10 SUMMARY OF SURVEY OF OYSTER BARS OF MARYLAND. 



barely 5,000,000; and that the physical valuation of the State-owned oyster lands 

 will then be $100,000,000, where now it is not more than $20,000,000. (XXIV, 

 p. 208; XLII, pp. 35-46; XLV.) 1 



These are the large expectations that measured, and do still measure, the ulti- 

 mate object of the Haman Oyster Culture Law, and which led to the building of the 

 Maryland Oyster Survey in such a manner that it will serve as a foundation for even 

 a greater development of the oyster industry of Maryland than was forecasted by its 

 founders. 



ORGANIZATION. 



The organization of the Maryland Oyster Survey has been indicated in the 

 "Introductory statements" and in the "Conclusions." It is also described in detail 

 in the publications of the Maryland Shell Fish Commission (XLIII, pp. 11-25) 1 

 and the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey {XLIV, pp. 19-21, 248-250). 1 



In a general way it is sufficient to state that the greater bulk of the work of this 

 particular oyster survey was divided between the Maryland Shell Fish Commission 2 

 and the United States Coast and Geodetic Survey in accordance with the laws 

 (XLIV, pp. 243-246) x authorizing the work #nd the natural division of the survey- 

 ing operations of the cooperating forces. 



The work of the Maryland Shell Fish Commission included all the oj^ster inves- 

 tigations, the special hydrographic operations required to delimitate the various 

 shellfish bottoms, the surveying of the leased oyster lots, and all administrative 

 matters pertaining to Maryland. The work of the United States Coast and Geodetic 

 Survey included the establishing of the surveying foundation of tri angulation, 

 hydrography and topography, the preparation and publication of the technical and 

 legal descriptions of the boundaries of the various shellfish bottoms reserved for the 

 use of the public, and the preparation and publication of all the oyster charts showing 

 the results of the work of the Maryland Oyster Survey. 



Dr. H. F. Moore, the well-known scientist of the United States Bureau of 

 Fisheries and representative of that bureau on the work of the Maryland Oyster 

 Survey, has stated that "the Bureau of Fisheries has cooperated with the Coast and 

 Geodetic Survey and the Maryland Shell Fish Commission principally as an adviser 

 in matters relating to the biological and economic survey of oyster bars and the 

 methods to be employed for that purpose." To which should be added in the way of 

 explanation, that the part of the survey normally coming under the jurisdiction of 

 the United States Bureau of Fisheries was in this case carried on by the State under 

 the supervision of Dr. Caswell Grave, the scientific member of the Maryland Shell 

 Fish Commission. If it had not been for this fortunate circumstance, to again quote 

 Dr. Moore, "this work would have been conducted by the Bureau of Fisheries acting 

 independently, as has been the case in certain other States than Maryland, the same 

 ends being attained at greater expense to the Government." (XLIV, p. 20.) i 



It should be stated also that the sanitary survey of the oyster-producing waters 

 of Maryland by the United States Bureau of Chemistry was not carried on with the 

 advantage of the same degree of cooperation as probably would have been the case 

 if the character of this feature of the work could have been more nearly forecasted at 

 the beginning. (XXX V. ) » 



1 See "References," p. 19. 2 See "Personnel," p. 14. 



