OF MASSACHUSETTS. 165 



Decline of the Natural Clam Supply. — The decline of the clam 

 supply is a matter of general knowledge. People who live along the 

 seashore realize that they can no longer gather the amount of clams 

 they once could dig with ease from the same flats. On the southern 

 shore of the State especially it is oftentimes difficult to obtain even 

 enough for family use. The consumer also realizes the loss of the 

 clam, as he is forced to pay higher prices. 



If specific cases of this decline are demanded, the following instances 

 should show the exact depletion in the various localities. Even in the 

 best clam-producing town of the State, Newburyport, where the clam 

 production, according to statistics, has apparently increased during 

 the last twenty-five years (as a result of more men entering the fishery), 

 the supply has shown signs of failing. Essex now possesses many 

 acres of flats formerly productive which now lie in a practically barren 

 condition. Gloucester can no longer boast of her former clam industry, 

 as the flats in Annisquam River are in poor condition. Hardly 30 men 

 now make a business of clamming in that town, whereas 92 men were 

 engaged in the fishery in 1879. Passing south of Gloucester, we find 

 great evidence of decline in the Boston harbor flats. Even before the 

 edict closing the harbor from clammers was in force, the production did 

 not by any means equal that of 1879. Plymouth harbor, including the 

 three towns of Duxbury, Kingston and Plymouth, furnishes an excellent 

 illustration of this decline. Here an area of flats as extensive as all 

 the other flats of the State combined now lies practically barren, 

 whereas in former times great quantities of clams were taken. These 

 flats had already become depleted to a marked extent by 1879, and to-day 

 practically no clams are shipped to market from the Duxbury flats, 

 although you can still read " Duxbury clams " on the menus of the 

 hotels and restaurants, showing how important a clam industry this 

 town once possessed. Buzzards Bay district lies at present unproductive 

 except for supplying home consumption and the demands of the 

 summer people. The shores of Cape Cod no longer yield their former 

 supply of clams, and the most striking example of the extinction of a 

 flourishing fishery is found in the town of Chatham, which now does not 

 produce one-tenth part of its production in 1879. The Fall Eiver or 

 Narragansett Bay district does not come up to its past productiveness, 

 and now chiefly yields clams which in former times would have been 

 considered as too small to use. 



As can be seen by the following table, which gives a comparison 

 between the industry in 1879 and 1907, the localities south of Glouces- 

 ter all show a decline in their production, and there is no town on 

 the coast which has not shown some depletion in the natural clam 

 supply. The localities of the north shore, while indicating by their 

 statistics a gain in production, nevertheless have not their former 

 abundance, and the actual diminution of the supply is concealed by the 

 fact that more men have entered the industry. 



