220 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
Island to Point Lookout, including the Anne Arundel shore. The “ Eastern Shore 
Bay grounds,” which occur ou the eastern bank of the Chesapeake, and the Sinepux- 
ent or Chincoteague Bay grounds, located within the waters of Worcester County, 
complete the enumeration of the oyster-producing regions of the State. 
These localities differ in physical characteristics and produce oysters in some 
respects peculiar to themselves, which are readily recognized in the markets and com- 
mand varying prices; and while all, excepting the last named, are under the same 
general laws and regulations, certain local regulations affect each, and the industry 
in each differs to some extent from that of the others. 
Tangier and Pocomolce regions . — Because of their having been resorted to more 
extensively and for a greater length of time, the oyster reefs of Tangier and Pocomoke 
sounds are better known than those of any other part of the State. It was there that 
dredges were first extensively used in Maryland, which, according to the most reliable 
accounts, wasabout the beginning of the present century. And after the interdiction of 
that form of oystering in Maryland in 1820, the use of those implements was permitted 
in a large portion of those sounds eleven years before they were authorized in the 
“ State waters.” 
Tangier Sound extends north and south from the head of Fishing Bay to Watts 
Island, a distance of 40 miles, but only 32 miles of its length are situated within Mary- 
land limits. Including its tributaries, Annemessex, Manokin, Wicomico, FTanticoke, 
and smaller streams, and all the u county waters ” on the southern shore of Dorches- 
ter County, as well as the tributary channels, it covers within Maryland limits an area 
approximating 300 square miles, all of which is situated within the limits of Somerset, 
Wicomico, and Dorchester counties. The greatest recorded depth of water is 17 fathoms. 
In the channel it averages 9 fathoms and on the oyster beds it ranges from 3 to 40 
feet. Almost throughout its length each side of the channel is lined with oyster reefs 
of greater or less extent. These reefs, somewhat scattered, extend through Hooper, 
Holland, and Kedges straits and between Smith and Tangier islands, as well as up 
the tributaries as far as the salinity of the water will permit. The area of the natural 
oyster-grounds in the Tangier region, including all the “county waters” on the 
southern shore of Dorchester, approximates 84 square miles, and the average annual 
product during the last five seasons was 3,400,000 bushels, valued at $1,625,000, this 
being an average of 40,476 bushels and $19,345 to the square mile. It is probable 
that fully three-fourths of this catch was obtained from the “ solid reefs,” which scarcely 
exceed 35 square miles in area, making an average product for that area of 72,857 
bushels and $34,821 per square mile. From the origin of the fishery to the present 
time the total product of some areas situated in this region lias doubtless exceeded 
3,000,000 bushels of oysters to the square mile. 
The Tangier oysters are ranked among the best obtained in Maryland. The shells 
are round and deep, but frequently exhibit the effects of the boring sponges. The 
oysters are usually fat, and many of them are marketed at fancy prices. The average 
size of those brought to market, however, is much less than it was twenty years ago. 
Scraping is authorized in the open waters of this region within portions of Som- 
erset and Dorchester counties, while the tributaries are reserved for the use of the 
tongmen. The area used by the scrapemen approximates 198 square miles and that 
reserved for the tongmen 102 square miles. 
The Pocomoke Sound oysters differ little from those of Tangier Sound. Prior to 
