Part 4

(1) _Unintelligent Laws._--One of the worst features of our town shellfish laws is their extreme unfitness. Numerous laws which are absolutely useless for the regulation and improvement of these industries have been made by towns, through men who knew nothing about the shellfisheries. These laws were made without any regard for the practical or biological conditions underlying the shellfish industry. It is to be expected that laws from such a source would often be ill-advised and unintelligent, but under the present system it cannot be avoided. Until sufficient knowledge of the habits and growth of shellfish is acquired by the authorities of State and town, Massachusetts can never expect to have intelligent and profitable shellfish laws. While the majority of these unintelligent laws do no harm, there are some that work hardship to the fishermen and are an injury to the shellfisheries.

(2) _Unfairness; Town Politics._--Town politics offers many chances for unscrupulous discrimination in the shellfish laws. Here we find one class of fishermen benefiting by legislation at the expense of the other, as in the case of the quahaugers _v._ oystermen. In one town the oystermen will have the upper hand; in another, the quahaugers. In every case there is unfair discrimination, and a resultant financial loss to both parties. The waters of Massachusetts are large enough for both industries, and every man should have a "square deal," which is frequently lacking under the present régime.

Besides party discrimination, there is discrimination against certain individuals, as illustrated in giving oyster grants. Town politics plays a distressing part here. Favoritism is repeatedly shown, and unfairness results. All this shows the unpopularity and impracticability of such regulations and the method of making them.

(3) _Present Chaotic State._--The present town laws are in a chaotic condition, which it is almost impossible to simplify. No one knows the laws, there is merely a vague impression that such have existed. Even the selectmen themselves, often new to the office and unacquainted with the shellfisheries, know little about the accumulated shellfish laws of the past years, and find it impossible to comprehend them. The only remedy is to wipe out all the old and replace them with unified new laws.

(4) _Unsystematic Laws._--The present laws are unsystematized. Each town has its own methods, good and bad, and the result is a heterogeneous mixture. Often there are two or three laws where one would definitely serve. To do absolute justice there should be a definite system, with laws elastic enough to satisfy the needs of all.

(5) _Nonenforcement._--The worst feature of allowing town control of the shellfisheries is the nonenforcement of the laws already passed. We find in many towns that good by-laws have been made, but from inattention and lack of money these have never been enforced and have become practically nonexistent. The 1½-inch quahaug law of several towns is an instance of this. In but one town in the State, Edgartown, is any effort made to enforce this excellent town by-law, although several of the other towns have passed the same. The proper enforcement of laws is as important as the making, as a law might as well not be made if not properly enforced. The only way that this can be remedied is either to take the control completely out of the hands of the town, or else have a supervisory body which would force the town to look after violators.

Besides the town by-laws there are other evils which result from the present system of town control.

II. _Lack of Protection in Oyster Industry._--In no case is the management by towns more inefficient and confusing than in the case of the oyster industry. As this subject will be taken up in the oyster report which follows, it is only necessary here to state that there is great need of a proper survey of grants, fair laws, systematic methods, etc. Protection is necessary for the success of any industry, and is especially needed for the oyster industry. The oyster industry of Massachusetts will never become important until adequate protection is guaranteed to the planters. Under the present system, uncertainty rather than protection is the result.

III. _Town Jealousy._--The evil of town jealousy, whereby one town forbids its shellfisheries to the inhabitant of neighboring towns, is to-day an important factor. It is fair that a town which improves its own shellfisheries should not be interfered with by a town which has allowed its shellfisheries to decline. While this is true perhaps of the clam, quahaug and oyster, it does not hold true of the scallop. The result of this close-fisted policy has resulted in the past in a great loss in the scallop industry. The town law in regard to scallops is all wrong. The scallop fisheries should be open to all the State, and no one town should "hog the fishing," and leave thousands of bushels to die from their dog-in-the-manger attitude.

IV. _Sectional Jealousy._--Another evil, which in the past has been prominent, but is becoming less and less as the years go by, is the jealousy of the north shore _v._ the south shore, Cape Cod _v._ Cape Ann. In the past this has been a stumbling block against any advance, as any plan initiated on the south shore would be opposed from sheer prejudice by the north shore representatives, and _vice versa_. The cry of "entering wedge" has been raised again and again whenever any bill was introduced for the good of the shellfisheries by either party. Merely for political reasons good legislation has been defeated. However, the last few years have shown a decided change. The jealous feeling has in a large measure subsided; the shellfisheries need intelligent consideration, and all parties realize that united effort is necessary to insure the future of these industries.

V. _Quahaugers_ v. _Oystermen_.--On the south shore the worst evil which at present exists is the interclass rivalry between the quahaugers and oystermen. This has caused much harm to both parties, through expensive lawsuits, economic loss, uncertainty of a livelihood, as well as retarding the proper development of both industries.

VI. _Waste of Competition._--At the present day the utilization of waste products in all industries is becoming more and more important. In this age material which was considered useless by our forefathers is made to play its part in the economic world. Through science industrial waste of competition is being gradually reduced to a minimum, although in any business which deals with perishable commodities, such as fish, fruit, etc., there is bound to be a certain amount of loss.

Under the present system the shellfisheries suffer from the effects of waste resulting from competition. Both the fisherman and the consumer feel the effects of this, in different ways,--the fisherman through poor market returns, the consumer through poor service. As long as the shellfisheries are free to all, there is bound to be that scramble to get ahead of "the other fellow," which not only results in the destructive waste of the actual catch, but also causes a "glutted" market, which gives a low return to the fisherman. Thousands of dollars are thus lost each year by the fishermen, who are forced to keep shipping their shellfish, often to perish in the market, merely because the present system invites ruthless competition. The fishermen in this respect alone should be the first to desire a new system, which would give to each a shellfish farm and the privilege of selecting his market.

VII. At the present moment there are two evils which demand attention, and which can be lessened by the passage of two simple laws:--

(1) During the past three years many thousands of bushels of quahaugs under 1½ inches have been shipped out of the State, merely passing into the hands of New York oystermen, who replanted, reaping in one year a harvest of at least five bushels to every one "bedded." Through the inactivity of town control, the incentive to get ahead of the other fellow and the ignorance that they are wasting their own substance have caused many quahaugers in the past to do this at many places.

The 1½-inch quahaug law has been for years a law for many towns in the State. It has been practically a dead letter in all but Edgartown, where it is enforced thoroughly. There should be a State law restricting the size of the quahaugs taken.

(2) The enforcement of a 1½-inch clam law, especially in the towns of Fall River and Swansea, where the digging has reduced the clams to a small size, likewise deserves immediate attention.

All the present evils have each contributed their share toward the ruin of the shellfisheries, and can be best summed up under one head, _i.e._, the abuse of nature. All the above evils have either directly or indirectly worked towards this end. This "abuse of nature" has resulted in several ways: (1) indiscriminate fishing, restricted by no laws, augmented by unwise laws; (2) overfishing in certain localities until the supply is exhausted, as, among other instances, with the Essex clam flats and the natural oyster beds of the Weweantit River; (3) exploiting and wasting the natural resources, so that nature cannot repair the inroads. Nature cannot cope with despoiling man,--man must assist nature.

In the past there has been much feeling, especially among the clammers of the north shore, against the Fish and Game Commission. It therefore is necessary to correct a mistaken impression, which has arisen among the clammers, that "the State is going to take the clam flats away from us." This idea is on the face of it absurd. The Massachusetts Fish and Game Commission is seeking only to have this question solved in such a manner as to yield the most satisfactory results for the public good. At the present time it would be highly undesirable to take the complete control of the shellfisheries from any town, as long as that town shows itself capable of regulating them wisely. At the present day but few towns show any signs of this. What is necessary and desirable is to have an intelligent supervisory body, with power to compel each town to take proper care of its shellfisheries. It is advisable that there be a central power, co-operating with the town control in all matters pertaining to the shellfisheries, whether it be regulations or the restocking of barren areas. A board of arbitration, a committee of appeal for any grievance under the town control, and a commission that would act for the interests of the whole State, are what is most desirable at the present time. Such an arrangement would not be changing radically the present system of town control, but it would free it from its existing evils, place it on a firm and just basis, and give the shellfisheries a chance for improvement.

THE FISHERMAN AND LAWS.

The fisherman of to-day, though nominally his own master, is in reality subject to the demands of the market. To gain a living he is forced to work in all kinds of weather, at cold, disagreeable work. Under the present system he is oppressed by useless special town laws, which merely increase his daily labors without benefiting the fishery in the least. A few good laws only are necessary for the shellfisheries. It is time that the fisherman, one of the great factors in the commercial supremacy of Massachusetts, should be freed from all unnecessary burdens through a new system of satisfactory laws.

THE REMEDY.

In spite of all the existing evils of the town shellfisheries, the outlook is far from hopeless. To-day the shellfisheries of Massachusetts, owing to great natural resources, are as good or better than those of any other coast States, and only await development under proper methods to ensure a bright future. The Commissioners on Fisheries and Game can only point the way of reform; the result lies in the hands of the intelligent voters of this Commonwealth, whose action decides the future success or failure of the shellfisheries. It should be the object of every thinking voter, whether he be fisherman or consumer, to see that the right action be taken in regard to the shellfisheries.

As shown in the preceding pages of this report, the attempted remedy has been based upon the false economic basis of attempting to check the demand by prohibiting digging for certain periods (closed seasons), limiting the amount to be legally dug by any one person, etc. It would be quite as logical for a town or city to prohibit by by-laws the use or digging of potatoes or any other food crop, when the supply was short, rather than to attempt to _increase_ the supply. An increasing demand cannot be checked by any such ill-advised measures, but can be met only by a corresponding increase in the natural production. The only remedy that can be applied successfully is shellfish culture, which means the utilizing of thousands of acres of barren shore area for the planting of farms which will furnish harvests of shellfish. In this way the latent potentialities of nature, which it is criminal to neglect, will be utilized for the good of the entire population of the State. /#

We learn from the dictionaries that a farm is defined to be a tract of land under one control, devoted to agriculture, etc.; and that agriculture is the cultivation of the soil for food products or other useful or valuable growths. All this is very familiar knowledge, as applied to the dry land; but that there may fairly be brought within these definitions the operations of an industry in which lands covered by the salt waters of our bays and harbors are tilled, cultivated, raked, harrowed and planted with seedling bivalves, and harvests of a valuable product garnered, constituting a superb food for the masses, is less familiar, and to many may seem quite astonishing. It is within a comparatively few years that this unique style of farming has had its growth and development, until now many thousands of acres of land under water have been carefully surveyed, and the boundaries marked by buoys and stakes.[6]

To bring the shellfisheries of Massachusetts to their maximum production will take years, but within five years the production can be nearly doubled, if work in the right direction is begun at once. Patience will be required to overcome the obstacles which must be met, and the change must necessarily be gradual.

Every year the difficulties of reform increase. Owing to a steadily increasing demand, the natural supply is becoming smaller, and consequently the difficulty of increasing it becomes so much the harder. Soon the line of possibility will be crossed, and the shellfisheries will become an industry of the past. A few shellfish will always remain, but as an important industry, the shellfisheries, if no remedy is applied, in twenty-five years will be commercially extinct. While there is still time, let action be taken.

The utilization of the barren shellfish areas, wise laws, good regulations and systematic methods of culture are necessary, in order to obtain the maximum production from these sea farms. The sea farm possesses one advantage over the ordinary farm,--the soil never becomes exhausted, as the shellfish derive their sustenance from the water, utilizing indirectly the waste nitrates of the land. To do this it is necessary that shellfish culture be at once begun, either by individuals or by towns.

Three methods of shellfish culture offer ways of approach towards the utilization of the waste areas:--

(1) To leave the matter wholly in the hands of the town. This is the poorest way, as has been shown in the past. Unless the town officials were well informed about the shellfisheries, it would be an absurd farce to entrust the future of this important industry wholly in their hands.

(2) Place all power with the State, instead of with the town. Have a unified and simplified system, whereby shellfish farms and grants can be leased by the individuals. This plan, much better than the first, and possibly the final solution, is, however, not practical of application to the existing conditions. Later, when these conditions are removed, it may prove the best solution of the problem.

(3) The present system of town control to remain. The appointment of the Fish and Game Commission, or a similar commission, to have complete advisory power over the towns, and power to force each town to properly protect its shellfish. A State law would be passed, legalizing grants to individuals and dividing the flats into two equal parts,--public and private. The leasing of grants would be in the hands of the town authorities, but subject to appeal for any grievance to the Fish and Game Commission.

In the chapter relating to each shellfish will be given the practical methods of cultivation for reclaiming the waste areas. These methods have been proved by the experimental work of this commission, the results of which may be published in a subsequent scientific report upon the shellfish. The commission has definitely shown that shellfish culture in Massachusetts is a possibility, and, moreover, a remunerative possibility.

WHO WOULD BENEFIT?

(1) Under the proposed system of practical shellfish culture, many classes of people would be benefited. The person who would be primarily benefited is the fisherman. In the following ways the condition of the industrious fisherman would be bettered: (_a_) his work would be steady, not uncertain; (_b_) he would know his exact annual income, and could govern his living expenses accordingly; (_c_) he would receive more money, with less hardship; (_d_) he would ensure steady market returns, which under the present system are very uncertain; (e) he would be his own master, and not forced to work for poor pay, under the stress of wasteful competition.

(2) The shellfisheries are not for any particular class, but should benefit all, and any improvement in the industry affects all people. A second class would also be benefited by an increase in the shellfish industries. This class can be divided into two groups: (_a_) those directly influenced; (_b_) those indirectly. In the first group are the middlemen,--dealers. By an increased trade, more firms enter the business, more men are hired, etc. Comprising the second group are teamsters, coopers, shop owners, sailors, transportation lines,--an indefinite list, which would be indirectly benefited by an increase in the shellfish industry.

(3) Thirdly, the consumer would receive the benefit of improved quality of goods, reasonable prices, etc. Through increased transportation facilities the inland consumer would have the pleasure of partaking of sea food, and what were once the luxuries of the rich could be had by all.

CAPITAL.

Capital is needed for the best success of any business. In a broad sense, the tools, implements, etc., of the shellfisherman are capital. In the future, if the shellfisheries are to become a great industry, money as working capital is indispensable. Blind objection to the employment of capital on the part of the fishermen works against the best interests of the shellfisheries.

SHELLFISH MONOPOLY.

For years the fishermen have feared that the shellfisheries would fall into the hands of a few companies or trusts, and the individual fisherman thereby lose his independence. As the present age tends toward the formation of monopolies in all business, the fears of the fishermen are not altogether groundless in this respect; nevertheless, while there are certain chances of monopoly in the shellfisheries, these chances are very small. In the first place, a monopoly of a raw edible product, such as shellfish, is hardly possible. Never can it be possible for any one company to control all or the majority of a shellfish supply, which possesses unlimited possibilities of expansion.

Secondly, there are but two ways in which a monopoly of the shellfisheries can be obtained: one is the control of the market by buying up all the shellfish,--a thing far easier under the present conditions; the other, by buying through contract the rights of the individual planters. The success of such an enterprise would depend wholly upon the personnel of the shellfishermen, and such a result could never become possible if each shellfisherman would refuse to sell his rights.

SUMMARY.

This survey has shown (1) that the shellfisheries have declined (an established fact); (2) that the causes of the decline are overfishing and unwise laws; (3) that the remedy is, not to check the demand, as has been previously attempted, but to increase the production by the utilization of vast areas of barren flats, which have been experimentally proved capable of yielding a great harvest; (4) that the present chaotic laws render this impossible; (5) that there is a need of reform, or else the shellfisheries will soon disappear; (6) that the first step is the removal of these laws to permit the application of proper cultural methods.

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Gulf Biologic Station, Cameron, La., Bulletin No. 3, 1905.

[2] Returns of Massachusetts Department of Fisheries and Game.

[3] United States Fish Commission Pamphlet, 1898.

[4] New York Shellfish Report, p. 7.

[5] Report on the Shellfisheries, pp. 33-35.

[6] Forest, Fish and Game Commission Bulletin, Shellfish Culture in New York, 1905. By B. Frank Wood.

QUAHAUG (_Venus mercenaria_).

Inhabiting common waters with the scallop, the northern range of the quahaug (the hard-shell clam or "little neck") in Massachusetts is Plymouth. Commercially it is found both on the north and south side of Cape Cod and in Buzzards Bay, the principal fisheries being at Wellfleet, Orleans, Edgartown, Nantucket and in Buzzards Bay.

The quahaug, while essentially a southern and warm-water form, being found in the United States along the Atlantic seacoast as far south as the Gulf of Mexico, practically reaches its northern range in Massachusetts. In a few sheltered bays on the Maine coast quahaugs are sometimes found, but in small quantities. However, at Prince Edward Island there is said to be an abundance.

Along the coast of Massachusetts north of Boston very few quahaugs are found, although they were formerly taken near Salem. The black quahaug (_Cyprina islandica_), so called from its dark epidermis, is often caught in the trawls, but this is a deep-sea form, and by no means a true quahaug. In Essex and Ipswich rivers and on Plum Island experimental beds have shown that quahaugs grow in these waters, but no spawn has yet been noticed, though ripe eggs were developed in the planted quahaugs. Owing to the swift currents, which carry the spawn perhaps for miles, it is impossible to determine accurately whether any set has taken place.

During the past three years, as outlined by chapter 78, Resolves of 1905, the Fish and Game Commission has conducted a series of experiments upon the quahaug, designated to furnish sufficient data concerning the growth of this mollusk under a variety of conditions, to demonstrate the possibilities and value of practical quahaug farming. The results of these investigations upon the life, habits and culture of the quahaug are to be published in a later scientific report. It is necessary here to say that all statements in this report concerning the growth and culture of quahaugs have been proved by experiments, the results of which are on file at the office of the department of fisheries and game.

It is the object of this report to present both to the fishermen and consumers (1) actual statistical figures of the industry of the State for 1907; (2) a biological survey of the quahauging areas, outlined by maps and descriptions; (3) a description of the industry. This survey should furnish a basis for determining any decline or advance in the quahaug industry of the future, as well as affording comparison with the United States Fish Commission survey of 1879, made by Ernest Ingersoll.