From Table II, dredging results in the Sounds, I find the percentage of mature oysters to the 

 total number on the two beds mentioned is on the Great Rock 24, and on the Woman's Marsh 36. 

 Hence, if there had been no fishing, we would have on the Great Rock 44 per cent, of the oysters 

 mature and full grown, and on the Woman's Marsh 52 per cent, mature. We find by making a 

 similar calculation for Piney Island Bar that the percentage of mature oysters removed is 70, and 

 that by the dredging results 20 per cent, of those on the bed were mature; hence, 45 per cent. 

 would represent the percentage on Piney Island Bar had there been no fishing. The ratios on 

 these beds would then, were the oysters removed still present, be 1.2 on the Great Rock, 0.9 on 

 the Woman's Marsh, and 1.2 on Piney Island Bar. 



It will be seen by the above that there has been a severe fishing of many of the beds in the 

 Sounds during the last four or five years — that is, exhaustive of mature brood oysters — and that 

 consequently the large ratios of young to mature oysters is not the result of a large attachment of 

 young, but rather of the removal of the older oysters, and hence the change from a large ratio to 

 a very small one, or vice versa, may be regarded as a safe indication of the deterioration of the 

 bed; for, as explained in the previous part of this report, the ratio will remain abnormally large 

 until the youug growth reach maturity, when it will become abnormally small, and will so remain 

 for a few years, when it will again become very large, and this process will continue for some time 

 until the beds are practically unfit for dredging, as is the case in Pocomoke Sound. Thus not 

 even the ratios are sure indications of the increase or decrease in the number of oysters, but they 

 must be considered together with other facts before we can arrive at just conclusions. 



By reference to the closing paragraphs of that part of the report relating to the fecundity of 

 the beds, it will be noticed that the amount of debris increases on the southern Tangier beds, and 

 that on most of the beds of the Sounds it is much greater than it was in the bay. An increase of 

 the percentage of debris, as already pointed out, is an indication of the deterioration of the bed, 

 and is due to the destructive effects of the dredging, which not only removes many oysters, but 

 so disturbs many others that their destruction is an almost assured fact. To a certain extent this 

 is a necessary incident of the fishery, and cannot be helped; but overworking the beds increases 

 this evil as well as others, as is evident by the percentage on many of the Pocomoke beds. 



Referring to the table showing the number of oysters removed in 1878, and comparing it with 

 the table of number of oysters to the square yard, the following may be noticed: 



1st. In the upper part of Tangier Sound the numbers to the square yard are very large, which 

 is probably due to the shoalness of the water and the soft bottom, which allowed a larger number 

 of oysters to be taken. Iu addition, the mature oysters are smaller than on the southern beds, as 

 shown in Table I, dredging results; thus a greater number would be taken in the dredge, and the 

 number to the square yard increased. 



2d. Though the numbers to the square yard are very large, yet there is a serious decrease from 

 that established in 1878. 



By reference to the "Table showing number of oysters removed," I find that the largest num- 

 ber of oysters were removed from this section in both seasons, and, supposing the number of 

 dredging vessels to have been constant, instead of diminishing one-half, the number of oysters 

 removed in 1879 would be greater by 14,000,000 than the number removed in 1878, or, in other 

 words, the fishing is proportionally increasing. As this fishing is confined principally to the 



