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.