(5) Chatham.—A natural oyster bed once existed in the Oyster Pond, but no trace of it now remains.
(6) Harwich.—Herring River in the town of Harwich still possesses the remnants of a natural oyster bed, as occasionally a few oysters can be gathered along its banks. This bed once comprised a stretch of three-quarters of a mile along the river.
(7) Yarmouth.—The town of Yarmouth once possessed a natural oyster bed in Mill Creek, but this was fished out by 1895 and then granted for oyster culture.
(8) Barnstable.—There is a natural oyster bed at Centerville.
(9) Martha's Vineyard.—Native oysters are said to have existed in the brackish ponds on the south side of the island; a few are found there at the present time.
(10) Falmouth.—A few native oysters are to be found in the salt ponds on the south coast of the town. In Squeteague Pond and Wild Harbor oysters were once native.
Buzzards Bay comprises the best natural oyster territory in the State. At the present time the natural oyster industry has been supplanted by oyster culture, which gradually took the place of the declining natural oyster fishery. While natural beds still exist to some extent, they are, to all practical purposes, extinct. Where once there were extensive areas, now there are only scattering oysters. In many cases the beds have been so completely destroyed that the ground has been granted for oyster culture. That Buzzards Bay is a "natural set area" can be readily seen by the amount of "seed oysters" that are caught by the oystermen who plant shells for the purpose.
(11) Bourne.—(a) Red Brook Harbor.—In 1879 Ernest Ingersoll says:—
On the southern shore of this harbor, about a mile from its head, exists a living bed of natural oysters some 7 acres in extent, under the protection of the town for public benefit. The oysters growing on it are reported to be large, but not of extraordinary size, scalloped and roundish, differing in no respect from aged oysters grown after transplanting to another part of the bay.
In 1907 this natural bed had been reduced to 3 acres, and the unproductive part granted.