236 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
were required to carry printed numbers on their sails in a particular manner so that 
they might thereby be easily identified. 
The State records show that during the first season after the adoption of this reg- 
ulation, the number of dredging licenses issued was 391, the amount of license money 
paid for these being $43,862.40. The first license to dredge oysters issued by the 
State was granted on August 1, 1865, to the Baltimore schooner Alice , 37.41 tons 
measurement. According to records furnished by the late Mr. 0. S. Maltby, the 
quantity of oysters taken by the dredging vessels amounted during that season to 
3,663,125 bushels, including the catch made by the scraping vessels of Somerset 
County, which during that season was very small. 
As the scraping regulations of Somerset County, which had then been operative 
eleven years, had encouraged the building of a large number of vessels suitable for 
using dredges, a greater number of licenses were issued to residents of that county 
than any other. Almost an equal number of vessels owned at Baltimore, and which 
had been engaged in transporting oysters and farm produce, were also licensed. The 
vessels from Somerset County, having been built for use in Tangier Sound, were 
smaller than those from Baltimore, the average tonnage from the two places being 
20.10 and 25.36, respectively, and the total number of vessels licensed in those two 
localities 189 and 154, respectively. The number of vessels licensed in that season 
from the other counties was only 48, with an average tonnage of 22.34 tons, making a 
total of 391 vessels and 8,772.48 tons. 
At the next session of the general assembly (L. 1867, ch. 184) the dredging regu- 
lations were somewhat modified, the principal changes consisting in a reduction in 
the license fee from $5 to $2 per ton and the adoption of other methods of enforcing 
the penalties for violations. By this act, in addition to the reefs mentioned in the act 
of 1865, the dredgers were prohibited from working on or about Holland Point bar 
and Plum Point; but the restriction against dredging in the Chesapeake Bay (the 
“State waters”) where the water is less than 15 feet deep was removed. 
In 1868 the license rate was again changed (L. 1868, ch. 406), this time to $3 per 
ton, at which it has remained to the present time. By this act, in addition to the reefs 
heretofore mentioned, Swan Point reefs were reserved from the dredgers. 
According to estimates furnished by Mr. Hunter Davidson, the commander of the 
fishery force from 1868 to 1872, the quantity of oysters taken by the dredgers and 
scrapemen combined in 1868-69 was 6,305,600 bushels; in 1869-70, 7,190,400 bushels; 
in 1870-71, 6,686,400 bushels, for which the fishermen received $2,216,960, $2,516,640, 
and $2,240,240, respectively. 
In 1870 (ch. 364) the close season on dredging was increased thirty days, being 
changed from June 1-August 31 to May 15-September 15; and by the act of 1874 (ch. 
181) this was again increased thirty days, being placed at May 1-September 30. By 
the latter act the dredgers were further prohibited from working within one-fourth mile 
west of Poplar Island or on the valuable reefs between that island and the mainland, 
but as a concession the lower portion of Eastern Bay was thrown open to their use. 
By act of 1880 (ch. 198) the close time on dredging was increased forty-five days, 
being changed to April 1 -October 14, this being the close season operative at present, 
except that the close time in the Potomac River is from April 1 to October 31. 
In 1884 (ch. 518) it was required that the dredging license should expire at the 
end of the season instead of running for a year after date of issue, as was previously 
the case; and in 1886 vessels were permitted’ to obtain a license after the beginning of 
