THE OYSTER INDUSTRY OF MARYLAND. 
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and in places where there are sadden changes in the depth of bottom, but are found 
in all depths of water from a few inches to 15 or more fathoms, and most plentifully 
where the depth is from 5 to 30 feet. The reefs extend in the Chesapeake Bay from 
the Virginia State line to Worton Point in Kent County, a distance of 110 miles; in 
the Potomac Biver from the mouth thereof to Maryland Point, in Charles County, a dis- 
tance of 65 miles, and in the tributary bays and rivers as far up as salt water flows. 
There are probably some oyster reefs in Maryland not yet known. The oystermen 
have no time to spend in search for them, and discoveries are made only by chance. 
Some of the known beds are not generally fished on, either because the oysters are too 
small, too much scattered, or because other and more accessible reefs produce the 
necessary supplies. Sometimes for a year or more a prominent reef is left almost 
untouched. Barely in recent years have any of the oystermen resorted to the reefs 
situated about Pool Island and north of Swan Point. The large reefs lying off 
Smith Island and Kedges Strait were not generally worked prior to 1880. Many 
localities in Maryland which were formerly productive are now barren; on the con- 
trary many places but recently barren are now producing in abundance. It was 
formerly stated that the Baltimore dredgers did “not know the way down the bay” 
in pleasantly referring to their obtaining the greater portion of their oysters above 
the Choptank Biver, while now the catch is obtained mostly from below that point. 
It has been frequently stated in newspapers and other publications that the oyster 
beds of Maryland are practically exhausted. The product during the last few years 
does not indicate that this is the case, nor do the beds appear to be in extreme danger 
of soon becoming exhausted. It is astonishing that they have for many years yielded so 
abundantly and yet are in such good condition as at present. Nevertheless the reefs 
are undoubtedly being fished to their fullest productive capacity under present regu- 
lations, except possibly those situated in tonging areas, but too deep for utilization by 
those implements, Compared with the condition of thirty- five years ago the area of the 
reefs has been very largely increased, but because of the very vigorous fishery to which 
they have been subjected the size of the oysters brought to market is less and the 
number left on the beds at the end of each season has very materially diminished. 
Occasional references are made to the former abundance of oysters around and 
even above Pool Island, where few are now caught, and to their occurring at the 
mouth of the Susquehanna Biver, where no oysters are now known to exist, as well as in 
many other places in the Chesapeake and tributaries, and their disappearance is pop- 
ularly attributed to the extensive and vigorous fishery prosecuted in those waters. 
But the true cause for the greater part of this destruction is probably the changes in 
the quantity of fresh water flowing into the bay and the increased volume of the 
spring freshets. Forty years and more ago the farms along the tributaries of the Ches- 
apeake were not so thoroughly cultivated as they are now, and the river and creek 
bottom lands were covered with timber. The more thorough cultivation of the farms, 
with the attendant system of ditching practiced in this section of the country and the 
clearing away of the timber, has caused a more rapid flow of the rain water and melted 
snow into the rivers and bays, which at times during the spring has freshened the 
water to a point beyond the endurance of the oysters. This is but one of the many 
adverse agencies with which oysters have to contend. 
No complete survey has yet been made of the oyster reefs of the State of Mary- 
land, in the absence of which the general understanding of the fishery can not be 
otherwise than imperfect and unsatisfactory, and very erroneous impressions exist as 
