of mature oysters, and in the latter case it is so large as to be abnormal; the amount of débris found on the beds is much greater than in the newly discovered areas; and the number of oysters to the square yard not only falls below what it should be, but has decreased since the first examination in 1878. The testimony of all persons living in the vicinity of the sounds is to the effect that there has been a marked deterioration of the beds since they were first discovered and worked, and it is the general opinion that, had the improved implements and appliances now used in the fishery been available when the beds were first discovered, from three to five times as many oysters as are taken at present could have been obtained in Tangier Sound, and about seven times as many in Pocomoke Sound; that even with the insufficient implements then in use more oysters were taken, per sail, in the same time than was possible at present.
Considering this testimony, and the results of the comparison of the worked beds in the sound with the unworked ones in the bay, it may be concluded that the former areas are much impaired in productive power, and, the same causes continuing to operate, there will be a constant deterioration until that productive power is entirely destroyed. As there is no indication of any natural cause influencing the beds in the sounds and not the contiguous ones in the bay, we are compelled to assign, as the cause for the deterioration and impaired fecundity of the beds in Tangier and Pocomoke Sounds, the excessive and exhaustive fishery peculiar to them, and from which the beds in the bay have heretofore been free.
The fishery in the sounds is not more extensive than it is in many other localities in Chesapeake Bay: the conditions under which the beds exist are nearly the same; the laws governing the fishery are the same; and about the same amount of attention is paid to them. It is probable, then, that were the remaining beds of the Chesapeake examined carefully, they would present indications of deterioration similar to those shown by the Tangier and Pocomoke beds.[1] That this deterioration is due to the severe fishing can not be doubted. That in time it will amount to utter exhaustion is a fact well known to those who have given any attention to the matter. To those who have not, the following information may be interesting. Only a few of many cases are cited, but enough, it is hoped, to show that the experience is not confined to small areas or one country; that one result follows invariably upon the heels of over-fishing, and that result is, exhaustion.
The records of the production of the beds of Cancale Bay, on the northwest coast of France, which extend over a period of sixty-eight years, from 1800 to 1868, are perhaps the most instructive:
The beds in the bay comprise an area of about one hundred and fifty acres, and, from 1800 to 1816, produced annually from 400,000 to
- ↑ Recent investigations by the Coast and Geodetic Survey confirm this opinion.
