A Report upon the Mollusk Fisheries of MassachusettsMassachusetts. Commissioners on Fisheries and Game
Science
A Report upon the Mollusk Fisheries of Massachusetts
Massachusetts. Commissioners on Fisheries and Game
Shellfish fisheries -- Massachusetts
A license is required to dig quahaugs for bait in this territory, and
such is issued free of charge. The maximum amount permitted to be dug
is 2 bushels per week of clams or quahaugs, or of both. Some 320
permits have been issued since the law was passed, in 1905. Eleven of
these have been since revoked for unlawful conduct on the part of the
possessors. For the first offence the license is merely revoked, for
the second a fine of $10, and for the third $100 is imposed.
_Orleans._
Although Orleans is well represented by all four main types of
shellfish, the quahaug fishery is the leading industry of the town. A
favorable coast line, fronting on the west the waters of Cape Cod Bay
and bounded on the east by Pleasant Bay, provides excellent facilities
for the quahaug fishery.
The main quahauging territory is in Cape Cod Bay. While the west coast
of Orleans is only about a mile long, the privileges which allow
the citizens of Orleans free fishing in Eastham waters, according
to the act of incorporation in 1792, "whereby the benefits of the
shellfishery were to be mutually shared," opens up an extensive tract
of quahaug territory, from 2 to 3 miles in width, extending north as
far as Billingsgate Island and the Wellfleet line. The actual Orleans
quahaug territory consists only of 1,000 acres, which furnish but poor
quahauging, while the water is several fathoms deep.
On the east side an entirely different condition prevails. Here in
the waters of Pleasant Bay is a bed of quahaugs which, though worked
for a long time, is still in excellent condition. The proportion of
"little necks" is larger than on the west side, running about one-half
the entire catch; neither is the water as deep here, rarely having
a greater depth than 12 feet, and by no means as rough as the more
exposed waters of Cape Cod Bay. The quahauging grounds here comprise
500 acres.
Although there are 1,500 acres of quahaug territory in the town of
Orleans, only a small part of this is commercially productive, and the
larger part of the fishery is carried on in Eastham waters.
The possession of two entirely different quahaug grounds, one on the
east, the other on the west coast, makes practically two different
industries, each of which will have to be considered separately.
(1) _Cape Cod Bay Industry._--In Cape Cod Bay 50 men rake quahaugs
whenever the weather will permit. Owing to the great depth of water,
the work is difficult, requiring rakes with handles often 60 feet long.
Two men generally go in one boat, the usual type being an elongated
dory, some 30 to 32 feet over all, carrying from 4 to 12 horse-power
gasolene engines. These boats are built to stand rough weather, and
cost from $700 to $1,000 apiece. Thirty boats are employed in this
business in the bay.
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