44 The Compact of 1785

dredging in the Potomac, and these statutes are still on
the books.

 However, as a result partly of recovery of the oyster
 bars while not being dredged, and partly of the abnormally
 high prices for seafood during the War years, a profitable
 trade has developed in oysters dredged illegally from the
 River. By 1945 and 1946 there were some sixty or more
 oyster boats engaged in dredging illegally, they having
 been dubbed with the dignified title of "The Virginia
 Scraping Fleet." Perhaps two-thirds of them are owned
 by residents of Virginia, and the other one-third by Mary
 landers, but practically all of them operate from the Vir
 ginia shore.

 The proportions of the illegal traffic are sufficiently indi
 cated in this estimate of oyster production in the Potomac
 during the 1944-45 season, made by the Maryland Depart-
 ment of Tidewater Fisheries:

 Tonging in Cedar Point area, 25 boats for 25
 days, averaging 30 bushels daily 18,750 bu.
 Tonging in Swan Point area, 15 boats for 25
 days, averaging 20 bushels daily ........... 7,500
 Patent tonging by Marylanders, 8 boats for
 40 days, averaging 25 bushels daily 8,000
 Illegal dredging by Marylanders, 20 boats for
 7 weeks, averaging 100 bushels weekly 14,000
 Illegal dredging by Virginians, 40 boats for
 12 weeks, averaging 200 bushels weekly 96,000
 Oysters from lower sections on Maryland
 side of the River ........................... .......20,000

 Total .......................... 164,250 bu.

 According to this estimate, nearly 5/8 of the entire production
 during the 1944-45 season was dredged illegally.

 Maryland conservation officials have had these specific
 complaints: (1) The oysters dredged by Marylanders
 operating from the Virginia shore have escaped the two
 cents per bushel tax imposed by Maryland; (2) Maryland