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BULLETIN OP THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
GENERAL HISTORICAL NOTES. 
In order that the present condition of the oyster industry of this State may be 
properly presented and understood, it is necessary to review its conditions and methods 
of prosecution in former years. There have been three great eras in the history of the 
oyster industry in Maryland, viz: First, from the settlement of the State to 1820, 
during which the fishery was in its infancy, subject to no restrictions or regulations 
whatever except those of nature and market demands, the product being very small; 
second, from 1821 to 1864, during which the use of dredges in catching oysters was 
interdicted and the wholesale shucking trade was established and considerably devel- 
oped; third, from 1865 to the present date, in which a license system has been operative, 
authorizing the use of tongs, dredges, and scrapes under certain regulations, the places 
and times of their employment being restricted. 
Prior to 1820 . — The heaps of oyster shells found in some places along the shores 
of the Chesapeake indicate that these mollusks had for a long time been utilized for 
food purposes by the Indians ; and the writings of the early settlers of and travelers 
to this part of the country make reference to the fact that the aborigines at times 
furnished them with oysters in exchange for trinkets and other commodities. The 
Chesapeake colonists appear to have given little attention to them. An explanation 
for this is probably found in John Smith’s “Advertisements for Unexperienced 
Planters,” published in 1631, in which he explains the reasons why the early settlers 
of the Chesapeake did not engage in fishing by stating: “Now although there be 
* * * Fish in the rivers * * *, yet the rivers are so broad * * * and we so 
unskillful to catch them, we little troubled them nor they us.” 
There are many reasons for the belief that, for years after the settlement of 
Maryland, oysters were regarded as of little value for food purposes. Diligent search 
among the early colonial records has resulted in the finding of but one reference to 
this product. This reference, which is certainly depreciatory, occurs in the depositions 
made in the famous Claiborne suit of about 1680, in which the “Kent Islanders” cited, 
among their grievances and the hardships which they had to endure, that their supply 
of provisions becoming exhausted it was necessary for them, in order to keep from 
starvation, to eat the oysters taken from along the shores. 
As no further mention of them is found among the voluminous colonial papers, it 
is reasonable to suppose that after the settlement of Maryland a long time elapsed 
before oysters entered largely into the food supplies of the inhabitants, hence there 
was little object in catching them. During the war of 1812, occasional reference was 
made in the newspapers of that period to the part played by the oystermen of the 
Chesapeake in harassing the British fleet in the bay, from which it is evident that at 
that time the fishery was of some consequence. 
It appears from records and traditions that a large portion if not the greater 
quantity of theoysters then caught were transported by vessels to Northern markets, 
a considerable demand for them having been developed in the New England States; 
and, beginning about 1808, a number of vessels each season transported several car- 
goes to Fair Haven, Conn. The vessels resorted to the reefs situated in the lower 
part of the bay, and obtained cargoes either by dredging or by purchasing from the 
tongmen living along the shores, who oystered especially for those vessels. It was 
