Conservation Commission 23 



oyster-growers to determine the number of men, number of boats, 

 and amount of money engaged in the oyster industry in the State 

 of New York. These facts, which will soon be collated, will be 

 of great value for departmental purposes and will serve as a basis 

 for constructive legislation. 



An enormous and unprecedented set of young oysters on public 

 lands at this time promises to yield a great revenue to the " free 

 baymen." It is the duty of the Conservation Commission to 

 safeguard the right of these "free baymen,' 7 as well as of the 

 growers who have leased lands from the State. 



We renew our recommendation previously made for the repeal 

 of the archaic and conflicting legislative enactments, dating from 

 1866 to 1910, whereby certain towns in Long Island have been 

 given the right to lease lands under water within the town limits. 

 Practically all the Atlantic and Gulf states have done away with 

 local regulation and established the principle of concentrated con- 

 trol bv the State of the leasing of ovster lands. New York should 

 not lag behind the sister states in this important matter. 



The balance sheet of the Bureau of Marine Fisheries for the 

 past fiscal year makes a good showing. Its receipts exceed those 

 of 1913 by $6,403.89, and during the year 3,834.2 acres of oyster 

 land have been leased, an increase over 1913 of 1,638.6 acres. 



Migratory Bird Law 

 We again urge that the State law and the federal regulations 

 relative to migratory birds be made consistent with one another. 

 Efforts to this end unfortunately failed in the closing hours of 

 the last Legislature. Steps since taken by the United States 

 authorities have measurably improved the situation, but there still 

 remains conflict in certain particulars. This should not be. It 

 needlessly confuses the law-abiding and affords a pretext to the 

 lawless. The principle of federal protection to migratory birds 

 is sound and undebatable and is everywhere accepted by true 

 conservationists. The differences between the State law and the 

 federal regulations are neither many nor difficult to reconcile. 



