218 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
to the extent, location, and condition of these reefs. In the attempt to supply to some 
extent this much-needed information, the writer, with the assistance of many persons 
engaged in the various branches of the oyster fishery and the able cooperation of 
Gen. Joseph B. Seth, sometime commander of the State fishery force, has ventured to 
approximate the area of the reefs known at present and to map their general location, 
the result of this work appearing in an appended table and on the chart accompanying 
this report. 
The total area of natural oyster-ground as developed by this review approximates 
355 square miles, 144 being situated in “ State waters” and 211 square miles within 
“county waters”; but the total area covered with compact reefs probably does not 
exceed 135 square miles, the remaining part being more or less covered with scattered 
oysters. 
In 1870 Mr. Hunter Davidson, then in command of the fishery force of the State, 
estimated the area of the natural oyster-ground to be 373 square miles. It must not be 
understood, however, because the present approximation is 18 square miles less than 
that made 23 years ago, that a decrease in the area of the reefs has actually occurred, 
for tbe contrary is probably the case, and the apparent error is either in one of the 
estimates or because he adopted a different definition for natural beds than that 
herein accepted. Persons familiar with the difficulties encountered in the survey of 
natural oyster-grounds can readily understand why these estimates should differ, if 
the same definition of natural oyster- grounds has been accepted. It is extremely dif- 
ficult and almost impracticable to determine definitely and with accuracy the outlines 
and limits of the beds when the oysters are much scattered, as they frequently are on 
the outside borders of the bed, and arbitrary limits must be adopted. Should two 
thoroughly impartial and careful surveys be made, with suitable instruments, but a 
year apart, it is quite possible and even probable that a greater discrepancy would exist 
between them than is found in the present instance. 
Tbe Maryland oyster commission of 1884 approximated the area of the natural 
oyster- grounds at 193 square miles, not including the area situated within the Poto- 
mac Biver. But in their approximation the area in the Pocomoke and Tangier sound 
regions was estimated at 28 square miles, notwithstanding the fact that a careful sur- 
vey of those grounds made in 1878 and 1879 by the U. S. Coast and Geodetic Survey 
disclosed the area to be at least 85 square (statute) miles. If this change be made in 
the figures for the Tangier and Pocomoke regions and the area of the beds in the 
Potomac Biver be added, it will give, according to the estimates of the Maryland com- 
mission, nearly 300 square miles as the area of the natural oyster-grounds of the State. 
The following table exhibits in detail, according to the present approximation, the 
area in square miles of the natural oyster-ground and the area in which each form of 
fishery may be prosecuted. As tonging is authorized on all the natural reefs in the 
State, only such area is here presented under that caption as is exclusively reserved 
for that form of fishery. The percentage of natural beds in both the tonging and 
dredging areas is very much reduced by there being several hundred square miles of 
area in each in which the salinity of the water is not adapted to the growth of 
oysters. As scraping is authorized only in three of the most productive estuaries, 
the percentage is naturally much higher than where the other forms of fishery are 
prosecuted. 
