468 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
with apparatus of capture worth $33,640, the combined value of vessels and outfit 
being $320,740. This, added to the value of sailing vessels above 5 tons and boats less 
than that, gives a total investment of $423,244 in the oyster fleet of Connecticut in 
the last year of which we have statistical returns. 
IV.— HISTORICAL NOTES. 
Much has been written concerning the early history of the Connecticut oyster 
industry ; but, in order that its present condition may be better understood, a brief 
outline is given here of the most important changes that have served to place the 
industry under existing laws and regulations. 
Prior to 1784 no restrictions were placed upoathe oyster fishery, it being as free 
for the enjoyment of all as any of the open-sea fisheries of the present day. This | 
soon led to the depletion of the beds, and it was ultimately evident to the State legis- ! 
lature that some restriction was necessary ; but since each section desired legislation 
dift'erent from its neighbor, it was at first deemed best to empower each coast town to 
regulate the fishery to suit its needs. The result was the following enactment which 
we find among the “Acts and laws of the State of Connecticut in America for 1784; ” 
Be it enacted, ^c., That any town in the State shall have the authority in town meeting to make 
rules and ordinances for regulating the fisheries of clams and oysters within their respective limits, or 
the waters and flats to them adjoining and belonging, and for the preservation of the same, and to impose 
such penalties as shall be thought proper by such towus for the breach of such rules aud ordinances. 
Under this law, many of the 24 towns along the coast enacted regulations which 
served chiefly to restrict the fishery in order to prevent the destruction of the 
industry. These regulations differed in many particulars, but the “ 2-bushel law,” 
“close-time law,” and a regulation requiring an oysterman to be a resident of the town 
he fished from, were common to most of the local enactments. 
This policy continued in force nearly a century, being qualified from time to time by 
State regulations, the most important of which was enacted in 1845. This permitted 
a eitizen of the State, under certain restrictions and regulations, to plant in domestic 
waters such oysters as were brought from other States. In the following year this 
privilege was extended to cover oysters brought from any place within the limits of 
the State of Connecticut. This action was caused by the increasing importance of 
the trade in Southern oysters aud the frequent desirability of bedding for a time such 
as did not find a ready market as well as those taken from the public beds of the 
State. This did not affect operations on the natural beds, which continued to be de- 
pleted. As a result, the oysters obtained on them decreased in size until they became 
too small to be placed upon the market as taken from the beds^ and it was necessary 
that they should be planted for a year or more that they might reach a marketable 
size. On this account, in 1855, the State legislature enacted what is known as the 
“2-acre law,” granting each town the right to (designate through a committee 2 acres 
or less of ground in its respective territory on which there was no natural growth of 
shellfish to any citizen for his use in the cultivation of oysters or other mollusks. 
This was followed from time to time by additional laws providing for the taxation, 
protection, sale, etc., of these private grounds. Two acres of oyster beds were then 
considered sufficient to satisfy the most ambitious. The designated ground may be 
