Webinar: A Perpetual Franchise to Cultivate Oysters

A Perpetual Franchise to Cultivate Oysters: Corporate Oyster Gardens in Late-19th Century North Carolina. 

Tuesday, June 16, 2026
1 pm Eastern Time

AFS thanks the Fisheries History Section for sponsoring this webinar!

Session description:
In the late 19^th century, North Carolina granted perpetual franchises to submerged lands for the artificial propagation of oysters. The State believed that the cultivation of oysters would provide a sustainable and valuable commercial fishery. Corporate interests quickly became involved and purchased thousands of acres of submerged lands in the State’s sounds and rivers. Oystermen, alarmed by corporate expansion into their local waters, believed that they were being robbed of their traditional oyster grounds. Controversies over property rights between corporations and oystermen erupted while the State struggled to assert its legal authority in eastern North Carolina. While the cultivation of oysters was a sustainable industry, the politics surrounding it were not and the practice waned. By the turn of the century, the State’s natural oyster beds were becoming over harvested and the fishery approached depletion.

Presenter biography:
David Bennett is the Curator of Maritime History for the North Carolina Maritime Museum System, and he oversees the Harvey W. Smith Watercraft Center. He is originally from Morehead City, North Carolina. David has a B.A. in History from UNC-Chapel Hill and an M.A. in Maritime History from the University of Exeter in the United Kingdom. His research interests focus on North Carolina’s commercial fishing industry as well as traditional workboats.