228 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
even when a boat was apprehended on interdicted areas with wet oysters, that the 
same were not obtained by means of tongs. 
By act of 1872 (ch. 241) it was made unlawful for any person to remove oysters 
from the limits of Wicomico County between May 15 and September 1 of each year, 
and at the same session a new close season was established on the natural reefs in 
Worcester County, this time from June 1 to September 15 of each year, but the act 
requiring the tongmen in this county to obt ain license was at the same time repealed. 
But in 1874 (ch. 77) the tongmen of Worcester were again required to obtain licenses, 
the rate being fixed at $3 per man, which in 1876 was reduced to $1 per man, the 
revenue derived therefrom to be expended by the county commissioners in the pur- 
chase of seed oysters to be planted in the waters of that county. This act also changed 
the close season on the natural reefs in Worcester from June 1-September 15 to May 1- 
October 1 of each year; but this was again changed in 1880 to May 1-September 1, 
this being the present close season operative in that county. 
By act of 1874 (ch. 181) persons were prohibited from tonging oysters except 
for private use, or for the purpose of replanting or bedding in the State, or for sale 
to citizens of the county wherein they are caught or of the county next adjoining, 
between May 1 and September 1 in each year, this being the first attempt at estab- 
lishing a general close time on this branch of the industry. This act also required 
that all fees derived from issuing tonging licenses, except in Worcester County, should 
be devoted to the public schools of the respective counties wherein the licenses were 
issued, the sum received from white owners of licensed boats going to the support of 
the white schools and the sum from the colored owners to the colored schools. 
In 1880 (ch. 198) the general close time was increased fifteen days, being changed 
to April 15-September 1. As the close time established in 1874 did not interdict the 
taking of oysters for sale in the county where caught or in the adjoining county, the 
close time provided for in 1880 was practically the first general one operative on the 
tonging branch of the fishery. But this act permitted the taking of oysters during 
the interdicted time in quantities not exceeding 5 bushels per day for private use or 
for planting purposes, and when the courts were called upon to interpret this pro- 
vision they rendered decisions permitting the taking of unlimited quantities, so that 
the provision was effective only during a portion of one season. The proper remedy, 
however, was applied at the next session of the general assembly, and in 1886 (ch. 296) 
the length of the general close time was decreased for the first time since the adoption 
of the system, being changed from April 15-September 1 to April 24-September 1. 
Before the enforcement of the general close season on tonging, the men engaged 
in this fishery had a great advantage in the privilege to catch and bed oysters during 
the summer months and thus have a supply on hand for the winter markets. This 
privilege, however, was little appreciated and few persons took advantage of it. 
About this time there was introduced in Maryland an apparatus for catching oys- 
ters, commonly called “deep-water tongs,” of which there are a number of varieties. 
They all differ from the ordinary tongs in being much larger and heavier and have no 
shafts, being lifted by means of ropes and winders. They are much more injurious to 
the reefs than the ordinary tongs, but are employed with much success in places 
having too great a depth of water to permit the use of shaft tongs, the latter being the 
more effective implements in depths less than 24 feet. In 1888 (ch. 394) the use of 
these implements was prohibited in the waters of Talbot, Queen Anne, Dorchester, and 
