THE OYSTER INDUSTRY OF MARYLAND. 
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Patuxent River . — In tlie Patuxent River the oyster reefs extend from the mouth 
to the southern border of Prince George County, a distance of 24 miles. It is reported 
that 25 years ago the reefs extended much further up the river than at present, 
and fossil shells have been found 45 miles from the mouth of the river, but it is 
reported that no oysters are now caught along the shores of Prince George County, 
although a few were taken in 1885 and 1886. 
The water in this river varies from a slight depth to 22 or more fathoms, the 
deepest water of the Chesapeake region occurring in this stream. Oysters are found 
in all depths wherever the bottom is suitable for their attachment. Dredging is not 
permitted in the Patuxent, and as the shaft tongs are not available for obtaining 
oysters from depths greater than 24 feet, a large number of “ deep-water tongs” are 
in use here, since the introduction of which the annual product from this river has 
increased. 
The water area of the Patuxent is about 46 square miles and the area of the 
natural oyster-grounds approximates 12 square miles, all of which are situated within 
the counties of Calvert, St. Mary, and Charles. The annual product of the reefs is 
about 500,000 bushels, for which the oystermen receive about $235,000, an average of 
41,666 bushels and $19,583 to the square mile. The average value per square mile of 
the products from this river during the last five years has been greater than in any 
other tributary in the State, and the average quantity has been surpassed only by 
that from the Choptank River. 
These oysters are usually large and fat and are marketed at a price fully equal to 
the average for the State, nearly all of them being sold in Baltimore at prices ranging 
from 10 to 15 cents more than received by the fishermen. The practice of “laying 
down” oysters to await a favorable market prevails here more extensively than in any 
other part of the Chesapeake. 
Potomac River — The oyster fishery in this nveris more complicated, and presents 
more intricate problems for solution than that of any other locality in the State. The 
Maryland-Virginia boundary line has for over two hundred years been a subject for 
dispute between the two States. In 1877 this was settled by a board of arbitration 
so far as the boundary along the Potomac River is concerned; and in accordance with 
this settlement the southern border of Maryland extends not merely to the middle of 
the channel of the river separating the two States, but to the extreme low-water mark 
on the Virginia side of the main body of the river and from headland to headland at 
the mouths of creeks along the same shore. 
In 1785, while the boundary question was in dispute and before the adoption of 
the American Constitution, the States of Maryland and Virginia entered into articles 
of agreement for the regulation of commerce, navigation, and other industries of 
mutual interest. The fisheries were at that time of sufficient importance to receive 
consideration in this agreement, and one of the articles of the compact provided for a 
right of fishery in common to the citizens of the two States in the Potomac River and 
that in the regulation thereof neither State should enforce any law not approved by 
the other.* 
* A condition somewhat similar exists in the English Channel outside of the 3-mile limit, in the 
once important oyster fishery prosecuted by fishermen from France and England. Ever since 1839 con- 
vention acts have existed between those two countries regulating the fishery so far as the operations 
of their respective oystermen were concerned, but that fishery is prosecuted in the free sea, in which 
neither of those two countries has jurisdiction exclusive of others. 
