Fig. 1.

Timing of historical proxies for exploitation of oyster reefs in estuaries along eastern North America plotted against distance from Wellfleet Harbor, MA. Proxies for exploitation include the earliest laws regulating each oyster fishery (▪), earliest importation of seed oysters from other estuaries (•), and peak in oyster landings (○). Numbers refer to specific estuaries or regions with multiple estuaries. 1, Wellfleet Harbor; 2, Buzzard's Bay; 3, Narragansett Bay; 4, Long Island Sound; 5, Great South Bay; 6, Hudson River Estuary; 7, Barnegat Bay; 8, Delaware Bay; 9, Chesapeake Bay; 10, Pamlico Estuary; 11, South Carolina; 12, Georgia; 13, Apalachicola Bay; 14, Mobile Bay; 15, Mississippi Sound; 16, Mississippi Delta; 17, Galveston Bay.