11 -NOTES ON AN IMPROVED FORM OF OYSTER TONGS. 
BY HUGH M. SMITH. 
(With plate XLiv.J 
i With the threatened exhaustion of the shoaler oyster beds in the Chesapeake, 
resulting in a greatly diminished yearly output, and a consequent diminution in the 
' earnings of oystermen, especially those operating with tongs from small open boats, 
I the introduction of an ap])aratus which will enable the fishermen to take oysters from 
the deepest waters of the Chesapeake basin must be a great boon to those dependent on 
I the industry, and also the means of materially promoting the fishery interests of the 
region. > 
For a number of years it has been anticipated that the time would come when the 
oyster fishery with tongs on all natural beds would have to be discontinued in many 
portions of the Chesapeake, owing to overfishing and the eventual depletion of the 
grounds. In that event the only alternatives which had generally suggested them- 
selves were the abandonment of the fishery or the allotment by the States interested 
of oyster lands in perpetuity to individual parties, as is done in other States, notably 
Connecticut. 
Fortunately, as regards the first alternative at least, the invention of the apparatus 
to be described has apparently made the profitable continuance of the tong fishery 
possible for some time to come, and has temporarily relieved the States from the 
necessity for legal enactments in the direction indicated, which but for this could not 
have been much longer delayed. 
It has long been known that vast oyster beds exist in the deeper portions of the 
Chesapeake and the riv^ers tributary thereto, which, owing to the greater and hith- 
erto seemingly insurmountable difficulty in working them, have escaped the ravages of 
both tongers and dredgers. These have now become available through the use of the 
so called deep-water oyster tongs. 
With the ordinary type of oyster tongs, provided as they are with wooden han- 
dles, the greatest depth at which oysters can be taken is only 25 or 30 feet, and even 
then the work is not satisfactory, and very arduous. A depth of water beyond 15 or 
20 feet in which to employ tongs has never been much sought after by oystermen, 
while it is probable that tbe great bulk of the tonged oysters which find their way to 
market are taken from less than 15 feet of water. 
With this explanation it can readily be seen that the use of tbe ordinary tongs is 
comparatively limited, in view of the fact that oysters often occur in the deepest 
waters of the inshore basins, along the middle and southern portions of the Atlantic 
seaboard. 
Bull. U. S. F. C. 89 11 
X61 
