80 OYSTER BEDS OF JAMES RIVER, VIRGINIA. 



CONCLUSION. 



The foregoing gives, in detail and summary, the facts as to the con- 

 dition of the oyster beds of James and Nansemond rivers immedi- 

 ately prior to the opening of the present oyster season, the period 

 at which the beds are at their maximum apparent productiveness. 

 Within a few weeks, under the intensive fishery which they sustain, 

 the quantity of oysters on the beds will be vastly reduced and long 

 before the close of the season they will become so impaired that work 

 on them will be practically abandoned for the time being. In other 

 words, it is for a part of the season only that these beds will offer a 

 livelihood to the tongers, who for the rest of the year must seek a 

 living either in the employ of the oyster grower or in some other 

 occupation not connected with oyster fishing. 



In the determination of the nature of tidal bottoms, with respect 

 to their being regarded as oyster rock or barren bottom, the prime 

 consideration is whether they will afford, either at present or pro- 

 spectively, a sufficient quantity of oysters to provide a livelihood to 

 those who work on them. It is manifest that a few oysters which 

 could never be taken with profit should not entitle the bottom on 

 which they lie to be regarded as an oyster bed within the meaning 

 of the laws. To so regard them would be contrary to common sense, 

 economic principles, and judicial decisions. 



The author has 'avoided a definition of what constitutes a liveli- 

 hood, believing that to be a matter which is more properly for deter- 

 mination by the state authorities should its definition become 

 necessary for purposes of legislation or administration. In the 

 preparation of the foregoing report, however, it has been necessary 

 to adopt some standard for the classification of the various densities 

 of oyster growth in the several beds, and for purposes of convenience 

 the limit between the bottoms regarded as depleted and those of the 

 lowest class of productiveness has been placed at a minimum believed 

 to be reasonably irreducible. The subdivisions of productiveness 

 differ by such small quantities that should it appear that the lowest 

 is too low the next higher can be regarded as the minimum without 

 impairing the value of the data adduced in the report, though, as is 

 elsewhere indicated, this would dictate a reduction in the estimated 

 total available product of oysters for the season. 



Under the terms of the resolution of the State Board of Fisheries, 

 which was made the basis of the request for the survey preferred to 

 the Bureau of Fisheries by the Governor of Virginia, the author is 

 not warranted in offering recommendations as to the use which 

 might be made of the facts developed in the preceding pages. It may 

 not be inappropriate, however, to point out the several avenues of 

 procedure which it is possible to follow in respect to the oyster 



