Report of the Board of Shell Fish Commissioners. — 29 
Of the 40,000 acres of bottom, more or less, retained by 
the State in Chincoteague and Sinnepuxent bays, about 
20,000 acres adjacent to the prospective holdings of the Sinne- 
puxent Salt Water Inlet Company have no value at the pres- 
ent time for producing oysters. The only condition neces- 
sary to be supplied, however, to give this entire area a very 
considerable value for growing oysters is apparently that of 
a proper salinity to the water covering it. If the Sinnepuxent 
Salt Water Inlet Company should succeed in introducing a 
quantity of salt water through the proposed inlet sufficient 
to raise and permanently maintain the density of the water 
over this area to the point at which oysters thrive, the State 
will then be able to derive a very adequate return for the 
loss of the bottoms granted to the Company through the rents 
it will receive for the use of the bottoms adjacent to the hold- 
ings of the Company covered with the water salted by the 
inlet, provided, of course, the Haman Oyster Culture Law 
continues to apply to the waters of Worcester County. 
The natural oyster bars? in Chincoteague Bay are 28 in 
number and cover a total area of 1,655 acres. They are found 
in two groups; one situated in the vicinity of Brockatonorton 
Bay, the other between Snow Hill Landing and South Point. 
In the first group the bars are distributed from one side of 
the bay to the other, but in the second they are confined to 
the western side of the bay. Oysters grow much more rapidly 
and are of a much better quality on the bars of the first or 
southern group than on the bars of the northern group, due 
to the fact that the water is much more dense in the southern 
part of the bay than in the northern or upper part. There 
are often periods extending over several weeks during the 
late winter and early spring when the water over the upper 
part of Chincoteague Bay is too fresh for oysters to thrive 
or even live in and it is only during dry seasons that the 
density of the water in this locality becomes sufficiently high 
to permit of a rapid growth in oysters. The sonal tds in the 
southern part of the bay are better adapted for the growth 
of oysters because of the supply of salt water coming into it 
from Chincoteague Inlet, which connects Chincoteague Bay 
with the Atlantic at the southern end of Chincoteague Island, 
and also on account of the more rapid flow of water which 
takes place in this part of the bay. The greater velocity of 
1 See table on pages 32 and 33, 
