_Powers of officers._--It is necessary not only that the duty of
enforcement of the law be assigned to specified State officers, but
also that they be expressly given the right to inspect and examine
mussels or shells in the boats or on land and be empowered to seize
mussels or shells held in violation of the law. It is practically
impossible to bring about convictions when the opportunity is allowed
for destruction of the evidence between the time of detection and the
date of trial.
_Permits for special cases._--In cases where for the purposes of
investigations it may be necessary to take small mussels, the State
officers charged with the enforcement of the law should have by law the
right to issue special permits for the taking of undersized mussels for
scientific uses and not for sale.
_Expenses of mussel protection._--The plans which have been advanced in
this report can be carried out with a minimum of expense. The
simplicity of the measures would reduce the trouble and cost of
inspection to the smallest practicable figure. The assignment of the
duties of enforcement to existing State commissions or boards which
already have field deputies or wardens obviates the creation of any
special offices for execution of the mussel laws.
The question of whether steps should be taken to raise special funds on
account of the additional burdens that would be placed upon the present
boards is one that would be determined by each State in the light of
its own conditions and established customs. It would be very
undesirable to create a burdensome tax; to do so would only react
against the State, and in the end the tax would be paid by the
shellers, who are now making only a meager living, for the local
shellers would have to sell in competition with the shellers from
States where more liberal conditions prevail.
It is another matter, however, to require a nominal license fee for the
privilege of working upon the public mussel beds. Such a fee need not
be greater than $1 or $2 per season, an amount which could be paid by
anyone who wished to shell seriously. Perhaps the idea of a fee of any
kind would arouse some antagonism among a certain class of shellers who
would enjoy the public stores without return of any kind. Some shellers
favor such a license system, and the writer believes that they must all
eventually come to see that it works to their own particular advantage
in many ways. It tends to create a class of professional shellers,
besides providing the necessary means for promoting the abundance of
shells.