Fairhaven.
The clam industry at Fairhaven suffers from the unsanitary condition of the flats, though in a lesser degree than at New Bedford. The finest clam grounds of this town lie in the proscribed district of the Acushnet River, and handling or eating shellfish from this area is a positive menace to the public health.
A strip of gravel-mud about 100 feet in average width fringes the shores of Priest's Cove, and this strip furnishes at present the best digging. Scattered patches of clams occur along the indentations of Sconticut Neck, around West Island and along the coast of Little Bay. No men are regularly employed in digging clams, though a rather inefficient attempt is made at times to supply the local demand.
Summary of Industry.
| Number of men, | — |
| Capital invested, | — |
| Production, 1907:— | |
| Bushels, | 100 |
| Value, | $100 |
| Total area (acres):— | |
| Sand, | — |
| Mud, | 25 |
| Gravel, | 25 |
| Mussels and eel grass, | — |
| Total, | 50 |
| Productive area (acres):— | |
| Good clamming, | — |
| Scattering clams, | 25 |
| Barren area possibly productive (acres), | 25 |
| Waste barren area (acres), | — |
| Possible normal production, | $7,500 |
New Bedford.
The clam industry at New Bedford was never of any great importance, but the unwise methods of sewage disposal of the city, whereby the effluent enters the harbor in close proximity to the clam flats, renders the taking of shellfish a positive menace to the public health. The action of the State Board of Health in closing the Acushnet River and Clark's Cove to the clam digger virtually annihilated the remnant of the industry. Now practically all the available territory of the city is proscribed, and no clams are allowed to be taken from this area except for use as bait. Licenses are also required to take clams even for bait from this proscribed territory. Three hundred and twenty of these licenses have been issued since the passage of the act in 1904. The annual yield of clams for this purpose cannot be accurately ascertained, but probably does not exceed 250 bushels. No important clam industry would ever have been possible at New Bedford, under any circumstances, but the slight possibilities which once existed have been swept away and can never return under the present conditions, though shellfish grown in this region could, if suitable legislation were enacted, be transplanted to a sanitary environment, where in a month all danger of spreading typhoid germs would be avoided.
Summary of Industry.
| Licenses for bait, | 320 |
| Capital invested, | — |
| Production, 1907:— | |
| Bushels (for bait), | 300 |
| Value, | $225 |
| Total area (acres):— | |
| Sand, | 5 |
| Mud, | 5 |
| Gravel, | 15 |
| Mussels and eel grass, | — |
| Total, | 25 |
| Productive area (acres):— | |
| Good clamming, | — |
| Scattering clams, | 15 |
| Barren area possibly productive (acres), | — |
| Waste barren area (acres), | 10 |
| Possible normal production, | $3,000 |