Bourne
Bourne has long supported a promising oyster industry. In some respects it has greater advantages for the extension of this business than Wareham, but the invested capital, the annual product and the resulting revenue are all overshadowed by those of its neighboring rival. The great natural resources which Bourne possesses, its extensive available area, its multiplicity of bays, inlets, islands and rivers,—these and a variety of other causes combine to make it a most favorable locality for the growth of oysters; and it is indeed an unfortunate circumstance both for the shellfish interests of the community and the broader interests of the State that so great a source of economic wealth should be so little improved. The vexing questions which harass the oyster planters of Wareham and hamper their efforts are present here in even greater force. In many places where a flourishing business was once carried on the industry is at a standstill, while nowhere does it evince that life and activity which its decided advantages warrant.
The town books contain records of 135 grants in force to-day. No accurate system of charting is in vogue except in the Monument River, and no absolutely reliable data concerning the total area is available, but the combined territory comprised in these grants aggregates nearly 600 acres. Of this territory, however, only a portion, and a relatively small portion, is really improved; the remainder is either allowed to lie dormant or is worked merely for the quahaugs which it produces. The oyster territory of Bourne is divided into five distinct sections: the Monument River section, the region about Mashnee Island, Toby Island and vicinity, Basset’s Island and the neighborhood of Wing’s Neck, and Pocasset and the Red Brook harbor or Cataumet district. Of these five regions, the Monument River ranks first, both in the total area and also in importance, and it is here that most of the business is carried on.
The statistical returns of the Bourne oystermen show that only 42 grants comprising 100 acres are worked. Of this 83 acres is hard bottom suitable for oyster raising while the remaining 17 acres is mostly soft mud.
| Capital invested, | $24,448 |
| Power boats, | 3 |
| Value of power boats, | $3,000 |
| Sail boats, | 8 |
| Value of sail boats, | $1,900 |
| Dories and skiffs, | 29 |
| Value of dories and skiffs, | $615 |
| Implements:— | |
| Dredges, | 99 |
| Tongs, | 38 |
| Value of implements, | $483 |
| Value of shore property, | $150 |
| Value of bedded oysters, | $18,300 |
Twenty-one men make a living from the industry. The production for the year ending Aug. 1, 1907, amounted to 2,100 bushels of marketable oysters, valued at $4,100, and 23,000 bushels of “seed,” worth $15,000. The methods employed in oyster culture here are similar to those in use at Wareham. Thousands of bushels of shells, preferably those of the scallop, are strewn over the bottom to collect the set, which is then taken up and transferred to the proper grant or shipped for sale. The two great enemies of the oyster, the borer or drill, and the starfish, flourish here. The borer seems more destructive in those sections which are comparatively sheltered, the starfish in more exposed localities.
The history of the industry is one of picturesque variety. The beginnings of the industry were bright with promise; the sudden growth which followed was spectacular but erratic; and the difficulties which soon arose plunged it into complications from which it emerged much shattered and greatly declined. Originally there were three good natural beds,—in Monument River, Barlow’s River and Red Brook harbor, respectively. These beds long supplied all the oysters produced, and when in 1834 they began to be depleted, legislation was enacted regulating them until 1863, when the town surveyed a number of grants in the Monument River, each with an average area of 1½ to 10 acres, and allowed one of these grants to every citizen desiring it, on the payment of $2.50. These old beds still linger as rather uncertain assets of the communal wealth. The Monument River grounds still supply a fairly large harvest, the Barlow River has declined much more, while the Cataumet beds are nearly extinct.
The shellfish laws of this region are of vital importance, as it is their province to inaugurate order from chaos, put a stop to wasteful methods, and take such steps as appear necessary for the proper development of the industry. How greatly these laws fail in their mission is abundantly shown by the present conditions of the fishery. The whole situation is on the threshold of a change. What this change will be, whether for better or worse, depends upon the legislation of the future.