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
The quahaug territory of Wellfleet comprises about 2,500 acres, and
approximately takes up all the harbor, wherever there are no oyster
grants, running from the "Deep Hole" between Great Island and Indian
Neck southward to the Eastham line. Outside of these limits a few
quahaugs are found on the flats of Duck Creek and along the shore
flats of the town. They are more abundant on the north side of Egg
Island, where they are taken in shallow water with ordinary hand
rakes. The best quahauging is found in the channel extending from an
imaginary line between Lieutenant's Island and Great Beach Hill south
to Billingsgate. The greatest depth at low tide is 4½ fathoms and the
general average is about 3 fathoms. In this channel are found most of
the "little necks," small blunts and small sharps.
Outside of the oyster grants, quahaugs are found south of Great
Island, north of Billingsgate Island on the west side of the harbor,
on Lieutenant's Island bar and at the mouth of Blackfish Creek. A few
quahaugs, both sharps and blunts, are raked with 25-foot rakes in the
shallow water 6 to 8 feet near the beach, usually on a sandy bottom.
The principal market for Wellfleet quahaugs is New York, though many
are sent to Boston and other parts of the country, even to the middle
west. Quahaugs have been shipped from Wellfleet to Milwaukee and
arrived in good condition after ten days.
The annual production is 33,000 bushels, one-sixth of these, 5,500
bushels, being "little necks." There were 140 men engaged in the
fishery in 1906, and 145 permits were granted in 1907. The average
yield for a day's raking is 4 bushels, although an exceptional
quahauger can sometimes rake 7 bushels.
Practically all the raking is done in deep water, with rakes the
handles of which are often 47 feet long. Each quahauger has a set
of handles of various lengths for different depths of water. Both
power boats and "cats" are used here in quahauging, the power boats
possessing considerable advantage over the sail boat. Thirty-eight
power boats and 62 sail boats, both single and double manned, are used
at Wellfleet.
At present there is every indication of a declining fishery. Until
the last three years the industry has been steadily on the increase
since 1894. The maximum production was reached a few years ago, and
the industry is slowly on the decline, unless the opening up of new
beds gives it a fresh start. Unfortunately, all the quahaugers do not
realize the possibility of this seemingly inexhaustible supply giving
out, and believe it will continue forever; but any one can see that
it is impossible for the natural supply to continue when such inroads
are yearly made, and that it is only a question of time when the best
business asset of the town will become extinct.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account