USA > New York > Nassau County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume II > Part 2
USA > New York > Suffolk County > Long Island; a history of two great counties, Nassau and Suffolk, Volume II > Part 2
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from natural grounds being inconsequential. The handling of tens of thousands of bushels of shells for cultch, the transference of seed oysters to growing grounds, and replanting a number of times, as well as harvesting the catch, and shucking and packing it for market, require a very heavy investment in boats many of which are pow- ered with Diesel engines, also docks, shore plants, packing equipment and marketing facilities, including refrigeration. The individual may lease or own from a few acres of oyster bottoms up to 25,000 acres or more. Some of the larger boats equipped to operate a number of dredges are capable of handling a very large volume of oysters, one of which with a capacity of 4000 bushels is reported to be able to dredge as high as 1000 bushels of oysters per hour.
Long Island has some of the finest oyster packing houses in the country. One of these, located near Greenport, is a modern building- 120' x 192'-of steel, brick, stucco, and concrete, completely equipped for unloading and preparing oysters for shipment to market. Adjoin- ing this building is a landlocked basin-200' x 200'-connected by a channel 50 feet wide extending out to deep water. Two unloading piers extend into the basin to support conveyors for transferring oysters to the building and to provide a place for docking and moving the boats. The plant contains adequate provision for preparing and culling oysters for shipment in the shell, and for shucking the oysters and preparing them for shipment to market in large volume.
Scientific oyster farming, improved transportation and refrigera- tion facilities, attractive packaging in individual consumer packages, the complete digestibility of oyster proteins and the revelations of science as to the richness of oysters in minerals and vitamins, have removed oysters from the class of luxury foods and made them avail- able to our people however remote from points of production at rea- sonable cost. Then, too, oysters and other shellfish have unique dietary values. They are known to contain all the minerals found necessary to maintain health, being especially rich in iodine, iron and copper, and are known to be low in fat. You need not be surprised to find frozen oysters from Long Island on the menu at some hotel in Honolulu or in normal times oysters served in London or other British cities, having been grown in the United States, shipped to England for rebedding and harvested and served during the summer months when the English oyster is not edible.
Furthermore, no area of production can boast of more varieties of oysters than Long Island, nor more partisans as to which produc- tion area yields the finest oysters be they Blue Points, Fire Island Salts, Gardiners Bays, Oyster Bays, Robbins Island or other varieties among the aristocrats of the oyster kingdom grown along the shores of Long Island.
THE QUAHOG OR HARD SHELL CLAM (VENUS MERCENARIA)
The quahog or hard shell clam occurs in abundance from Cape Cod to Florida, and is the most abundant clam along the Middle Atlantic Coast. Our annual yield approximates 13 million pounds of meats worth about 2.2 million dollars. This clam lives in coastal
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LONG ISLAND'S SHELLFISHERIES
waters from near high tide to depths of 50 feet or more. In New York waters the clams occurring in or near the tidal zone are dug from the sand with rakes or picked by hand, while those in deeper waters are harvested with tongs. The bulk of the catch is sold fresh, while the rest is canned-either minced, as chowder or as clam cocktail.
According to Ingersoll (1.c.) the south shore of Long Island was formerly a great source of supply of hard shell clams which were sold in New York and used to supply the immense and numerous summer hotels along the entire length of the island which were open during warm weather. They were harvested the year round except when ice prevented, but most actively when oysters were out of season. In 1880, a single firm of packers at Islip used as high as 5 million clams in a season. At this time the harvest along the north shore of Long Island was estimated at over 300,000 bushels. Port Washington, Little Neck, Whitestone, and Centerport were among the principal production centers. At Port Washington alone about 500 persons regularly raked quahogs in the summer time.
Beginning about 1900, many thousands of bushels of small clams were bedded on private areas on the south side of Long Island. According to a Bureau of Fisheries Report for 1901 comparatively few of these cultivated clams were marketed prior to that time, the harvest of that year amounting to 9260 bushels selling for $25,565. The popularity of small clams, says the report, is constantly increas- ing in the markets, and in time their cultivation on the south side of Long Island may even rival oyster culture. By 1904, production of cultivated hard clams had increased to over 47,000 bushels, but sub- sequently declined. The expectation that clam cultivation might rival oyster culture appears not to have been realized, as in 1942 production from private beds was less than 71,000 bushels, and from public beds. 210,000 bushels.
Changes in yield and prices to the fishermen give us the best index to this fishery. In 1880, the yield exceeded 322,000 bushels, returning to the fishermen an average of 76 cents per bushel; in 1901, it was 185,000 bushels, returning $1.40; in 1904, 167,000 bushels. worth $1.80 per bushel; in 1921, 96,000 bushels, bringing $2.25 per bushel, and in 1942, 281,000 bushels, averaging $2.60 per bushel to the harvester.
According to the Fish and Wildlife Service so long as the public fails to cultivate its clam grounds, discourages private cultivation. and pours its domestic sewage and industrial wastes over its good clam-growing area, it can get only a fraction of the potential vield of this resource.
THE SOFT SHELL CLAM (MYA ARENARIA)
The soft shell clam is found on tidal flats and beaches, inlets and bays generally in the intertidal zones in our North, Middle Atlantic and Chesapeake areas. The annual yield is about 16.5 million pounds of meats, valued at about 1.2 million dollars. Practically the entire catch is from public beds. The small-sized "steamers" are usually
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sold in the shell, while the larger ones are shucked and the meats iced. The trend of this fishery in New York waters is illustrated graphically by the catch figures. In 1880, the catch totaled nearly 294,000 bushels for which the fishermen received 50 cents a bushel; in 1901, 78,000 bushels, bringing 75 cents per bushel; in 1920, 18,800 bushels, returning $1.75 per bushel; in 1942, 105,000 bushels, yielding $3.00 per bushel, a fivefold increase in value in 42 years.
In Fishery Resources of the United States (Senate Doc. No. 51, 79th Congress, 1st Session) the situation with respect to the soft shell clam is summed up thus: "If the annual yield of soft shell clams is to be substantially increased, most States must take better care of their resources either by scientific cultivation of public grounds, or by liberalizing the opportunities of private interests to lease grounds. Unfortunately, up to the present, municipalities and States rarely, if ever, have cultivated their clam resources; instead. they neglect them and allow this source of wealth to dissipate away."
The soft shell clam is not only prized as a savory food by those familiar with it but for long has been in great demand for bait especially in the old fishing bank fisheries. It was customary to remove the meats from the shell, salt and pack them in barrels.
THE SURF CLAM (MACTRA SOLIDISSIMA)
The surf clam or skimmer found on exposed coasts from Labrador to Cape Hatteras is one of the commonest shellfish along the southern shore of Long Island and other Middle Atlantic areas. The increased demand for shellfish and other foods developed during World War II led to the rapid exploitation of this resource. Within a three-year period (1943-46) the catch reached an annual volume of 24 million pounds, yielding about 4 million pounds of canned clam meats, with no indication of any abatement in the demand. The very rapid growth and danger of overexploitation of this fishery within a very few vears make it an interesting subject for study and guidance in developing a management program for our shellfisheries.
"For many years prior to 1943", according to James R. Westman, Senior Aquatic Biologist, Bureau of Marine Fish- eries, State of New York Conservation Department, "there was a moderate production of surf clams as bait for com- mercial and sports fishing boats in both Long Island and New Jersey-the latter region entering into moderate scale produc- tion during the middle or late thirties. To a much lesser extent, surf clams were also used as food but chiefly, it seems, by summer residents along the shore-front and those other persons who happened to be aware of the skimmer clam's excellent table qualities when correctly prepared. Produc- tion at that time was accomplished through power dredging augmented by hand tonging-the latter in the surf areas along the shore and also in the vicinity of Three Mile harbor and Greenport. The centers of power dredging on Long Island, originated in Sheepshead Bay and were soon located in the regions of Rockaway and Jones Inlets where several
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LONG ISLAND'S SHELLFISHERIES
dredgers were active. Total production of surf clams for bait during the late 'twenties and in the 'thirties was per- haps 30,000 bushels annually, with probably 90% accounted for by power dredging."
Despite numerous efforts over a period of many years to inter- est canners to pack this product in cans, it was not until early in 1943 when a Maine cannery hunting for an abundant supply of shell- fish received a shipment sufficient for experimentation. This experi- ment met with such favor that demand increased from 140 bushels to as high as 1500 bushels per day. It was not long before establish- ments in Long Island became interested in the production and proc- essing of this product. Methods of harvesting and processing were changed with great rapidity for more economical operations.
"When the skimmer was first established as a food industry" (Westman, l.c.), "nearly all the harvesting was done from beds just off Jones Inlet (inside a two-mile radius from S.E. to S.W.). As more boats entered the fishery, however, more areas were harvested until, by late summer of 1945, the skimmer 'area' extended from East Rockaway Inlet to Gilgo, a distance of some 20 miles. Another area was also discovered, late in 1945, in the vicinity of Fire Island Inlet, and several vessels began harvesting clams in that region. By the end of 1945 the total number of boats engaged in the fishery had increased from the original four or five to more than 50.
"Clams in this so-called skimmer 'area' occur in various degrees of concentration, with the higher densities forming 'streaks' or 'ridges', in a sort of mosaic. It is these 'streaks' which are buoyed by individual boats in order that they may more effectively work these higher concentrations. The sizes of these 'streaks' vary greatly; from only a few feet in extent to several hundreds of feet in length and breadth. Most of the individual streaks studied by the writer had . clams of fairly uniform size; the range was frequently less than one inch, with as many as 80% of the clams falling within a half-inch range. Based on the assumption that shell 'ridges' or 'checks' are representative of age, the streaks were heavily dominated by either one or two year-classes. The density of the clams on these streaks obviously is quite heavy, and in many instances they must be crowded together like cobblestones.
"Early in 1945, the industry standardized upon 4 1/16th inches, measured on the longest axis, as the minimum desired length for skimmers; and this size was written into the State Conservation Law in May of that same year.
"Based upon the aforementioned 'ridge' counts on shells, the growth rate of skimmers is variable; a single age class of clams from a particular streak usually fell into a 'normal curve', but significant differences in size were sometimes
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noted between similar age classes of adjacent streaks. More- over, in the areas east of Jones Inlet the clams examined by the writer showed less variation in growth rate than those west of the inlet. In the former locality the clams examined suggested that a large proportion of the 'five-year-olds' had reached 4 1/16th inches in length and that nearly all of the 'six-year' group had attained this legal size; while west of Jones Inlet, streaks of 'runts' were sometimes encountered which had not attained 31/2 inches in 'five years' of growth. During the summer of 1945 the writer 'tagged' a number of clams by marking the shells with a red dye in order, if pos- sible, to check upon the growth rate and to determine sur- vival of under-sized clams returned to the water. Recoveries of some of these marked clams suggested that the 'ridge' counts were of significance and that mortality among the returned clams was about equal to the proportion of sev- erely cut 'tongues' (feet).
"Under experimental conditions, skimmer clams exhibit considerable activity and can dig themselves down into previously undisturbed hard sand in a matter of a minute or so. Under these experimental conditions, skimmers would also fail to retract their feet unless rather violently disturbed. Moderate poking often merely prompted them to dig deeper into the sand. The siphon is phototropic and the clam would often retract its siphon below the surface of the sand when a shadow fell across it.
"Clams in the surf regions are more deeply embedded at certain times than at others and persons who have tonged for skimmers report that this is particularly correlated with tidal conditions. It is thus suggested that both tidal and weather conditions may account for the apparent changes in the availability of clams on a particular streak. At no time has the writer encountered any evidence which would indicate that the skimmer clam undergoes hibernation during the winter months, although it seems possible that individuals or groups might hibernate for short periods from time to time. As yet, there is also no evidence which suggests any extensive migration of clam groups, although the skimmer is quite capable of moving in horizontal directions."
Westman proceeds to discuss the decline in abundance, the increased intensity of fishing effort of favored areas, the search for new production areas, the need for regulations, a better understand- ing of the life history of the surf clam, improvements in the methods of conducting the fishery which will prove less destructive to the crop, and the need for the development of a satisfactory management program for this fishery "so that the optimum economic yield can be perpetually sustained".
As is the case with oysters and other important shellfish, the future of the surf clam fishery of Long Island rests upon the develop- ment of a sound fishery management program for sustained yield
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LONG ISLAND'S SHELLFISHERIES
supplemented with studies as to the practicability of propagating the species on a commercial scale.
SCALLOPS
Unlike oysters and clams, scallops are capable of motion in the water. By continuously opening and closing the two shells they are able to effect a form of jet propulsion which moves them rapidly and erratically for short distances through the water. Scallops differ in another respect in that when removed from the water they quickly lose their shell liquor and die within a few hours. For this reason the central muscle, the only part eaten, is cut out immediately after capture.
The catch is made up of two species. The bay scallop (Pecten irradians) is found in bays and estuaries from New England to the Gulf of Mexico, chiefly on sandy or muddy flats covered with eel grass. The sea scallop (Pecten magellanicus) occurs on sandy and rocky bottoms in depths from 2 to 150 fathoms. In recent years the annual catch has increased from a few hundred thousand pounds to over 7 million pounds. As earlier catch figures did not differentiate between the two species, the relative importance of each cannot be shown. In 1898, the catch accredited to New York approximated 109,000 bushels for which the fishermen received 50 cents per bushel: in 1904, 149,000 bushels, bringing 97 cents each; in 1921, 206,000 bushels, returning $1.00 per bushel, and 1942, 169,000 bushels for which the fishermen received $1.90 per bushel. However, in the later war years when much of the catch was sold in the black market, quotations very much higher were reported.
Very little is known of the biology of the sea scallop, and the possibilities of increasing production by a fishery management plan seem remote. In the case of the bay scallop there appear possibilities of transplanting the young or "seed" scallop to areas where stocks are low but conditions are favorable, and thus increasing the supply. As this species depends upon eel grass for shelter, conditions unfavor- able to the growth of the eel grass in turn affect the supply of bay scallops. For example, a disastrous plant disease which killed off the eel grass in the 1930s resulted in a severe decline in this fishery. As the bay scallop spawn during the summer when they are one year old and do not live to spawn a second time, there is no advantage in affording protection to bay scallops which have spawned.
THE SEA MUSSEL (MYTILUS EDULIS)
The sea mussel is found along our North Atlantic coast south- ward to Cape Hatteras. Shortly after hatching the mussel attaches itself to material on the bottom by a slender thread or hair, the num- ber of these attachments increasing with age and becoming shorter until the mussel becomes firmly attached to the object. Mussels multiply rapidly, sometimes forming dense beds over oysters on the bottom. When this happens, as they feed on essentially the same food as the oyster, they tend to smother the latter, exhausting the food
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supply. When a heavy set of mussels is discovered on an oyster bed, the practice of harrowing the bed by dragging an ordinary dredge with the bag removed to crush the small mussels has sometimes been resorted to.
According to Ingersoll (1.c.) the most productive areas were the swift tideways of the inlets through Fire Island and the other beaches on the southern shore of Long Island, the channels about Sandy Hook and the inlets of the beaches between Barnegat and Cape May.
The catch in Long Island waters is of relatively little importance. In 1897, 3000 bushels were reported, valued at 32 cents per bushel to the fishermen; in 1904, nearly 16,000 bushels, bringing 28 cents per bushel; in 1921, 5000 bushels at 50 cents, and in 1942, 1200 bushels, returning 50 cents per bushel.
While in France and other parts of Europe the sea mussel is looked upon as a delicacy, its principal use in this country has been as bait for certain fishes. In 1941 and 1942, efforts were made to develop a fishery in Maine and Massachusetts as a food product. In 1942, about 15,000 pounds were canned increasing to 1.5 million pounds in 1943. The future of this venture appears uncertain.
THE LOBSTER (HOMARUS AMERICANUS)
The American lobster is one of our most highly prized sea-food delicacies occurring along our Atlantic Coast southward to Virginia. The catch has declined from about 30 million pounds in 1889 to between 9 and 14 million pounds in recent years. The catch returns between 2 and 3 million dollars to the fishermen annually. A great deal of study and experimentation has been made with conservation measures, including hatching and planting of the young lobsters, with- out achieving the desired results. While all States have minimum size limits, Maine also protects the large spawners by adopting a maximum size limit.
According to a report published in 1887, lobsters were once abundant in New York Bay and Hell Gate, but are now virtually extinct. Overfishing and pollution were alleged to have caused this.
In 1897, the catch accredited to New York was about 381,000 pounds, for which the fishermen received an average of 82 cents per pound; in 1904, 230,000 pounds, bringing $1.17 per pound; in 1921, 1,037,000 pounds, returning $1.90 per pound, and in 1942, 157,000 pounds, the fishermen receiving about $2.50 per pound.
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CHAPTER XX
Long Island's Agriculture HALSEY B. KNAPP Director, Long Island Agricultural and Technical Institute
TONG ISLAND is traditionally agricultural. Henry Hudson in 1609, writing of the men whom he sent ashore at the west end of the island, stated "They found the soil sandy and a vast number of plum trees loaded with fruit, many of them covered with grape vines of different kinds". Hudson reported the Canarsie Indians as an agricultural people. The white men who followed this explorer by a few years added to the evidence that although the Long Island Indians were adept at whaling and fishing and building canoes, they were primarily tillers of the soil. The Historian Wood early in the 1800s wrote that the first white men found great open spaces on the island where the natives had burned away the forest and the underbrush to make room for their vegetable gardens.
The Dutch director-general of New Netherland, of which western Long Island was a part for more than 50 years following Hudson's arrival, all reported that the island was most favorable for agri- cultural pursuits. It was the Dutch who soon after their first settlement in 1636, in what is now Brooklyn, inaugurated the growing of tobacco and soon thereafter a number of tobacco plantations were flourishing at the west end of the island.
Although a great part of the land was used for grazing cattle, from the very beginning the first settlers of Long Island raised vege- tables, including maize or Indian corn, pumpkins and beans.
During the latter part of the seventeenth century, Long Islanders not only raised vegetables for their own consumption, but transported them into New York, along with great loads of cordwood which was used as fuel in the fast-growing port on Manhattan Island. Long Island ships also carried many a cargo of Long Island vegetables to the West Indies with which trade was early established, bringing back rum and rare kinds of timber.
Long Island history is thus agricultural history from the very beginning. It is the oldest history of its kind in the State of New York. In western New York, beyond Preemption Line, it is a rarity to find land that has been farmed in the same family for one hundred years. In the Hudson Valley the tenure may be upped by fifty years, in the southern part a little more, but on Long Island it is known that in at least one instance land has been farmed in the same family descending from father to son for more than two hundred and ninety years. This is the Alfred Topping farm at Sagaponack. Together with the Howell farm at Wading River, and the farms now occupied by Kenneth and Vernon Wells at Riverhead, the Topping farm has been received into the distinguished Order of Century Farms, promul-
L. 1 .- II-2
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gated by the New York State Agricultural Society in token of con- tinuous family ownership and operation for at least one hundred years. There are others on the island entitled to similar recognition.
Because the Topping farm, so far as is now known, represents the oldest continuous ownership and culture in the same family, not only on Long Island but in the State as a whole, it is worth while to include the citation prepared by Jared Van Wagenen, Jr., of Lawyers- ville, N. Y. in behalf of the New York State Agricultural Society. It was on January 22, 1941, that Mr. Van Wagenen in the presence of several hundred members of the Society thus addressed himself to Herbert H. Lehman, then Governor of the State:
"GOVERNOR LEHMAN: Perhaps not everyone will remem- ber that the first English speaking settlement in New York State was not upon the mainland but on eastern Long Island. If history and accepted tradition be correct, it is now a year more than three full centuries since certain hardy Yankees, casting curious eyes to the faint shoreline across the Sound, went adventuring thither and within a few months estab- lished colonies almost simultaneously upon both the northern and southern shores. It may be insisted perhaps that it was something in the water or something in the air or something in the nearness of the gray sea which enabled them to take root and grow and persist as almost no other farm stock in America. It may have been these factors, but more believably it was because they were sprung from that dauntless Puritan breed. Only among the Dutch of the Hudson Valley and the Walloons and Huguenots of Ulster County do we find so many examples of long-time farm occupancy as are noted among these transplanted Yankees.
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