62 CONFERENCE OF GOVERNORS. 



Statement of Problem. 



To-day in Massachusetts alone, of upwards of 67,000 acres of 

 shellfish ground beloTV high-water mark, only about 3,552 acres 

 are even approximating the normal yield, i.e., from $100 to $800 

 annual profit per acre; while upwards of 40,000 acres are pro- 

 ducing less than 10 per cent, of the normal production, and about 

 15,000 acres at present unsuitable could at an expense of $50 to 

 $300 per acre be made to yield from $100 to $500 profit annually. 

 Under such development and utilization employment would be 

 furnished to at least 20,000 skUled and unskilled laborers, as 

 compared with 2,806 in 1907, and a total production valued in the 

 hands of the producers at not less than $6,000,000 annually, in- 

 stead of $687,000, as in 1907. 



The results from more than 300 experimental plots in Massa- 

 chusetts prove conclusively that clams {Mya arenaria) and qua- 

 haugs (Venus mercenaria) can by appropriate methods be as 

 successfully cultivated as are oysters to-day, or as any farm crop; 

 that the value of a quahaug crop upon arrival at a marketable size 

 often exceeds $1,800 per acre; and that the annual profit should 

 average not less than $200 per acre. 



Complete titles to the uplands have been acquired by individuals, 

 and may be exclusively subject to indi'Wdual control and respon- 

 sibility. Similarly, State laws have been enacted by which areas 

 below low-water mark may be leased for oyster cultivation, but 

 the lease holder can claim as his property only the oysters grown 

 thereon. Under certain conditions oyster growers are permitted 

 to spread shells upon the tidal flats above low-water mark, for 

 the purpose of catching oyster spat. Curiously enough, present 

 laws permit the cultivation of oysters in the waters below low- 

 tide mark, but not clams, quahaugs or scallops, either below or 

 above low-water mark. It would be quite as logical for the State 

 to permit the farmer to grow only corn. 



The fisheries (which include the mollusk fisheries) are still 

 public, and subject to the disposing action of the Legislature. The 

 Legislature should by appropriate laws make possible intensive 

 cultivation of shellfish, e.g., clam, quahaug, scallop, mussel and 

 lobster, in addition to the oyster, in the area below high-water 

 mark, under proper safeguards devised to secure public and private 

 rights. The financial return from these submerged areas is greater 

 than from similar areas of farm land under intensive methods of 

 cultivation, and requires a much smaller amount of working capital. 



