210 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
of either shore of said river or bay. In this provision originated the distinction 
between “ county waters” and “ State waters,” the latter being such areas as are open 
for the use of any resident of the State — a distinction which, though modified and 
changed to a considerable extent, has remained to the present day. 
Some difficulty was experienced in enforcing this enactment, and at the next 
legislative session (L. 1831-32, ch. 249) more easily applied penalties and court regula- 
tions were provided for its enforcement in the waters of the Eastern Shore, and in the 
following year the same provisions were applied to the Western Shore (L. 1832-33, ch. 
265). The necessity for these provisions was intimated in the preamble to the first 
one, as follows : 
Whereas the protection of oysters in the waters of this State is a subject in which the citizens 
thereof are deeply concerned, and the legislature of Maryland by sundry laws passed for that purpose 
have sought to secure the advantages resulting from that article of trade, which have fallen short 
of the object they were designed to accomplish; and 
Whereas the citizens of this and other States infesting said waters have continued to take and 
carry away oysters in violation of the laws upon this subject enacted; Eind it is justly apprehended 
that oysters in the waters of the State will be destroyed, not less by the immense number carried 
away than by the destructive implements used in taking them ; and 
Whereas the navigation of many creeks has been obstructed by the .citizens of this and other 
States by means of the heaps of the refuse thrown into the waters of said creeks in the process of 
picking [culling] the oysters for market, to the great injury of the good people of this State. * * * 
During the twenty -four years following 1830 few important changes were made in 
the regulations of the fishery, but it was an era of great development in the extent of 
the industry. The opposition to the transportation of oysters out of the State and 
the cost of doing so when that opposition was overcome induced a number of oyster 
marketmen from New England to establish shucking-houses in Baltimore for shipment 
of the Chesapeake stock throughout the country, and the increased demand naturally 
led to an extension of the fishery. The first of these houses was established in 1836 
and others were started within a few years. 
In 1840 it was estimated that the quantity of oysters used by the shucking trade 
during the previous season amounted to 710,000 bushels, and there was a large addi- 
tional quantity consumed along the shores. During the years immediately following 
1840 many of the large reefs in the Tangier region were discovered, resulting in a 
greater development of the fishery in that section. About 1846 the canning of oysters 
was begun and the extension of this branch of the trade rapidly increased the demand 
for the product of the reefs. 
In the meanwhile, however, additional restrictions were placed on the fishery, of 
which the following were the most important. In 1836 (L. 1835-36, ch. 216 and ch. 
260) the catching or burning of oysters for purposes of fertilizing land was prohibited 
in portions of Dorchester and St. Mary counties, and in 1840 (L. 1839-40, ch. 103) 
the same practice was prohibited in Somerset County. By act of 1837-38, ch. 310, it 
was made unlawful for any person other than residents of the counties bordering 
on the same to catch oysters within 500 yards of low- water mark in any waters of 
the State, and in cases in which a creek or river is the divisional line between two 
counties the privilege of taking oysters therefrom belonged to the residents of those 
counties in common and to none others. By act of 1845-46, ch. 240, the catching of 
oysters in the waters of Worcester County between April 13 and September 1 of 
any year was interdicted, this being the first close season operative in Maryland and 
one of the earliest in America. 
