FOREST, FISH AND GAME COMMISSIONER. 303 



" A boat (or boats) is needed for the prevention of the illegal and im- 

 proper taking of oysters, clams, escallops, etc., and to prevent the placing 

 of nets in prohibited localities. 



" Such a boat would be warranted if it were only to enable the State 

 to resume the policy of gathering the eggs of lobsters for hatching and 

 distribution, also numbers of other salt water species might be increased 

 by many millions, including the valuable codfish. 



" No State upon our seaboard has more important marine fisheries 

 than our own, and no such State is without a boat; indeed some of these 

 States possess what they call a ' shellfish navy.' The State of Virginia, 

 for instance, by its Board of Fisheries, operates six large boats and three 

 gasoline yawls. The largest of these boats is said by the Board to be worth 

 $40,000; the smallest of the six is worth $1,000. 



' Your superintendent recommends that a suitable appropriation be 

 made for the purchase of a proper boat and for its maintenance." 



Statistics of Oyster Production 



It has been impossible to get exact figures of production, but the follow- 

 ing are given as, so far as they extend, approximately correct, being based 

 upon formal reports made by individual oyster planters. Some oyster-pro- 

 ducing localities, not being under the immediate jurisdiction of this bureau, 

 are not represented, and oysters used for consumption locally, i. e., in the 

 neighborhood of the beds where raised, are generally not included in the 

 count. An effort has been made to cover the ground as completely as pos- 

 sible, but it has been necessary to rely almost entirely upon statements 

 voluntarily sent by the planters. For the purpose of arriving at approxi- 

 mation the figures given are of value: 



Total acres cultivated 33,374.4 



Of which there are under lease . 1 5 , 06 7 . 6 



And under franchise 18 , 306 . 8 



Number of steam vessels employed 35 



Tonnage of steam vessels 2 , 1 43 . 6 



Value of steam vessels and appliances $223 ,000 00 



Number of power vessels other than steam vessels 211 



Tonnage of power vessels 2 , 059 . 50 



