22.-N0TES ON THE OYSTER FISHERY OF CONNECTICUT. 
BY J. W. COLLINS. 
■ (With Plates CLix-CLXVi.) 
I. INTRODUCTORY NOTE. 
The following notes on the oyster fishery of Connecticut are based chiefly on tlie 
results of an inquiry made, under the direction of the writer, by Mr. Charles H. Steven- 
son, statistical agent of the U. S. Pish Commission. 
The inquiry related particularly to the statistics, methods, and relations of the 
fishery during 1887, 1888, and 1889 ; but many additional data were secured, so that 
it has been practicable to place on record a tolerably full aecount of the leading events 
in the fishery since 1880, up to which date the subject was covered by IngersolPs 
monograph of the oyster industry of the United States, prepared for the Tenth Census 
under the direction of the U. S. Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries. 
In preparing these notes the object has been simply to call attention to the im- 
portant commercial features of the industry ; the scientific problems connected with 
this fishery will be considered by those who have studied them. TheU. S. Fish Com- 
mission steamer Fish Hatch has been actively engaged for several summers in making 
a careful study of certain matters that affect the oyster fishery of Long Island Sound 
and adjacent regions. 
The tabulated statements appended present in a concise manner the general com- 
mercial features of the fishery and contain also some special data not commonly shown 
in this manner, such as the summation of losses by starfish, etc. 
No fishery on the Atlantic coast of the United States has attained greater success 
in recent years than the Connecticut oyster industry. Its history during the past 
decade has demonstrated the possibility (by well-directed effort, operating under wise 
laws) of the cultivation of areas of sea-bottom hitherto considered useless for com- 
mercial purposes. The success attained where the natural conditions are not specially 
favorable has attracted widespread attention, particularly in regions interested in the 
oyster fishery. 
In many localities, especially in the Chesapeake Bay region, the general belief has 
been that the natural wealth of the oyster beds is inexhaustible. Trained from child- 
hood to look upon the oyster grounds as their patrimony, and feeling that there 
should be no more restrictions upon catching oysters than upon taking any of the 
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