USA > New York > Nassau County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume II > Part 1
USA > New York > Suffolk County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume II > Part 1
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Gc 974.701 N18b v.2 1176002
GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01125 9543
LONG ISLAND
A History of
TWO GREAT COUNTIES NASSAU and SUFFOLK
THEOCODE R
Grave of Theodore Roosevelt, Oyster Bay
LONG ISLAND
A History of
TWO GREAT COUNTIES NASSAU and SUFFOLK
Edited by PAUL BAILEY Founder-Publisher of The "LONG ISLAND FORUM"
VOLUME II
LEWIS HISTORICAL PUBLISHING CO., INC.
NEW YORK
COPYRIGHT LEWIS HISTORICAL PUBLISHING COMPANY, INC.
1949
30.00
1
Nafta
1
CHAPTER XIX
Long Island's Shellfisheries LEWIS RADCLIFFE, Sc.D. Director, The Oyster Institute of North America
L' ONG ISLAND, the largest island in our inshore Atlantic coast waters, with its irregular coastline of approximately 600 miles, is strategically located to furnish its harvest of fish and shellfish to the great metropolitan area of New York City. Its many indenta- tions, bays, irregular coastline, and relatively shallow waters furnish ideal conditions for a rich harvest of shellfish. Its excellent trans- portation facilities by rail and modern trunk highways leading to metropolitan New York give it easy access to markets. At the same time, rapid growth in population and industrialization and nearness to a great metropolitan center have created sewage and industrial waste problems which have cut heavily into its former productive capacity, and created difficult problems for maintenance of shellfish production particularly for such forms as oysters and clams which are relatively fixed in their abode. In fact, during the past 40 years pro- duction has declined 35 per cent. Through the awakening of the public conscience to the need for reducing the damages of sewage and industrial wastes, through the aids of biological research experts in solv- ing the problems of the oyster farmer, and through the development of cultural methods for clams and other shellfish, it should be possible to maintain the production of shellfish at profitable levels, and supply the metropolitan area with products of unexcelled freshness.
STATISTICAL REVIEW 1176002
The catch figures and values to the fishermen for the years 1901, 1921 and 1942, shown herewith, will enable the reader to visualize the importance of the shellfisheries and trends of production over a period of 40 years. According to these summaries in 1901 New York's shellfisheries totaled over 17,200,000 pounds, valued at $2,163,514; in 1921, nearly 13,566,000 pounds, valued at $2,785,801, and in 1942, 11,434,000 pounds, valued at $3,425,364. It will be noted that in 1901 the surf clam or skimmer is not listed, with only a small catch in 1921, and a moderate catch in 1942, which represented the beginning of the recent rapid development of this fishery. Over 800,000 pounds of crabs are reported in 1901, and 483,000 pounds in 1921, while none are reported in 1942. Small catches have been reported in 1940 and 1943. The principal reason for this decline would appear to be a lack of interest in the fishery at current market prices. Certain products such as shrimp used primarily for bait, and conches, the catch of which is inconsequential, have not been included in these statistics.
L. I .- II-1
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LONG ISLAND-NASSAU AND SUFFOLK
SHELLFISHERIES OF LONG ISLAND, 1901, 1921 AND 1942
1901
Pounds
Bushels
Value
Hard clams
1,478,368
184,796
$ 257,686
Soft clams.
779,450
77,945
58,843
Oysters, market.
12,380,921
1,768,703
1,703,985
Scallops
1,109,724
184,954
107,337
Lobsters
183,539
21,742
Mussels
262,400
10,240
1,800
Squid
180,846
5,114
Crabs, hard.
791,725
4,903
Crabs, soft.
40,440
2,104
17,207,413
$2,163,514
1921
Pounds
Bushels
Value
Hard clams
770,224
96,278
$ 216,478
Soft clams.
188,150
18,815
32,995
Skimmers or surf clams
48,160
6,020
11,300
Oysters
9,423,470
1,346,210
2,070,496
Scallops
1,235,760
205,960
217,108
Lobsters
1,037,395
196,762
Mussels
50,000
5,000
2,500
Squid
330,117
18,500
Crabs, hard
477,242
17,807
Crabs, soft.
5,885
1,855
13,566,403
$2,785,801
1942
Pounds
Bushels
Value
Hard clams.
2,249,600
281,200
$ 729,748
Soft clams
561,200
35,000
105,000
Skimmers or surf clams
340,000
28,300
29,000
Oysters
6,400,000
853,300
2,144,260
Scallops
1,045,800
251,200
321,278
Lobsters
156,800
38,648
Mussels
326,200
32,620
22,825
Squid
354,400
34,605
11,434,000
$3,425,364
THE OYSTER (OSTREA VIRGINICA)
Large Indian shellheaps or "kitchen middens" at various points along our Atlantic coast attest to the former abundance of oysters and other shellfish, and the dependence of the aborigines on them for food. Without these natural resources some of the early settlements would have been wiped out. In the Long Island area the waters abounded with fine oysters over a much larger area than they are found today. Ernest Ingersoll, writing in 1887 for the U. S. Commission of Fish and Fisheries, has given us a vivid picture of former conditions in these words :
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LONG ISLAND'S SHELLFISHERIES
"From the eastern part of Connecticut westward and southward along the coast, the thing noteworthy is not where oysters grew naturally in primitive times, but where they did not. Every spot of shore or river-mouth, as far as tide- waters and suitable grounds extended, besides many shallow 'reefs' in the open water of Long Island Sound, were crowded with these mollusks, unless unfavorable condition prevented. The most noticeable barren areas were the eastern half of the north shore of Long Island, the storm-swept outer beaches of Montauk and the south shore of Long Island (though these beaches sheltered extensive areas of oyster-beds between them and the mainland), and the open coast of New Jersey, from Sandy Hook almost to Cape May. Here, however, great bays, like that at Barnegat, and several rivers, such as those which reach the sea through Atlantic County and Cape May County, furnish the quiet shallow waters that make an oyster tenantry possible, and in these an extensive growth has always flourished.
"In New York Bay-to go back a little-oysters once grew naturally all along the Brooklyn shore, and in the East River; all around Manhattan Island; up the Hudson as far as Sing Sing; on the Jersey shore from that point to Keyport, N. J., and in Keyport, Raritan, Newark, and Hackensack Rivers; all around Staten Island, and on many reefs and wide areas of bottom between Robyn's Reef and Jersey City. Explorers and colonists were saved any trouble in finding this out for themselves, since the red men were in the habit of gathering clams and oysters at all practical seasons, and depended upon them largely for their food."
"On Long Island", writes Ingersoll, "oysters grew in great abundance in every bay and inlet as far east as Port Jefferson, beyond which the bold coast of shifting sand is unsuitable, until the long-ago exterminated colonies inside of Orient Point, at the eastern end, were reached. From Port Jefferson westward a good many native oysters are still taken to market, and once in a while a deposit is found which has lain undisturbed long enough to bring to salable maturity a considerable quantity; yet no one makes much account of these, and the natural beds are devoted almost wholly to seed-producing. Harlem River and Gowanus Bay were both noted in primitive times for the excellence of their oysters.
"A similar fate has overtaken the once highly-productive grounds in the Great South Bay, on the southern shore of Long Island. Originally oysters in this sound were confined almost wholly between Smith's Point and Fire Island-prac- tically to the waters east of Blue Point, known as Brookhaven Bay. This was the home of the famous celebrity, the Blue Point oyster, which was among the earliest to come to New York markets. The present oyster of this brand is small and round, but the old 'Blue Points,' cherished by the Dutch burghers and peak-hatted sons of the Hamptons, who toasted
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LONG ISLAND-NASSAU AND SUFFOLK
the king long before our Revolution was thought of, was of the large, crooked, heavy-shelled, elongated kind with which one becomes familiar all along the coast in examining relics of the natural beds. Now and then, a few years ago, one of these aboriginal oysters, of which two dozen made a suffi- cient armful, was dragged up and excited the curiosity of every one; but the time has gone by when any more of these monsters may be expected. As early as 1679, according to Watson's Annals, this bay had become the scene of an exten- sive industry. In 1853 the New York Herald reported that the value of all the Blue Point oysters, by which name the Great South Bay oysters generally were meant, did not exceed yearly $200,000. 'They are sold for an average of ten shillings ($1.25) a hundred from the beds; but, as they are scarce and have a good reputation, they sell at a con- siderable advance upon this price when brought to market. At one period, when they might be regarded as in their prime, they attained a remarkable size; but now their proportions, as well as their numbers, have been greatly reduced.' The people did not take alarm soon enough. When, a few years later, they did become frightened at the threatened extirpa- tion of their resources, their efforts were all but too late to save the beds from total annihilation. As it is, only trans- planted oysters are now sent to market from that district. Between Fire Island and New York Bay no natural beds of any consequence ever grew, so far as we know, but large interests in planting have arisen. Inside New York Bav, however, the oysters formed a very important item in enumerating the advantages of the new country.
"Prof. S. S. Lockwood estimates that, including the waters inside of Staten Island, not less than 350 square miles of rich oyster banks were open to the people dwelling about New York Bay at the time of its first settlement. This resource was deemed inexhaustible, and perhaps might have proved so, or at least have longer delayed its decadence, had not incessant removal of oysters been supplemented by the covering up of the beds or the killing of their occupants by impurities in the water, which more and more increased as population grew and civilization advanced upon the neigh- boring shores. No doubt the clearing away of the forests and the drainage of so many towns and factories have produced an increase of sediment and pollution in the Hudson River, quite sufficient to put an end to most of its more exposed oyster beds, even had they never been touched; and cer- tainly this is true of the harbor itself."
Subsequent events substantiated Lockwood's fears of 1887 as to the decadence of the oyster industry resulting from industrial develop- ment, growth in population, pollution and a scarcity of seed oysters and other factors.
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LONG ISLAND'S SHELLFISHERIES
We find a most interesting point of view of foreign observers of our oyster industry as expressed by Prof. Mobius (Oysters and All About Them, by John R. Philpots, 1891, London) :
"In North America the oysters are so fine and cheap that they are eaten daily by all classes. Hence they are now, and have been for a long time, a real means of sub- sistence for the people. This enviable fact is no argument against the injuriousness of a continuous and severe fishing of the beds. * * But as the number of consumers increases in America, the price will also surely advance, and then there will arise a desire to fish the banks more severely than hitherto, and if they do not accept in time the unfortu- nate experience of the oyster culturists of Europe, they will surely find their oyster beds impoverished for having defied the biocoenotic laws."
William Firth Wells, Biologist and Sanitarian for the state, in a report on the effects of pollution of streams stated :
"Oyster fishery is failing. Oyster culture, the most valuable fishery in the state of New York, is rapidly declin- ing and threatens to become extinct. Over a million bushels of oysters, valued at more than a million dollars, were annually harvested in this State a few years ago. Today this crop has shrunk to one-half its former magnitude and is decreasing each year. Lack of seed oysters has caused this condition and, unless a plentiful and cheap supply of seed becomes available, this decline will continue until the produc- tion of our grounds is limited to the small output of our natural oyster beds."
We find further reasons for this decline in production in the declining acreage. According to an estimate made in 1928, there were originally in New York 687,000 acres of grounds suitable for shellfish cultivation. At that time 82,600 acres of oyster-growing grounds had been rendered wholly useless because of sewage trade wastes and other factors; 166,800 acres had been eliminated from productive purpose or restricted as to use and only 21,975 acres were now growing oysters without restriction as to use. In other words, out of 271.375 acres of oyster-producing grounds in the state by 1928, only 71/2% were still used for growing oysters without restric- tions and if we return to primitive conditions as the white man found them, present unrestricted actually productive areas represent but little more than 3% of the original acreage capable of producing oysters.
During the half century from 1880 to 1930, the annual catch of market oysters in New York waters was never less than one million bushels reaching a high of 3,547,900 bushels in 1911 for which the oystermen received nearly $3,200,000. Beginning with 1931, the catch declined to less than one million bushels, and with the exception of 1937 and 1938 has remained below this level. This decline in volume
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LONG ISLAND-NASSAU AND SUFFOLK
has been offset to a considerable degree by higher prices ; for example. the 1942 harvest of 853,000 bushels netted the oystermen over $2,140,000, and rising prices during the war years must have given further encouragement to the oyster farmers. Were it not for the perseverance and industry of Long Island's oyster farmers, the oyster fishery of New York would long ago have sunk to a level of little importance. As it is, these men deserve the highest praise for their efforts to maintain this important industry, battling continu- ously against the depredations of the enemies of the oyster. To get a true picture of their worth, it is well to remember that of over a million acres of oyster-producing grounds in United States waters, the 200,000 acres under cultivation produce 60% of our annual harvest.
Back in the Gay Nineties in the days of "Diamond Jim" Brady, dinners without oysters were unthinkable. Brady had a marvelous appetite and as George Rector once told a reporter, "We greeted him as our ten best guests". He was especially fond of oysters, large oysters as big as your hand, three dozen of which constituted the first course of his meal. Then there is "Billy the Oysterman", the third of a family dynasty of oystermen who estimated that in thirty years he had served more than 41,600.000-an all-time record it is believed.
In the old days, according to Billy, no self-respecting oyster lover would think of eating a meal with less than a dozen oysters. In the early 1900s boisterous damsels like Lillian Russell made nightly after-theatre suppers of small mountains of fried oysters.
Now that the tide is turning away from the hot-house quality so eagerly sought after by many women of today with an apprecia- tion of the need for sparkling vitality attained through good food and proper exercise, oysters and other seafoods may again be in growing demand. A recent survey of the eating habits of the gen- eral public showed 55% eating before going to bed. Nutrition experts have placed their stamp of approval on the fourth meal so long as the total intake is distributed over the four meals. A century ago a bowl of piping hot oyster stew with toast and hard rolls or crisp crackers formed the traditional Christmas and New Year's Eve supper. Considering the happy way the oyster has of inducing sleep of the deep and restful kind, the oyster stew would appear to be the ideal dish for that fourth meal, especially on a wintery night, the season when oysters are fattest and of finest flavor.
As the future of Long Island's oyster industry depends on an adequate supply of seed and the cultivation of oysters, a brief review of oyster-farming operations on Long Island will be helpful in attempt- ing to evaluate the future of the industry. By 1853, with the threatened exhaustion of the natural stock, the first steps in oyster farming-the transplanting of oysters from other areas-became necessary. In 1855, some City Island oystermen, profiting by the work of the French scientist, M. Coste, in getting larval oysters to attach or "set" on clean shells, tile or other hard objects, began planting shells on otherwise barren bottoms of Long Island Sound. From that time oyster cultivation began to develop as a new industry.
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LONG ISLAND'S SHELLFISHERIES
Oysters do not thrive naturally in the open sea but in bays, coves, estuaries and mouths of rivers; that is, in partially enclosed waters rendered brackish by land drainage, areas most favorable to the pro- duction of diatoms and other microscopic organisms on which the oyster feeds. In growing a crop which takes from four to six years to mature, the oyster farmer must have control over the bottoms he cultivates. Connecticut was the first State to grant vested rights in oyster grounds. In 1842, lawful right was given the owner of any land wherein there were salt water creeks or inlets, to dam, gage, or lock these for his own use for growing oysters. An amendment passed in 1845 permitted residents under certain limitations and restrictions to lay down or plant in navigable waters oysters brought from any waters within the State, and the following year a further amendment permitted the transplanting of oysters from extrastate as well as intrastate waters. Titles to the use of oyster lands are determined by the laws of the several States. In many States such as Rhode Island they are held under renewable leases; in Connecti- cut, for the most part, by perpetual franchise, and in New York they are owned in fee. For the most part, the free fishermen have vigor- ously opposed the granting of exclusive rights, and by restrictive legislation have seriously interfered with the growth of oyster farming.
Through . trial and error over many years of experimentation, the oyster farmer has learned to divide his oyster grounds into three classes-setting or propagating grounds; growing grounds, and maturing grounds. As an abundant supply of seed oysters is neces- sary, favorable setting (seed) grounds or natural seed areas are highly important to the welfare of the industry. In the Long Island area, where favorable spawning and setting conditions may occur once in four or five years, the shoal warmer waters near the shore are used. Because of the adaptability of Connecticut inshore waters to the growing of seed oysters, and the green color of the meats due to the high mineral content rendering them less attractive to con- sumers, Long Island oystermen have acquired seed grounds in these waters for the production of seed, while some Connecticut oystermen in turn own or lease growing and maturing grounds in Long Island waters. Large quantities of Connecticut seed oysters are planted on beds in Gardiners and Peconic Bays and tributaries. The excellent growth and fine quality of these oysters were soon recognized and they became famous in the markets of the country for their fine flavor.
In preparation for a crop the farmer carefully cleans his seed grounds, dredging up the old surface shells, debris and the natural enemies of the oyster. When the water begins to warm up in June. just prior to the time of spawning, thousands of bushels of oyster shells from the shucking houses are scattered over the grounds at the rate of about 500 to 1000 bushels per acre. Spawning beds of mature oysters are maintained in close proximity to the seed grounds, or stocks of large spawners are scattered over the setting grounds.
The fecundity of the eastern oyster is almost unbelievable. A single female may discharge from 100 million to 500 million eggs in a single season, while the male may liberate millions of mobile sperma-
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LONG ISLAND-NASSAU AND SUFFOLK
tozoa. Under favorable spawning conditions, in due time the old shells planted on the bottom may be literally covered with the tiny spat, the numbers sometimes ranging from 1500 to 65,000 spat for each bushel of shell. After a set has been obtained, if the ground is reasonably safe from winter storms and ice, the young growing oysters may be allowed to remain for a year or more; otherwise in the fall they will be shifted to growing grounds. The term "seed oysters" is loosely applied to the set which is only a few months old and no larger than one's finger nail or to oysters of nearly marketable size purchased for planting on cultivated grounds. A current of water is set up by means of pulsating cilia, bathing the gills and aerating the blood. The microscopic food particles carried in this stream of water become entangled and drawn into the stomach. An adult oyster in warm weather may filter water at the rate of 26 quarts a day. On a well populated oyster ground the competition for the microscopic food of the oyster is very great and for best results should not be complicated by a crop of young oysters attached to an older crop underneath.
In order to meet this difficulty many oystermen have converted thousands of acres of useless bottoms on which oysters do not set into bottoms suitable for transplanting the seed oysters where they will be freed from many of the dangers to oysters on natural grounds. The seed oysters are planted about 300 to 500 bushels to the acre, depending on the richness of the set and character of ground. At the end of a year, when the quantity of the crop should have doubled, about half of the crop is thinned out and moved to other growing grounds to prevent crowding, which might result in ill-shaped oysters and a high mortality. The same process is usually repeated during the next two years. Therefore, at the age of 4 years the oysters may have been transplanted two or three times. However, the mortality is so high that probably not more than 2 or 3 per cent of the original spat has survived and but a small fraction of 1 per cent of the original spat is ever matured.
Having reached a marketable size, the oysters are removed to maturing grounds usually in water of 2 or 3 fathoms, where an abundance of food will fatten the oysters for marketing.
Throughout this period from egg to maturity, the oyster farmer has to wage relentless warfare against the enemies of the oyster-star- fish, drills, drumfish, conches, mussels, boring sponges, boring clams, leeches and other enemies, and is subject to losses from storms, hur- . ricanes, winter ice, silt, drifting sand and other unfavorable factors. For example the hurricane of September 21, 1938, did very heavy damage to the oyster beds in Rhode Island, Connecticut and New York, destroying several million bushels of oysters. In some cases the beds were buried under sand and mud; in other cases the oysters were picked up and scattered over adjacent areas, in some cases on public grounds, mingling the oysters of one year class with those of others on nearby beds. The damage was estimated at two million dollars or more.
For more than a half century scientists have been studying the problems of the oyster industry-the spawning and early develop-
-
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LONG ISLAND'S SHELLFISHERIES
ment of the oyster, its food and feeding habits, including hibernation, improvements in seed collectors, studies of the starfish, drill and other enemies of the oysters, including devices for catching them or means for their destruction. One of the earliest scientific investigations of oyster culture was begun in 1888 in New Jersey by the late Dr. Julius Nelson, of Rutgers University and Agricultural Experiment Station, who undertook to ascertain the reasons for the decline of some of the oyster beds of that State. Federal and. State agencies
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Inside the New Greenport Oyster Plant
and institutions have sponsored oyster investigations until today few, if any, economic marine animals have been the subject of so much study. This has been a very important factor in encouraging the development of oyster farming and the establishment of a fishery management program in those States with large natural oyster rock. For success the oyster farmer needs a dependable source of supply of seed oysters, grounds rich enough in the organisms on which the oyster feeds to promote growth and fattening, and adequate means for controlling the enemies of oysters. Coupled with the benefits to be derived from scientific research is the awakening of the public conscience to the need for reducing the heavy load of domestic sewage and trade wastes. As this clean-up continues it may be possible to restore many acres to productive use.
In the oyster producing areas from Cape Cod to New Jersey about 99 per cent of the harvest is from cultivated beds, the catch
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