who have come here to attend this fifty-seventh Joint Annual Oyster
Convention. As the Governor of the State, and on behalf of all Mary-
landers, I extend to you a warm welcome. You will, I think, find
the surroundings congenial here, for we Marylanders living on the
shores of the beautiful and bountiful Chesapeake Bay, consider our-
selves pre-eminently seafood conscious.

I was born in Crisfield and have spent all of my life among families
who for many generations have earned their livelihood on the water.
In such surroundings, 1 have acquired some knowledge of the prob-
lems of watermen and of the seafood industry in general. With such
a background, it is only natural that I have a lively interest in seafood,
and since I have been Governor I have done as much as possible to
improve the industry in our State.

The history of the shellfish industry in Maryland and Virginia goes
back more than a century and a half. Huge piles of shells found on
our shore lines indicate that, long before that, oysters comprised a
substantial part of the food supply of the American Indian population.
As early as 1825, oysters were taken from the Chesapeake Bay to New
England to be planted along the southern coast of that region. In
fact, it may be stated that oysters from Maryland and Virginia,
schooner load after schooner load plying their way from our waters
northward, replenished the beds of Rhode Island and Connecticut.
It is said, also, that the industry in Delaware owes much to brood
stock from the Chesapeake.

The Chesapeake Bay has achieved a reputation for being the richest
oyster producing body of water in the world. Available records of
the period indicate that in the 1880's the production of oysters reached
an annual total of 12 to 15 million bushels. Sadly, we have here in
Maryland witnessed over the past several years a decline in the pro-
duction of oysters. But through a concerted effort to accelerate seed
growing and shell planting, this decline has been halted and a gradual
increase in the yield is indicated. We hope, and we think we have
reason to expect that the oyster production in Maryland waters will
continue to increase over the years.

I have had an opportunity to examine the program you have out-
lined for the annual joint oyster meeting, and I am certain that these
sessions will be profitable for all of us who are interested in boosting
the seafood industry. Maryland is grateful to the many scientists, in-
dustrial leaders and public officials who have come here to discuss
some of the problems of the oyster industry.

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