Have we been shortsighted, negligent, too sparing of effort? Yes, it
would certainly seem so.

Recently, someone brought to my attention a rather astonishing docu-
ment. It was a report, dated 1884, warning the Maryland Legislature of
the oyster depletion and offering suggestions on how to prevent it.
Sixty-five years later, a Rutgers University professor, one of the out-
standing oyster scientists of the country, commented on this report,
stating that if the advice had been heeded "there would be only one
oyster problem for the Chesapeake Bay today—where to find the mar-
kets for the vast number of oysters produced on the prolific reefs of this
area. "

Significantly, the perils so precisely pointed out in 1884 are the ones
we have been hearing about over the last few years and are still hearing
about today.

Why, then, we ask ourselves, were those warnings ignored? I believe
that those of us who are familiar with the economic, social and political
backgrounds of oyster production know the answers. But it is of no
profit to us to deplore actions of the past. It is, rather, our obligation to
plan for a better future.

Some of our present difficulties, many of them identical with the ones
warned about in 1884, are readily apparent. Our production has not
kept up with the demand for oysters by an increasing population, and
increasing demands have caused overfishing, with consequent depletion
of supplies.

We have failed to utilize our underwater land with the same efficiency
as our lands above water; that is to say, achieve more production on
decreasing acreage. We have suffered from a lack of sufficient cultch to
plant our bottoms. We have failed to inaugurate a broad seed-growing
program. Lax enforcement of the laws has allowed the taking of small
oysters which should have been left on the bottoms until they grew to
marketable size. Bottoms have been denuded to the extent that insuf-
ficient quantities of oysters have been left for spawning stock. Numerous
other more or less important causes of depletion could be cited, but it
seems unnecessary for me to list them in detail to a group I am sure is as
familiar with them as I.

I have not mentioned the inroads fungus and other predators have
made on our supplies. So far, at least, Maryland seems to have escaped
the latest devastating attacks of this kind. We, nevertheless, are aware
of the threat, and our research laboratory is cooperating with the
federal government, and with the laboratories of your states, in an effort

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