Oystering dugout or canoe on Quinnipiac River

Title supplied by cataloger. Tonging is a method of gathering oysters through the use of large tongs. Dugouts and canoes were among the many vessel types used for oystering in Connecticut waters. This as "A fifty-bushel canoe or dugout on the Quinnipiac River" (from the Annual Report of the Shell-Fish Commissioners, State of Connecticut, 1901, cited in Oystering from New York to Boston, by John M. Kochiss, page 153). Oystering was an important Connecticut industry in the 19th and 20th centuries. New Haven and South Norwalk were among the centers of local and regional cultivation and harvesting. The peak period was 1885-1910.