122 Report of the Board of Shell Fish Commissioners. 
mentioned area. The oysters so tonged shall be culled within the area hereby 
set aside for the purpose of excluding all shells, which must be thrown overboard 
within said area upon the natural rocks from which they were taken. All oysters 
valuable for planting purposes, however, may be removed or taken during the 
period aforesaid whether above or below 2% inches in length. 
2. No boat shall be permitted to leave the area above mentioned with a cargo, 
or part of a cargo of oysters, on board, unless the captain, or other person in 
charge of the same, shall exhibit to the commander of the police boat patrolling 
the said area, a contract of purchase for the oysters so mentioned, signed by one 
or more of the lessees of land in the State of Maryland leased for oyster culture 
under the provisions of Chapter 711 of the Acts of 1906. A list of said lessees 
Shall be furnished by the Clerk of the Shell Fish Commission to the commander 
of the police boat, or boats, patrolling said area. 
3. No boat having a dredge or serape on board shall be allowed to take oysters 
in the area above mentioned. 
ACREAGE OF LOTS FOR LEASE, 
The Commission holds the opinion that, after the natural 
oyster bars and crabbing bottoms have been surveyed and 
charted and thus excluded from lease, the interests of oyster- 
men and crabbers will not be placed in jeopardy by increas- 
ing the acreage of barren bottoms which may be leased for 
the purposes of oyster culture, and it therefore recommends 
that the area which may be leased for this purpose in the 
territorial limits of the counties be increased to 30 acres and 
in the waters beyond the territorial limits of the counties to 
500 acres. . 
Oyster lots of the acreage now allowed if located near shore 
can be cultivated and protected without great expense to 
lessees, but if located in the open waters of the Bay and 
sounds, large seaworthy boats will be required for the work 
of both planting and policing and the cost of such boats and 
the expense of equipping and maintaining them is so great 
as to make oyster culture on a small scale in such localities 
unprofitable. 
The above recommendation is based upon the fact just 
stated and the further fact that much of the bottom suitable 
for oyster culture thus far opened for lease is located in the 
ie waters of the Chesapeake Bay, Pocomoke and Tangier 
ounds. 
