230 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
By the aforementioned act of 1892 the general close time on tonging was chauged 
from April 21-September 1 to April 21-September 14. This increase in the length 
of the close season has been beneficial chiefly to the agricultural interests of the 
counties bordering the bay, due to the fact that an early opening of the oyster season 
makes it difficult to obtain laborers to assist in harvesting the farm produce. The 
following table exhibits in a condensed form the various geueral close times operative 
in the tonging branch of the oyster fishery since the adoption of the first one in 1874: 
Years operative. 
Close time. 
1874-1879 
May 1-Sept. 1. 
Apr. 15-Sept. 1. 
Apr. 24-Sept. 1. 
Apr. 21-Sept. 1. 
Apr. 21-Sept. 14. 
1880-1885.. .. 
1886-1889 
1890-91 
1892- 
In addition to the general close seasons, certain localities have had local close 
times differing therefrom as follows : 
Localities. 
Years 
operative. 
Close time. 
Worcester County 
1846-1860.. 
Apr. 13-Sept. 1. 
1861 
May 1-Sept. 1. 
1862-1871.. 
Apr. 13-Sept. 1. 
1872-1873.. 
June 1-Sept. 15. 
1874-1879.. 
May 1-Oet. 1. 
1880- 
May 1-Sept. 1. 
Wicomico County 
1872-1879.. 
May 15-Sept. 1. 
1880-1885.. 
May 1-Sept. 30. 
1886- 
Apr. 15-Sept. 30. 
Patuxent River 
1870-1872.. 
Apr. 20-Oct. 10. 
Potomac River 
1880-1884.. 
Apr. 1- Aug. 31. 
1884- 
Apr. 15-Aug. 31. 
The present regulations respecting the licensing of tongmen are as follows: 
Any resident of this State desiring to catch or take oysters with rakes or tongs, for sale, in any 
of the waters of this State, shall first obtain, by application to the clerk of the circuit court for the 
county wherein he may reside, a license therefor, and such license shall have effect from the fifteenth 
day of September in any year in which it may have been obtained to the twentieth day of April, 
inclusive, next succeeding ; provided that such license shall not authorize the taking or catching of 
oysters in any creek, cove, river, inlet, bay, or sound within the limits of any county other than that 
wherein the license shall have been granted, and that the boundaries of the counties bordering on navi- 
gable waters shall be strictly construed so as not to permit the residents of either county to take or 
catch oysters beyond the middle of the dividing channel; provided that nothing in this section shall 
be so construed as to prevent the citizens of Queen Anne and Kent counties from using the waters of 
the Chester Eiver in common, or the citizens of Dorchester and Wicomico counties from using the 
waters of Nanticoke River in common, or the citizens of Queen Anne and Talbot counties from using 
the waters of Wye River and the mouth thereof in common, or the citizens of Dorchester and Talbot 
counties from using the waters of the Choptank River in common. Provided, however, that the 
county commissioners shall be authorized to give special permission to any woman who has no visible 
means of support to take and catch oysters without license. Provided also, that boys under fifteen 
years of age shall not be required to license. 
