the laws governing the industry. I believe that Virginia has taken
similar action, and that a meeting between the two groups is planned
for October 6.

4. We are cooperating with the Coast and Geodetic Survey in a
resurvey of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries so that oyster bottoms
may be classified intelligently. We are operating under a survey con-
ducted in 1906-1912 and made obsolete by silt, tides and hurricanes.

5. We are reorganizing our law-enforcement program. Through a
policy of education, we are trying to impress upon watermen the simple
truth that their own best interests are served by observance of the laws.

6. Gradually we are developing a state-wide management plan,
looking upon the industry as a unit, with proper consideration for local
interests in the Tidewater counties.

7. Cooperatives for watermen to achieve a better farming of bottoms
are being considered, under plans that will enable the watermen to
develop the very advantages of production they have been fearful others
might monopolize. Such cooperatives would be on a voluntary basis.

This, as I have said, purports to be no more than a partial list of what
we have undertaken here in Maryland.

I should like to add that I think we are engendering a better spirit
of cooperation between groups within the industry. The bars which for
so many years have divided packers and watermen are being lowered.
These two groups have begun to understand that their interests are
intertwined and that a prosperous industry means prosperity for indi-
viduals. Like people in other areas of business endeavor, the watermen
are beginning to learn that, while they may argue vehemently, and
sometimes bitterly, with one another about matters affecting their in-
dustry, they must, to be successful, present a united front when the
industry itself is threatened.

And I want to mention, with real satisfaction, the better relations that
have come about between Maryland and Virginia. We have agreed
on a compact to govern age-old controversies over the Potomac River,
which I am sure the voters of Maryland will approve in the election this
year. Commissions of the two states are now holding meetings on prob-
lems of Chesapeake waters, and I am confident they will eliminate the
main source of three hundred years of bickering, to the mutual profit
of the two states.

May I conclude by saying that Maryland is realistic in assessing its
needs and is determined to take whatever action is necessary to recon-

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