1432 JOINT RESOLUTIONS.

NO. 12.

A Joint Resolution of the General Assembly of Maryland au-
thorizing the Conservation Commissioner of Maryland to
confer with the Commissioner of Fisheries of Virginia and
other representatives from that State as to the depletion of
the oyster bars of Potomac River, and to make such recom-
mendations as the two States may agree upon in such con-
ference for the purpose of rehabilitating said oyster bars.

WHEREAS, The Potomac River is being used in common by
the citizens of Maryland and Virginia for the taking of fish-
eries under the Compact of 1785 between the two States, and
said river being the largest and no doubt the most valuable
tributary of the Chesapeake Bay for seafood has been one of
the main sources of supply for the oyster output of the States
of Maryland and Virginia and has furnished Maryland with
about twenty-five per cent, of the oyster supply from the dredg-
ing bars of the State, has, in recent years, declined in produc-
tion, which has caused the fishery departments of both States
much concern; and,

WHEREAS, The Commissioner of Fisheries of Virginia and
the Conservation Commissioner of Maryland, with other State
officials, held meetings in Virginia and Maryland during the
year 1928 to consider the best means for rehabilitation work
and to save the oyster interests of the Potomac, and through
request of the State officials, the United States Bureau of Fish-
eries assigned a survey party in November, 1928. to make a
survey of the Potomac to determine the extent of the depletion;
and,

WHEREAS, The report made by the Bureau of Fisheries,
which was forwarded to the Conservation Commissioner of
Maryland by the Honorable Henry O'Malley, Commissioner of
the Bureau, shows an almost complete depletion of the main
oyster bars of Potomac River, and that the Bureau recom-
mends extensive oyster and shell planting, in order to make
the oyster bars once more commercially productive: now, there-
fore, be it

Resolved by the General Assembly of Maryland, That the
State of Maryland, by its Governor, shall commission the Con-
servation Commissioner of Maryland to confer further with