Conservation Commission. 39 



Shellfish Leases. 



Section 304 of the Conservation Law requires that all leases of 

 lands under water for shellfish culture must be sold at public 

 auction, and that no lands shall be leased for less than twenty-five 

 cents per acre per annum. If the sole purpose of auctioning 

 leases was to promote competition, this provision of the law is a 

 failure. There never has been any competitive bidding. This 

 bureau, however, refuses to accept bids of less than two dollars 

 per acre per annum. 



The lands are now and have been for the past five years invari- 

 ably struck down on a single bid at the uniform price of two dollars 

 per acre per annum, regardless of locality or any other condition, 

 save only that oyster beds of natural growth are not leasable. 

 This uniform rental seems to have been the result of custom rather 

 than inspired by any endeavors to ascertain true rental value. 

 That it has at times been in excess of the actual value is evi- 

 denced by the occasional surrender by the lessee of parcels, the 

 productiveness of which evidently is not sufficient to warrant the 

 further efforts of the holders to cultivate them. During the year 

 the bureau has been confronted with a new situation which may 

 require a departure from the custom of leasing at a uniform price. 

 The amount of land in our bays and protected waters still available 

 for lease is not large. There is believed to be no considerable area 

 of good shellfish land still unleased outside of Staten Island sound, 

 Raritan bay, and one or two other protected bodies of water. 

 There is, however, a very considerable acreage in Long Island 

 sound that might be available, but which it is contended by 

 planters could not be profitably leased at two dollars per acre. It 

 is the desire of some of the planters to take up these lands " for 

 experimental purposes " at greatly reduced rent for the first five 

 years of the lease, with the privilege of cancellation at any time. 

 It is claimed that these lands being in open waters, usually con- 

 siderable distance from harbors, exposed to storms, shifting sands, 

 and the ravages of the oyster's natural, enemies, the star-fish and 

 borer, cannot be profitably leased at the present uniform price. A 

 radical decrease in rent must be supported by a substantial reason. 

 The statute makes it incumbent on the Commission to classify the 

 leaseable lands according to their value. This subject has, during 



