Conservation Commission 33 



Bureau of Marine Fisheries 



The receipts of the Bureau of Marine Fisheries for the fiscal 

 year ending September 30, 1913, were slightly in excess of 

 those of the previous year, and are as well the largest in its his- 

 tory; the total being $26,966.24. 



This result has been obtained in spite of the fact that the rev- 

 enue derived from leases of more than twenty-six hundred acres 

 of oyster lands located in Jamaica Bay has been cut off by the stat- 

 ute ceding control of those waters to the City of New York for 

 harbor purposes. 



The acreage of shellfish lands leased during the past year has 

 been approximately five times as great as that disposed of in the 

 previous year; and there are now pending in the Bureau of 

 Marine Fisheries, to be disposed of at an early date, applica- 

 tions for oyster lands nearly equal in acreage to the entire amount 

 disposed of during 1913. 



With the granting of the leases the State's holdings of shell- 

 fish lands in protected bays will be substantially exhausted, and 

 the expansion of the oyster industry in New York waters will 

 require giving attention to the large acreage in Long Island Sound, 

 and the adoption of a very liberal policy in order to induce plant- 

 ers to take up and cultivate these lands. 



Possibilities for Oyster Culture 



It is estimated that under the waters of Long Island Sound 

 proper, there are about 175,000 acres offering various possibili- 

 ties for oyster culture. It is claimed by planters that these lands 

 cannot be profitably cultivated if they are obliged to pay to the 

 State $2 per acre annual rent, the rate at which all State oyster 

 bottoms are now being leased. It is, therefore, probable that 

 during the present year there will be inaugurated a policy which 

 will permit and encourage planters in taking up their lands at a 

 reduced rental for the purpose of experimentation, and upon 

 short term leases, with the privilege of assigning the same to the 

 State if after a reasonable opportunity, profitable cultivat'on is 

 shown to be impossible. It is confidently expected that this pol- 

 icy will result in a very substantial increase in the revenues of 



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