HomeMy WebLinkAbout1930-05-28
MEYER STRON~ & JONES INC
101 PARK AVENUE
NEW YORK
May 27th, 1950
Mr W T Swain, Sec'y ,
Board of Selectmen,
Nantucket, ~ass
Dear Mr Swain -
Before I left Nantucket, I set stakes marking off
the two pieces of shore, one on the best side of Baches' Harbor
(East Quaise), and one on the ~ est shore of Polpis Harbor (Swazn's
Neck), that I would like to see set off as clam preserves Both
strips of shore are now almost free from clams, although mn m~
experience, it was not so long ago that clams were plentmful in
both places
As soon as the Selectmen have officially setcff the
strips of beach, I will have them ploughed so as to loosen the sur-
face making it easier for the seed clams to burrow, and will have
the seed procured and planted I have alread~ ordered the smgns
reading as follows -
NO CLAMMING BETWEEN THESE SIGNS
BY ORDER OF
If there is any legal reason for locating these beach
strips by metes and bounds reauiring a surveyor's record, please
mnform me and I shall be glad to have this work done
Very truly yours,
MEYER STRONg &
101 I~AMK Avmm'NUm'
~'t~e Srd, 1950
Mr William T Swain, Secretary,
Board of Selectmen,
Nantucket, Mass
Dear Mr Swain
I have received yours of the $1st
Of course, I shall be most glad to serve with the Board in
connection with the clam preserve As I told you in my last letter, before
I left the Island, with the aid of Charley Blount, T staked off the two
sections of beach which, it seemed to me, would be the best strips on which
to work and in which practically all the cla~s have been dug out
Oharley Blount is entirely familiar with the proposed work and
I should be very glad to see him given the necessary authority to act as an
officer for the Com~ittee
T have been trying to get somebody who will plow these strips
mn order to soften up the beach so that the young seed will find it easier to
get themselves set but this does not seem to be possible as no one is willing
to put their horses on the beach In this case, as I have told Charley
Blount, we will seed the beaches without~lowing a~d take a chance that the
maJorit~ of the youug cla~s will be strodg enough on their arrival to get
themselves into the sand before fish, birds
a fact that clams over one ~ take so long to get themselves buried that
it is almost a waste of ti~e to aStempt planting them
Through the assistance of Mr Z I f the Departaent of
Fisheries and Game, I have been able to procure uae necessary seed from the
north side of Cape Cod The seed will be under one inch and shipped d~own in
8 half barrels, properly packed as fast as dug Mr Hawes tells
be dug on one day a~d delivered at Nantucket by 1 O0 p
I am anxious to obtain the seed from off-island so as not to any
further deplete the stock of seed on the existing Nantucket beaches although--!
have located a spot where ample seed could be obtained on the Island
It is ver~ i~portant that this work be done before the hot weather
sets in Otherwise there is very little chance of getting the seed down to
Nantucket in such condition that any large percentage of
dig themselves in quickly
Mr Wm T Swain- 2 ~une Srd, 1950
It will be a great help to me if you will wire me collect as
soon as the beaches have been set off I will immediately telegraph to the
~ A Stubbs Company in Boston to proceed with the shipment of seed As
fast as the seed are received, Charley Blount will get them and distribute
them along the strips It is my intention to sow 4 barrels of seed on each
strip
I would like to get this done before the 18th when I arrive on
the Island as I then wish to inspect the beaches and _~ke certain records
which the Department of Fisheries and Game desire for their information and
which I also need to keep for m~ own use in keeping track of the results
Each year we shall dig up certain marked square yards o~ the beach to make
records of the growth of the seed, replacing the cla~s in the beach as soon
as the records and necessary photographs have been taken
I see no reason wh~, at the expiration of a $ or 4 year period,
when the planted cla~s have grown beyond the spawning stage, the annual
cultivation of the beach may not be ~de by the fishermen with permission to
take all clams over 2z1 inches in l~m~ch In this ease, it mtEht be practical
to require that each digger provide himself with the proper mesh sifter, he
being allowed to keep all cla~s that do not pass through the mesh
You may be interested to know that we have recently sown six
bushels of small Quahog seed taken from the contaminated and prohibited waters
of New Bedford harbor The cla~s from such prohibited bottoms become entirely
free from any possible continuation after a very short period in clean bottoms
If conditions warrant it, next spring I propose to secure further
supplies of both Quahog and cla~ seed and plant them on bottoms in Polpis
harbor that have not been preserved My purpose in this is to prove to n~ own
satisfaction at least, and possibly to the satisfaction of the people of
Nantucket, that a small annual mnvestment ~n such seed by the town would have
a very ~arked effect on the income obtamned from the bottoms of the harbor
At the present time, Quahog seed can be purchased for $11 a barrel As~ng
that no better than 50% of the seed succeeds in establishing themselves, in
four years the result would be at least 8 barrels of ~arketable Quahogs for
each barrel planted, but this is a very conservative estmmate Soft cla~ seed
can be pur~h~_sed at the present time for $8 a barrel, including proper packing
for shipment, and the probable increase in marketable soft clams, due to the
fact that they are roach more easily reached on the beaches than the Quahog in
the deeper water, will be considerably greater than the increase in the Quahog
I think it is not too much to say that if such plant~-~_ of seed
was done consistent]~ over a period of years, the productivity of the bottoms
of Nantucket harbor in cla~s would be enormously increased, ~uch to the
financial benefit of both the fisher~en and the Island If the town would put
Mr Wm T Swain- 5 June 5rd, 1950
back on the bottoms in the form of purchased seed a small percentage of the
v~l~e of the '~.,o~1 cl.~ ~.~d quahog ~atch y~.r'ty, bo~h the fialaer~em
town would be astonished at the ultimate results in the increased number of
~trke%able clams
Very truly yours,
cc Mr Z I