R^eport of tf)e ^f)eUfi5f) Commfe^ioner. 



To tl)e Forest, FisI) and (lame Commission: 



I HAVE the honor to present the following report concerning the business of the 

 Shellfish Department, which, under the general supervision of the Commission, 

 has been assigned to my management as Shellfish Commissioner. 



The report of Mr. Charles Wyeth, C. E., in charge of the Hydrographic Survey 

 of the Department, shows that during the fiscal year ending October i, 1900, fifty- 

 nine applications for grants of land for shellfish cultivation have been received. 

 Fifty of these applicants sought leases and nine sought franchises. The lands 

 covered by these applications are located in Long Island Sound and in Jamaica and 

 Raritan Bays. 



Fifteen hundred and two acres were applied for under the lease system, and 810 

 acres under franchises, making a total of 2,312 acres to be added to the area hereto- 

 fore cultivated for shellfish production. These grounds, after due advertisement and 

 the sale of the privileges by auction, as required by law, have been surveyed, and 

 leases and franchises respectively have been executed by the Commission. 



For the purpose of preserving the boundaries of the vast number of lots under 

 water leased by the State, and that the maps of the Department laboriously made 

 and accumulated during a series of years may have permanent value, the State 

 has followed a policy of establishing coast signals along the shores of Long 

 Island Sound, Staten Island and Jamaica Bay. These lines of signals now cover 180 

 linear miles, and thousands of recorded references thereto are contained in the 

 books of the Shellfish Department. It is recommended that a suitable sum be 

 appropriated for the maintenance of these signals. 



During the year the oyster planters have enjoyed comparative prosperity; the 

 "set" of young oysters in Long Island Sound in the summer of 1899, which was so 

 great as to be without precedent in those waters, has already been extensively 

 handled, being sold to planters in other localities for seed. 



Experiments have been made by some oystermen for the purpose of determining 

 the utility of planting large spawning oysters for the purpose of annually securing a 

 " set " upon particular grounds ; notably Captain H. M. Randall, of Port Jefferson, 

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