A Report upon the Mollusk Fisheries of Massachusetts

by Massachusetts. Commissioners on Fisheries and Game; David Lawrence Belding

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.