MADRAS FISHERIES BUREAU

BULLETIN No. 4.

MADKAS

FISHERY INVESTIGATIONS,

1908.

15Y

JAMES HOKNELL, f.l.s.,

Marine Assistant, Madras Fisheiips Bureau.

MADRAS:
PRINTED BY THE SUPERINTENDENT, GOVERNMENT PRESS.

[Price, 2 rupees 2 annas.] 1910, [3 shillings 3 pence.]

*u3f

MADRAS FISHERIES BUREAU.

BULLETIN No. 4

GENERAL CONTENTS.

PAGE

I. — Report on the suitability of Pulicat Lake for Oyster-
culture [one sketch -plan]

II. — Note on an attempt to ascertain the principal determining
factor in oyster-spawning in Madras Backwaters [one
plate] . . . . . . . . . . . . ' . . 25

III. — Report on the feasibility of operating deep-sea fishing
boats on the coasts of the Madras Presidency, with
special reference to the selection of Fishing Centres and
Harbours of Refuge [illustrated with three plates] . . 33

IV. — The Results of a Fishery Cruise along the Malabar
Coast and to the Laccadive Islands in 1908 [illustrated
with 27 photographs and text-figures] .. . . 71

SUBJECT INDEX

TO

REPORT IV (Page 71).
[MALABAR AND LACCADIVE FISHERIES.]

Para.

Introductory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . L

Fish-trawling experiments and prospects on the "West

'._, 0 AS 1 ■ • » « ■• • « a* • •• •• O

The Development of Drift-netting and long-lining . . 34

Classification of MaJabar drift-nets .. .. .. .. 35

Katnagiri drift-netting . . . . . . . . . . 39

Long-lining . , . . . . . . . . . . . . 50

The Sardine and Mackerel Fisheries . . . . . . 58

Tabulated statistics . . . . . . . . . . 60 & 74

Spawning season and migrations of Indian sardines . . 63

The food of sardines . . . . . . . . . . . . 69

Disappearance of sardines in certain years . . . . . . 72

A remarkable case of sardine mortality . . . . . . 77

The Mackerel season . . . . . . . . . . . . .88

Present condition of the Mackerel industry . . . . . . 91

Prospects of improving the Mackerel fishery , . . . 95

The Distribution of Plankton off the Malabar Coast .. 96

The Principal Fishing Methods pursued in Malabar . . 98

Relative value of West Coast ports as fishing centres. 99

Notes on a cruise to the Laccadive Islands .. .. 100
Beche-de-mer fishing and curing ttt Kiltan
Fishing nets in use at Kiltan
The Island of Chetlat
Fish traps

Green-snail and trocas (motheivof-pearl)
Harpooning sword-fish
Methods of catching flying-fish
Fishing and fish-curing at the great pars
Dredging off Ameni

The sewn sea-going boats of the Laccadive

Artistic taste of the islanders

Lights used as lures in night-fishing

Great abundance of zooplankton off Ameni

Fishing methods at Androth

Smoke-curing of seer

Local prejudice against the beche-de-mer indastry . . . . 134

Conclusions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

103
106
112
113
114
115
116
117
119
Islanders .. 120
120
121
124
125
130

N

k

Sketch Plan
of

PUL1CAT LAKE

TO SHOW THE PRINCIPAL PHYSICAL
FEATURES

Scale 1 Mile«-g Inch

0 Kasubakuppam

ZonaugipalayHm

Arambakkamo

Sunnambukulam °

Karimanal minor bar

Karimanal inlet

Pulicat bar
J^ulicat L House

m

Pulicat

REFERENCE

m

Indicates depths of 3 \ feet & upw ards.

I Datum
fM. S. L.
Do. do. between 2\ & 3* feetj

Do. the area which dries in exceptionally dry
years with accompanying closure of the bar

Oyster beds around Pulicat

Reg. No. 55
Copies — 350

Zinco., Survey Office, M.
1909

REPORT

ON

THE SUITABILITY OF PDLIOAT LAKE
FOR OYSTER-CULTURE,

BY

JAMES HORNELL, f.l.s.

[One Sketch Plan.]

I. — Location and Characteristics of the several Beds
and Patches now existing.

During three weeks in August 1908 devoted to a tour of
inspection of Pulicat Lake, I was able to locate eight distinct
beds and patches of edible oysters. I believe the search, which
extended from Yeda-mani kuppani in the south to Tada, Venadu
and Kasuba kuppani in the north, was exhaustive and that these
eight locations comprise every bed at present existing.

Taking them in order from south to north and assigning
them distinctive names appropriate to their situations, they are —

(1) Yedamani kuppam (5) Sinna paraval bed.

bed. (6) Pudupettai bed.

(2) Pulicat bed. (7) Karimanal inlet bed.

(3) Lighthouse bed. (8) Vannanturai bed.

(4) Kotta kuppam bed.

Of these, the Sinna paraval, Karimanal inlet, Vannanturai
and Lighthouse beds are of greatest importance ; they may
therefore receive first attention.

Sinna Paraval Bed.

This, the most extensive of presently existing oyster settle-
ments, is situated as a deposit of scattered patches along the
north-west shore of the northernmost of the Pulicat Islands.
To reach it we pass through the channel separating Pulicat
Island from Karimanal and then turn west into the shallow arm
of the lake called Sinna paraval which lies between Pulicat and
the mainland on the west and north-west.

The eastern end of the bed is about half a mile from the
northern end of the canal cutting facing Karimanal. and extends
as a rather narrow band, following the curve of the land, for
some three-quarters of a mile to the south-west.

When first visited at about half-tide, the majority of the
oysters lay in water not more than one foot and a quarter in
depth. The higher bunches' were actually awash, and on a later
visit, which coincided with the time of low-tide, a considerable
number were wholly uncovered.

The oysters in this bed are characteristically elongate, long
and narrow or sub-spatulate in form and of remarkably regular
growth habit. They tend to segregate into clusters varying
from three and four individuals in each to massive clumps of
treble these numbers. Towards the higher parts of the patches
and especially towards the centres, the clumps are closely
crowded, gradually thinning out till, along the margins, the
clusters are found to consist of a very limited number of indi-
viduals and to be sparsely scattered over the bottom. It is
noteworthy that the density of population is in inverse ratio to
the depth of water — the oysters crowd the shallower parts and
become scarce and ultimately disappear as the water deepens.
A tendency to grow upwards, to raise the ventral margin by
growth towards the surface of the water, is most strongly
developed and accounts for the marked dorso- ventral elongation
of the shell. Another notable feature characterising growth ;is
the habit of these oysters to retain their own individuality in
the clusters ; for each to keep the greater portion of its shell
free from cohesion with those of its neighbours, due to a slight
amount of radial divergence in the direction of growth among
the oysters of each group.

The latter habit produces very serviceable clusters, readily
separable into units, as the area of mutual cohesion is small
and limited to the massive dorsal region of the convex valve.
The joint made by the adherent surfaces is also imperfect,
rendered weak by the muddy scum present on one valve when
the other was in course of becoming attached to it.

The only cultch existing on this bed consists of the dead
shells of former oyster generations. The bottom is very muddy
both on the bed and for a long distance in every direc-
tion around. Deeper water, up to 1- and 2| feet, is found
along each side of the bed and the probability is that the
elongate shoal which forms the basis of the bed has arisen by
accretion of the shells of successive generations of oysters ; a
gradual accumulation of hard material has occurred and provides
from generation to generation the only foot-holds or landing
places in a sea of surrounding mud, for successive broods of
oysters.

The valves of these oysters are slimy to the touch, and have
the appearance of being encrusted with a thin muddy felting.

Under the microscope this coating is seen to consist of a basal
layer of short green conferva rooted to the surface of the shell,
while the tangled filaments are smothered and hidden by a dense
gathering of myriads of diatoms of many genera and species,
many sponge spicules, minute grains of sand, and a large bulk
of mud particles ; a delicate red brown filamentous alga is also
frequently present as a principal constituent of the feltlike
covering.

The higher clusters of oysters, those exposed each tide, are
otherwise almost bare of adhering organisms ; those in deeper
water which are never uncovered are usually veiled by a
luxuriant growth of algre several inches in height.

Barnacles (Balanus) may be said to be wholly absent— a
characteristic feature of this bed. A small dark coloured species
of mussel, of which the largest was under £ inch long, was
abundant in the crevices around the bases (dorsal attachment)
of the oyster clusters, together with a white Saxicava-like
lamellibranch.

Little reliable information could be gleaned anent the past
history of the bed ; the people of this district do not use oysters
as food, and the demand from outside is too trivial to count.
Hence I could learn nothing as to the spawning season, but I
was informed by a man who occasionally collects oysters to
supply orders from Madras, that this bed dries up completely
during specially dry seasons and that the whole of the oysters
then die off. Subsequently I learned that May to June 1905
was an unusually dry season, and as the bar was closed during
these months the level of water in the lake receded to an extent
that has not since recurred ; that the whole of the lake bottom
between the islands of Yenadu and Irakam on the one side and
the east shore line on the other, became dry and that the only
parts left with water were the canal channels and the deeper
stretches west and south of Venadu and Irakam.

I am satisfied from this evidence and from some other
considerations that at least the main mass of oysters forming
this bed in the early part of 1905 perished during the dry season
of that year, and that the present generation dates from a spat-
fall subsequent to that catastrophe. The dimensions of the now
existing generation are roughly those we find in European
oysters of four to five years of age, but I consider we are fully
justified in assuming them to be not more than three years old at
the present date (September 1908). An ample food supply and
freedom from the restraint upon growth imposed by the low
temperature of European winters will account for their size
being so superior to that of three- years-old European oysters.

4

In this connection it may be noted that the temperature of
water over this bed on 23rd August 1908 was 85° F., while the
specific gravity was 1,027-50. The temperature of the air in
the shade was 84° F. Time of day 5 p.m.

The dimensions of six individuals taken at random were
as follows : —

Uepth

Length.

Thickness.

so- ventral).

INCHES.

INCHES.

INCHES.

H

93.

1*

H

9i

1

5

91
& 2

1

l\3

°4>

2*

1

q

2-1

1

4£

2

3
4>

The average size of these may therefore be stated as 4| inches
by 2T52 inches by 1 ^T inch.

Dissection of a number of individuals showed the body or
soft parts to be of rather small bulk as compared with the
thickness and weight of the shell. The genital glands or gonads
shared in this weakness of tissue development, but how far this
may be due to seasonal causes we cannot say at present. Ripe
ova and spermatozoa, in separate individuals, were present in
the majority of cases but in small quantity ; the appearance
generally suggested that some considerable time must elapse
before full development would be complete.

Examination under the microscope was made of the stomach
contents, and these were found to agree in constitution with
that of the algal felting coating the valves ; of recognizable
organisms, diatoms of several genera and species were by far
the most abundant with occasional algal spores, and a consi-
derable number of fragments of filamentous algce, chiefly green.
Sponge spicules, mostly slender rods with a slight knob at one
end, were also frequently seen. The remainder of the material
consisted of mud particles, vegetable debris, and a large
quantity of minute sand grains.

Vannanturai Bed.

This bed lies at the head of a long and wide horn-shaped
creek which passes westwards from the northern end of
Karimanal inlet past the village of Vannanturai. The present
bar entrance into Karimanal inlet is distant less than half a mile
from the creek mouth in a south-east direction ; the head of the
creek in the present water conditions of the lake ends close to
the village of Karimanal as marked on the district map. During

the rains or with an exceptionally high tide, the creek becomes
continuous with the Sambasipalli kuppam creek to the south-
ward, giving a free run of water through the former.

This Vannanturai oyster bed is much less extensive than
that in the Sinna Paraval ; in habit of growth, depth of water
over the bed, origin and constitution of the cultch forming the
foundation and surface of the bank or shoal on which the present
oysters are found, there are no differences to be noted. As in
the case of the first deposit described, the oysters on the higher
part of the bank are uncovered at low tide ; at this place the
oysters are found most crowded, becoming sparser as the water
deepens towards the middle of the creek.

The upright habit of growth prevails again here in a most
marked degree and the muddy algal coating upon the valves,
the flat one more especially, is greatly developed.

A considerable difference in average individual size from that
of the Sinna Paraval oysters was apparent to the eye, aud was
emphasized when exact measurements were taken. A large
proportion were 6^ inches and over in dorso-ventral length ;
a correspondingly large size in other dimensions was also found
as will be seen in the following table of the measurements of
twenty oysters taken indiscriminately from a heap : —

Dimensions of 20 ousters from Vannanturai creek. ■

Number.

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

13

14

15

16

17

18

19

20

Depth
(Dorso-
Tentral).

INCHES.

/

4
4

6*

7

H
5i
7|
7}
6*
6*
Gi
7

6|
6|

6£

4|

4

Length.

INCHES.

Si

If

3

3{r

31

2^

3

3

»i

2f

3

•>

4

Thickness.

INCHES

u
11

1:1
11
H

H
i*

if

H

1A

li

11

li

ii

l*

li

4
li

Average size . . 6-16 inches by 2'90 inches b) 1-32
inch. This average compares very well with that of the Sinna
Paraval oysters of 4'83 inches by 2-42 inches by T04 inch.

Associated molluscs were the same as in the Sirma Paraval
bed ; barnacles were markedly extremely scarce.

Stomach contents. — Diatoms appeared even more numer-
ous than in the sample already described, the number of
species being notably greater ; algal spores and broken filaments
were about the same in ratio, as also were sponge spicules.
Minute thread worms, noted also in the algal matting on
the valves, were particularly frequent, several being in the
field of the microscope at one time. One minute Daphnia-
like crustacean was noted. Sand grains and unrecognisable
debris as before.

The bodies generally were far from plump, although some-
what larger, in consonance with the larger dimensions of the
shells, than those from the Sinna Paraval. The gonads also
were better filled, but still by no means fully developed, the
appearance being that at least a couple of months were yet
requisite to render them ripe for emission.

To assess the probable age of these oysters is difficult.
We have already noted that owing to the great recession of
the water level during the dry season of 1905, the Sinna
Paraval oysters cannot be more than three years old, and yet
the present ones appear so very much larger as to suggest
greater age. If they are really older than the Sinna Paraval
ones, then the onlv conclusion to come to is that the water in
this creek was not reduced equally with that of the more
inland branches of the backwater. This is hardly possible, for
even if we grant that a great amount of water from the sea may
enter Karimanal inlet and this creek by percolation through
the closed bar during a dry season, the benefit of this supply will
be distributed throughout the whole extent of the lake unless
a bund be erected to separate the inlet and creek from the
remainder of the lake. The probabilities therefore are that
the majority of oysters on this bed did die off in 1905, that the
present oysters are of the same age as those in the rest of the
lake, and that their superiority in size is due to more rapid
growth induced by more varied and more abundant food-
supply consequent on their proximity to the rapid tide-flow
entering at the Karimanal bar. In Karimanal inlet, the sea
water is rich in minute organisms ; in the Sinna Paraval the
flow of water is sluggish and the plankton is often scanty.
In the latter case the oysters feed largely upon organisms bred
on their own valves and on the lake bottom adjacent ; in the
other the oysters besides having a similar supply have it
supplemented by the varied food brought by the passing tide.
It is a significant fact that the oysters of the Vannanturai
bed are all of the same generation. No younger generations

have settled upon the valves of the older oysters, the variations
in size which do exist being referable to unequal nutrition, as
is so often seen in the case of a mussel scalp, so here those
individuals most crowded are of distinctly smaller size than
where they are more freely spaced.

The equal age of the whole of the oysters over the bed
and the absence of younger generations were also noted when
examining the Sinna Paraval bed.

Karim anal Inlet Bed.

This bed, which lies on the west side of Karimanal inlet,
is situated about one-third up the inlet from its mouth and in a
south-east direction from Sambasipallikuppam. The oysters here
occur in deeper water than in either of the two beds already
described, having a fairly even depth of from 1 to \\ foot over
them at low tide ; none are exposed at low tide.

The bottom, oil which they lie scattered irregularly in small
bunches, is a black muddy sand. The bed covers a fairly
extensive area ; it is nowhere closely packed, and nowhere do
we find a central shoal formed of a massed accumulation of the
dead shells of former generations. We may conclude that in its
origin it is considerably more recent than either the Sinna
Paraval or the Yannanturai bed.

In appearance the oysters here differ greatly from those of
the latter deposits. Instead of being markedly elongate, they
are squat and shapely in form, the difference of ratio between
length and breadth much less accentuated. The range in size
and in presumptive age is also very considerable, and there
can be no doubt that on this bed we meet with one principal
and older generation and at least two younger generations
rather poor in individual numbers. The various generations
are mingled without regularity, the younger attached in the
great majority of cases to the shells of the older. The range
in age appears to run from one to three years.

The dimensions of six oysters of the oldest generation were
found to be as follows : —

Length.

Depth.

Thickness

INCHES.

INCHES.

INCHES.

H

6|

H

H

41-

i*

8*

4

H

21

31

U

21

3|

H

31

4|

H

An average of 3*21 inches x 454 inches x 1-29 inch,

8

Considerable wealth of algal and animal life is present, in
great part associated closely with the oysters by settlement
upon the valves. Most conspicuous are barnacles and algas, the
latter frequently veiling the shells from sight. The association
of barnacles is characteristic. The smaller Crustacea, amphipods
and small decapods, are numerous, while large terebellids and
other tube-worms and several small lamellibranehs and gastro-
pods, a small Calijptraea among the latter, shelter in the crevices
of the bunches. Most interesting of all was the presence of two
small pearl-oysters, Margaritifera vulgaris, two to three months
old. A felt-like sponge, vivid green on the surface, yellow
beneath, with Clione and a small Sgcon, were the only sponges
seen. Finally we have to note the lack of that diatomaceous
muddy coating associated so characteristically with the Vannan-
turai and Sinna Paraval oysters. Here the shells are com-
paratively clean and bright where barnacles and tufted algoe
do not adhere.

Of enemies or animals likely to prove harmful on an oyster
bank, I noted two of some importance, one being the sponge
Clione whose burrowing within the substance of the shell
renders it rotten or "worm-eaten," the other a hirsute
gastropod (Murex sp.), which may probably be the cause of
some damage if its habits be the same as its congeners in
Europe. Clione burrows were more marked here than on any
other bed ; the proximity of this bed to the sea favours the
growth and increase of this enemy. No starfishes were present.

A considerable number of dead oyster shells were seen but
dissection of a number of those found alive showed them to be
remarkably healthy and far fatter and plumper in body and with
genital glands better filled than those of oysters from any other
bed in the lake. The majority of those examined were females,
the gonads fairly full.

For table purposes these oysters are the finest of any now
living in the lake.

Inshore of this scattered oyster bed, the cockle-like Area
rhombca is more abundant than anywhere else in this locality.
This mollusc is remarkable for the dark red colour of its blood ;
it is here esteemed more highly than any other " cockle "
(matti), being considered very nutritious.

Pulical and Lighthouse beds.

These beds are said to have originated artificially ; a few
years ago oysters were occasionally in demand and to obviate
the trouble of going frequently to the natural beds at some
distance it became a custom to keep reserves of oysters in these
two places — a primitive system of laying.

9

Both beds are patches of small extent, the Lighthouse bed
considerably the larger. The oysters in both places are fairly
well grown aud may be classed as intermediate in character
between those of Karimanal inlet and those of the Sinna Paraval.
Some barnacles are present on the shells and a considerable
amount of algae. The Lighthouse bed lies in water from 6 inches
to 1J feet in depth at low-tide (7th August), the bottom being
black sandv mud without any cultch save dead ovster and
mactra shells.

The sponge Clione, and the polychaet worm Polydora, both
shell borers, were noted. Some mussels less than \ inch long
were plentiful around the umbonal attachments of the oysters ;
other conspicuous life was very meagre.

The condition of the oysters was healthy but the bodies
were small ns compared with the weight of the shells. The
gonads were not well filled. Average length (dorso- ventral
depth) was 4 J inches.

Yedamani Kuppam Bed.

This appears to be a natural oyster patch ; it occupies a
position where the conditions are naturally favourable to oyster
spatting, being at the mouth of the creek which separates
Yedamani Island from Pulicat town. The depth of water over
the bed is from 1J to 2 feet at low water. The bottom
is muddv sand ; the cultch, dead ovster shells as usual. The
channel of the canal runs alongside this bed and as the lake
shallows on the other side of this patch, there is no room for
any extension of this bed by culture. Presumptive age about
3 years.

Koita Kuppam Bed.

Kotta kuppam bed lies on the south side of the channel
between Pulicat and Karimanal and along the north edge of
the long shoal which skirts- Pulicat Island on the east. It is of
no importance being small and incapable of extension. The
oysters here are very scattered ; many large dead shells are
present. Hnbit and condition of the oysters are similar to those
of the Lighthouse bed. Barnacles occasionally present ; the
bottom fairly clean sand. Age apparently 3 years.

Pudupettai Bed.

The last bed to be noted is the Pudupettai bed. It lies in
a little bight of land immediately to the north of the Karimanal
Canal lock in f to 1 foot of water at low-tide. The oysters are
thickly spread over a limited area ; judging from the size the
age would appear to be about 3 years. In the shallow tidal

2

10

lagoon a little north of this bed, oysters of similar size and
appearance also occur in small clusters scattered sparsely, while
everywhere in the vast stretch of very shallow water, i to 1
foot deep, which extends eastwards for over a mile from the
western shore of the lake between Annamalaicberi and Ivaua-
vanturai, single oysters are found here and there, attached in
most instances to dead maiti shells, the only foothold available.
It is very evident that the presence or absence of oysters over
the south end of Pulicat lake is almost entirely a matter
dependent upon the presence or absence of cultch ; every
suitable scrap bears its colony of these molluscs and it is due
to the great scarcity of cultch that the beds in Pulicat lake are
so local and so restricted in extent. In this connection we may
note that wherever the Canal Engineers have used laterite
masonry, as in the revetment at locks and at entrances of canal
cuttings into the lake, the blocks under water bear living
oysters in considerable numbers.

II. — Physical Characteristics of Pulicat Lake.

Before we can be in a position to assess the potentialities
offered by the great expanse of Pulicat lake for any form of
aquiculture, ostreculture more particularly, we have first to
marshal the principal facts in regard to the hydrography of
the area. With this aim in view I ran a network of lines
of soundings over the lake during my recent visit, took repre-
sentative samples of the bottom where necessary, tested the
salinity of the water at different distances from the bar,
recorded temperatures, and gathered what information was
possible anent the effects produced respectively by floods and
bv the occasional closure of the sea bar.

General features and past history. — Pulicat lake is by far the
largest backwater on the eastern coast of the Madras Presi-
dency. Its drainage area has been given by Russell * (1897)
as 1,692 square miles and its high flood waterspread as 178
square miles. Its outline may be compared with that of an
inverted squat bottle with short neck. The body of the bottle
will then represent the inland sea which forms the northern
section, Silka lake as it is known locally ; the nook, the wide
channel between Karimanal and Annamalaicheri, and the stopper
by the contracted channel off Pulicat town. The length of the
northern section is approximately 18 miles (from miles 30 to
48 on the canal), its width 10 miles.

History of the Buckingham Canal Project, Madras, Government Press, 1898.

11

The bar is situated near the south end, usually about one
mile to the northward of Pulieat light-house. In heavy flood
years several subsidiary bars may open — at the present time,
one such minor bar is open, situated near the head of
Karimanal inlet.

The shores of the lake are everywhere low and sandy, the
vegetation scanty, save where casuarina and palmyra planta-
tions have been made. Contrary to my expectations 1 found
mangroves conspicuous by their scarcity, the only ones seen being
in a shallow bay on the east side of Kurivi Thettu, a low
swampy islet east of Irakam. At the extreme north the lake
degenerates into a long expanse of salt marshes now partially
cut off by a low embankment called Dyke's Bund.

The main section of the lake is divided into an eastern and
a western division by the interposition of two long islands,
Venadu and Irakam, lying in a north and south line. To the
eastward of the islands the lake is very shallow and .virtually
dries up in seasons whenever the bar remains closed during
April and May ; the lake to the west is deeper and as a
consequence boat traffic and fishing confer comparative
prosperity upon this side. A peculiar and extensive
industry, that of digging sub-fossil shells for lime-burning
from a shell-bearing stratum some four feet below the mean
sea level, exists everywhere along the foreshore of the western
and southern margins of the main section of the lake, and
on Venadu and Irakam islands. Piles of these old shells
gleaming snowy white in the sun are among the most familiar
objects seen when travelling along the west coast line ; in
some places as at Sunnambukulam and Arambakkam a line of
disused shell pits have been connected to form what is now a
serviceable little canal through a dreary waste of pitted
foreshore.

The shells excavated from these pits throw most valuable
light on the past history of the lake. At Sunnambukulam
and Arambakkam, now at the extreme south-west or inner-
most corner of the main section of the lake and distant twelve
miles from the present sea coast, a large number of the shells
belong to genera and species which either do not live in the
lake or are of rare occurrence, as Cardium^ Dolium} Fusus,
Sangaisorha, and Placuna. These do not however occur all at
the same horizon, and P 'lacuna, it is worthy of note, lies at a
superior level to the others named. Most of these shells are
the same as we may now collect any day on the sea coast near
the bar.

Reconstructing in barest outline the past history of Pulieat
lake with the aid of these shells and a knowledge of the

12

conditions now existing in more or less land-locked bays which
are not true backwaters, e.g., Tarnpalakam bay in Ceylon, Tuti-
corin bay in South India — it would appear that when the earlier
deposits containing Gardium, Dolium, and. Fusus were forming,
the area now occupied by the lake and by much of the low
land to the west was part of the open sea. Shallow water
conditions prevailed and the appearances indicate that deltaic
deposits of great extent were contemporaneously in course of
formation. By the drifting of this sand and silt along the
coast by monsoon action, northwards most probably, a long
sand spit, gradually extending and growing, would tend to
form, creating such a partially protected bay as we now see
at Tuticorin, but of vastly greater extent. This open bay
condition may be termed the second stage in the lake's history.
For a long period, as counted by years, little change took place
in the fauna ; Cardium, Fusus, Dolittm, Sanguisorba, Turlinella
(chank) and other shallow water marine molluscs lived on in
the sands, cockle beds being particularly well populated. By
degrees as the protecting spit grew in length and strength, it
gave greater quietude to the waters of the bay ; silt instead
of being carried to the deeps settled in increasing quantity in
the bay and cockles and other sand-bank animals began to find
their environment increasingly unfavourable and gradually
died off. By this time the bay had become more or less
landlocked by the extension of the natural breakwater formed
by the spit, and this stage, characterised by muddy bottom
and as yet an unimpeded tidal condition of its waters, is the
third in the history of the lake. It was at this period that
Placuna supplanted Cardium and other sandy bottom molluscs.
It may have been towards the close of this phase that the
Dutch settled at Pulicat as the town now nearly a mile inland
is said to have been situated on the sea coast in Dutch times
(J. H. Taylor in G.O., No. 293, dated 7th June 1883).

The present condition of the lake represents the penultimate
stage characterised by the reduction of the depth of the lake
to a condition of extreme shallowness and the virtual blocking
out of free tidal flow. The landlocked bay has become a lake
liable to be closed for months to the sea, subject to extreme
differences of level due on the one hand to excessive evaporation
over an extensive shallow area and on the other to the accession
of enormous volumes of flood water unable to drain away
unless they burst a way through the weakest part of the sand
embankment which impounds the waters of the lake. The
reduction in salinity caused periodically by these floods has
made the lake unsuitable for the continued well-being of
Phcu?ia) so the beginning of this stage witnessed the virtual

13

disappearance of tins mollusc. The inner or landward portion
of the lake now harbours no species of molluscs except small
gastropods which live along the water's edge ; what exist else-
where (Ostrea, Mactra, and Area rhomhea are examples) live
within a radius of some two to three miles from the bar where
the salinity of the water is better maintained and dry age of the
lake le?s extreme.

The final phase will probably be characterised by the
complete canalisation of the lake and the gradual reclamation
of all the area not utilised for drainage and flood channels and
traffic waterways.

Depths of water and periodic closure of the bar. — As men-
tioned above I ran a large number of lines of soundings across
the lake, and for reference append details * of the more
important.

During the period of inspection ( August) the sea bar was
open and the levels subject to a limited tidal influence averag-
ing a difference of about one foot between high and low tides.
So far as possible the soundings were made at half-tide and
may therefore be taken as representing the mean level of
the lake under normal tidal conditions, and when no flood
water is pouring in.

Omitting the dredged boat-channel maintained by the canal
authorities along the east side of Pulicat island, the only
section of the lake with depths of one-fathom and upwards is
the narrow channel which extends westwards from the vicinity
of the bar and separates Karimanal from Pulicat. Off the
south end of Karimanal, depths up to 14 feet are obtained.
-From this point the channel curves to the north hugging the
Karimanal side at first and then bends west till about midway
between the Karimanal shores and Annamalaicheri. Here the
greatest depth becomes reduced to 5f feet. Further north
this channel, becoming further reduced in depth, widens
very extensively to form a great area to the west, south . and
south-east of Irakam carrying depths varying between 4 and
if feet.

Between Venadu island and Tada (west shore of lake), the
deeper water does not run to more than three feet, while east
of Venadu, 1 J to 2 feet of water is carried practically tie whole
way across to the east shore, Zonangipalayam and neighbour-
hood. The northern and main section of the lake thus forms
two well marked divisions, (a) an eastern, characterised by
such shallowness of water as to permit of no traffic worth

* Omitted for the present.

14

consideration and liable to be more or less denuded of water
periodically, and (b) a western division, carrying depths of 3
to i\ feet over the greater part of its area. Marginal shallows
carrying one foot and less of water are greatly in evidence
along the south coast, from Sunnambukulam to Mankodu and
thence to Annamalaicheri ; also from off the latter village
southwards to Pulicat North Island. All along these sections
of the lakeshore, light-draft fishing boats have to be moored
to poles driven into the mud at distances of from \ to \ mile
from land on account of this extreme shallowness of water.

The shaded sketch plan appended shows graphically these
several points.

The levels described above represent the lake under normal
conditions ; during the monsoon season, from October to
December, when two-thirds of the annual rainfall occurs, the
water level tends to rise considerably and whenever a closure
of the bar coincides, the flood level may rise several feet above
the normal. Conversely, if the bar remains closed during an
exceptionally dry season, April to June, the lake acts as a huge
evaporating basin and has been known to fall 3|- feet below
mean sea level (May 1391); reference to the sketch plan
will show how greatly reduced the water surface of the lake
becomes at such a time, the shrinkage entailing the drying up
of between 60 per cent, and 70 per cent, of its normal area.

Unlike the majority of bars on this coast south of the
Suvarnamuki river, that at Pulicat does not close annually.
Hitherto its closure has been on an average once in five years.
The year of closure usually occurs wrhen the bar has shifted
to the extreme north end of its run and is stopped from further
progress in that direction by increase in the height of the
beach.

Whenever this occurs a considerable head of flood water is
required during the north-east monsoon to scour deeply the
channel of the bar or to form a new breach at the south end
of the run. With a bar at the extreme north end and weak
monsoon floods, conditions which appear to coincide approxi-
mately every fifth year, a closure of the bar is certain in the
ensuing hot weather.

Within recent years the bar closed in 1890, 1895 and
1905.

An outline of the history of the first of these closures may
be considered as typical of the series ; as Kussell, in his
" History of the Buckingham Canal Project," pages 26-27,
gives an excellent account of the consequences, I prefer to

15

quote his own words in full rather than attempt to paraphrase
or condense them. He says : —

" The sea har of the lake closed during July (1890), and the water
level of the lake never rose, during the next north-east monsoon,
sufficiently high to burst open the bar, the north-east monsoon being
unusually scanty, and the great extent of the flood waterspread
making the lake act as a moderator of floods. From the time the bar
closed in July 1890 up to February 1891, the lake remained at a
fairly high level, and slowly passed off the floods received into it,
during the north-east monscon, by means of the canal, to the open
bar of the Enuore backwater, mile 10 north of Madras and to the
open bar of the Dugarazapatam backwater, mile 70 north of Madras.
By March 1891, however, the lake had run down to a comparatively
low level, and the hot weather evaporation soon caused such a steady
drop in water level that, when early in April the bar of the adjoining
Ennore lake began to contract, the surface water level of both the
Ennore and Pulicat lakes began to fall in a very ominous manner.
From 13th to 24th April, the general water level dropped 0*80 foot.
On the complete closing of the Ennore bar on 24th April and the
consequent final cutting off of all supply from the sea, tremendous
evaporation at once set in over the extensive surfaces of both lakes,
and promptly caused a steady and continuous flow of water from the
open reaches of canal in communication with each lake. This evapo-
ration registered about one inch in depth per day, and traffic, which
was very heavy at the time, was, in a fortnight, altogether stopped,
notwithstanding that the utmost exertions were made, by means of
the rapid execution of heavy clearances unparalleled in the history
of the canal, and extending for over 60 miles in length, to cope
with the rapidly dropping water level. At the same time, measures
were taken to open and keep open both the Pulicat and Ennore sea
bars by running out long groynes to sea on the southern, or windward,
side of the site selected for opening. Finally, after some three weeks'
labour, both the bars were artificially opened by the inrush of the sea
at high tide ; a heavy scour was obtained through them ; the bars
remained open for about six weeks ; the water level in the canal
readies rose rapidly, and the water level in the Pulicat and Ennore
lakes rose steadily, until the bars of those lakes closed. Both
operations were entirely successful, and all trouble in the canal was at
an end as soon as the bars were opened. An idea of the drop of
water level by evaporation in the backwaters, before the sea bars
were opened, can be formed from the fact that, in the interval of
four weeks that elapsed between the closing of the Ennore bar and the
reopening of both that bar and the Pulicat bar, the general water
level in both the Pulicat and Ennore lakes, and in a long length of
canal, dropped over 2 feet, the gauge register at the Shadayankuppam
lock (7 miles north of Madras) falling during this period from — 1*36
M.S. L. to — 3-76 M.S.L. At the Koudaleru river, mile 90, where the
bar was open, and for some few miles south of it, the tides rose and
fell as usual and traffic could proceed ; but from mile 70 to the Pulicat
lake, and southwards to the Shadayankuppam lock every sea bar was
closed during this period of four weeks ; the canal contributed a steady
flow of water to the backwaters to make up for the loss of evaporation

16

in them, and the general surface water level was a plane inclined at an
angle to the backwaters into which the respective portions of canal
were draining."

A repetition of abnormally low levels in the lake occurred
in 1896 consequent upon the closing of the bar during the
hot weather of the preceding year ; in this case, however,
although the bar remained closed for a longer period, the
lowest level recorded, 2-66 feet below mean sea level in August
1896, was higher by a foot than the minimum of 1891. With
shrinkage on the scale denoted by even the lesser of these
instances the appearauce of the lake becomes entirely changed
from what it is under the normal conditions prevailing now.
Instead of a vast and continuous sheet of water extending: from
Karimanal across to Annamalaicheri and thence north-west
to Tada and north to Kasuba kuppam, a great plain of salt
encrusted mud occupies almost the whole of the area between
Yenadn and Irakam Islands on the one side and the Buckingham
canal on the other ; on the west of Venadu were it not for the
softness of the mud, one conld walk across to Tada with water
never reaching above the ankles. West and south of Irakam a
considerable area of shallows carrying from 1 to 1§ feet of
water remains. Elsewhere the lake becomes reduced to a
narrow and relatively deep canal extending westwards from
the closed bar, past Karimanal and thence northwards to join
the shallow expanse south oud south-east of Irakam Island.
Within the bounds of this deeper channel gather the whole of
the larg;e fish remaining; in the lake, making; hevdav for the
fishermen.*

Whenever the lake closes during the hot wreather season, the
canal authorities carefully note the rise in level during the
ensuing north-east monsoon ; as soon as the lake rises to one
foot above highest spring tide, means are at once taken to open
the bar by cutting through the sandbank which has closed its
mouth. If the cut be completed at low tide, the head of flood
water pouring through the opening scours a deep passage,
which thereafter is kept open and deepened by successive floods
and by the scour of the ebb tide.

Should the monsoon rains not be heavy, the flood level of
the lake may never rise sufficiently high to give the requisite

* In passing it is worth noting that in the dry season of 1905 when a similar
concent ration of fish occurred in the remaining decp9, it is said that a party of West
Coast fishermen arrived with a large seine and swept the contracted waters of the Pulicat
and other similarly shrunken backwaters, netting within a few days immense quantities
of fish and securing great profit. Opposition to this action was overcome hy gifts of
some of the small fish caught and the enterprising strangers were gone before the local
men cimc to realise that their lake or backwater was depleted of large sized fish.

17

head required for an effective scour ; in this ease nothing fur-
ther can be done to open the bar till the following year when
in May we have the coincidence of a low level of the lake and
high tides in the sea without. Under such conditions the bar
may be temporarily opened from the sea side by taking advan-
tage of the head of water provided by a high spring tide and
by building a groyne on the windward side of the projected
opening to check accumulation of sand and to direct more
effectively the scour of the first tidal water that enters the lake.
Such an operation is at once more costly and less effective than
when the opening be made in the reverse direction. It may
even fail entirely and at all times requires great care and judg-
ment to carry out successfully. The whole operations which
cost over Es. 5,000 are of temporary benefit only, as the bar
closes again by silting within a period varying from six weeks
to two months owing to the lack of flood- water scour to
counteract the silting tendency of the southerly winds and
current.

Shrinkage of the water-level on the extraordinary scale
seen at periodical intervals in Pulicat lake, associated as it
doubtless is with a notable increase in salinitv, exercises
naturally a most baneful influence on all sedentary life, plant
as well as animal, within the normal limits of the lake ; if
the lake organisms be not dried up upon the general recession
of the water, they are almost certain to be killed by the
excessive salinity of the water in the pools remaining or by the
excessive heat to which thev are exposed. Only in the deep
channel near the bar can there be comparative safety.

If the dangers associated with an abnormal fall in the
wrater-level be survived, life within the lake finds another
danger in the great height to which floods may swell the lake
and reduce salinity far below the normal. Fortunately the area
of its wTater-spread is so extensive that it can absorb and distri-
bute a great volume of flood water without a marked rise in
level. Unless the monsoon rains be particularly heavy, the
rise in the lake level is gradual and does not ascend much above
highest spring tide level when the bar is closed. As the water
became super-saline during the process of drying up during the
hot season, so the flood water of a moderate monsoon has the
effect of bringing salinity back to the normal.

In exceptionally wet years when very heavy rain falls
continuously for days together, the moderating influence of the
great area of the lake is overcome and the level steadily rises
until such time as the head of water becomes so powerful as
to force open the bar or till an artificial cut through the beach
hastens this event. With the attention now given to ensuring
3

18

the early release of flood water from the lake, the high flood
levels of former years are not likely to be repeated. The
highest flood level recorded is 8J feet above mean sea level, a
height which signifies that the volume of water in the lake has
been increased to at least four times the normal ; that to the
one volume which represents the normal have been added three
volumes of fresh (sweet) water. As the specific gravity of the
lake is not more than 1,030 under ordinary conditions the
addition of three volumes of fresh water will reduce it approxi-
mately to 1,008, a reduction sufficient to prove fatal to many
animals which might otherwise find suitable life-conditions
within the bounds of the lake, Placima placenta in particular,
a mollusc living to-day in the adjoining sea, and partial to
muddy bottom and land-locked bays.

Nature of the lake bottom. — Fine quartz sand and an
extremely smooth dark mud, greyish black to full black in
colour, are the two main constituents of the bottom.

Above high-tide level the shore is very generally composed
of clean yellow sand, but except for the bar channel and the
shoals adjacent, subject to a heavy daily tide-scour, the bottom
consists either of fine mud or of sand and mud in varying
proportions. East of Pulicat, in Karimanal inlet, in the
shallower water between Karimanal and the Annamaiaicheri
side and generally along the lake shore for varying distance
from high-tide level, sand occurs mingled with mud. Pure
mud, soft and oozy, forms the bottom everywhere else, that is, in
all depths greater than one foot below mean sea level, except in
the neighbourhood of the bar.

In the muddy sands in the vicinity of Pulicat, as also in
Karimanal inlet, considerable numbers of bivalves are found,
usually in distinct beds ; as a consequence, the lake bottom in
these sections contains in places a considerable admixture of
dead shells. In the mud deposit of the deeps, shells of any
kind are seldom seen — no molluscs live in this mud when it
is of any depth ; as it is now, it forms one of the most barren
and valueless bottoms imaginable, the only life supported being
a scum of diatoms particularly abundant wherever the water is
very shallow.

Salinity and temperature. — Both density and temperature
are high as may be inferred from the physical features of the
lake. The former is influenced by the enormous area of shallow
water exposed to rapid evaporation, by the slight influence of
the tidal wave away from the immediate vicinity of the bar,
and by proximity at the north end to salt marshes and salt
impregnated strata.

19

The specific gravity and temperature of seven main stations
upon the lake, taken during August 1908, were as follows : —

Temperature.

.

Depth.

Hour.

Specific
gravity.

. Locality.

Water.

Air.

r.

r.

Off Fulieat town

2

feet

8 A.M.

1,027-50

82°

84°

Channel near Karimanal lock . .

3

>.

5 P.M.

1,027-50

85°

84-°

Off Sunnambukulam

2

».

2-30 p.m.

1,031-00

89°

90°

Off Bimaripalayam

2

>>

9 A.M.

1,03300

83°

85°

Half waybetweenVenadu and Tada

3

>>

8 A.M.

1,03300

84|°

85°

Tada

2

i) • •

8 A.M.

1,039-00

83J

84°

North end Trakam Island

1*

; > • •

8-30 a.m.

1,035-50

82°

81°

West side Venadu Island

1 foot

3-30 p.m.

* •

95°

96°

From the above table it is seen that the specific gravity for
some distance from the bar is that of normal sea water for the
temperature registered.

As distance from the bar increases, the specific gravity
mounts higher with marked regularity — 1,031, 1,033} aud
1,039— the last and highest reading being at Tada at the north-
west extremity of the lake, a place adjacent to a large series
of salt marshes and salt pans. Inshore at the north end of
Irakam, another high reading was obtained, J ,035*50, higher
indeed than that in mid-channel further north, 1,033, between
Venadu and Tada. This is due probably to mid- channel water
being subject to greater tidal influence than the inshore body
of water. The relatively great Motional resistance offered by
the bottom in the marginal shallows tends still more to render
the inshore body of water considerably more inert than that in
mid-channel.

Much greater density than the highest now recorded must
prevail during the hot season whenever the bar is closed ; no
records taken during such period appear to be in existence and
we must wait till the next recurrence of these conditions to
obtain the needful data. Conversely, when floods are on,
especially with the bar shut, the density must be greatly
reduced in ratio according to the amount of dilution of the
normally somewhat super-saline water of the lake.

Never was there any marked difference in temperature be-
tween the lake water and the air in shade. As will be noticed
the temperature ran fairly high ; August 27th was an abnor-
mally hot day, the air temperature being 96° F. in the shade
while the water was but one degree lower (95c F.j, the highest
salt-water temperature I have ever recorded.

20

III. — The Possibilities of Oystkr culture on simple lines

in Pulicat Lake.

Excellent oysters exist in fair quantity and of good size in
the several localities in Pulicat Jake already particularized ;
under present conditions large stretches of suitable bottom in
shallow water are available for oyster culture by simple and
inexpensive methods and, were we reasonably sure that existing
favourable conditions will continue, no difficulties of impor-
tance would bar the way to very extensive cultural operations
and output. We have noted, however, in considerable detail
the occasional (periodic) extreme oscillations in level to which
the lake is subject — how at intervals of some five years the
shallows, which present conditions indicate as alone suitable for
oyster-culture, in great part dry by recession of the water-level.
No means are practicable to avert this periodic catastrophe.
Therefore if oyster- culture be attempted in Pulicat lake it must
be under limitations. Two plans are possible, which may be
tried either separately or simultaneously. The first is to limit
the culture to those places which we may reasonably assume
will never dry even in years of extreme drought ; the second
is to utilize the shallows, which dry up periodically, by arrang-
ing to plant them with brood oysters, as quickly as possible,
after one of the catastrophic years, and to harvest the crop
within the ensuing four normal years, which usually intervene
before the cyclic return of a year of exceptional drought shall
temporarily convert these shallows into dry land.

This latter system of carrying on oyster-culture has the hall-
mark of Nature to attest its feasibility and its reasonableness.
The evidence is clear that when last the lake partially dried up
most of the oyster beds were left high and dry by the receding
waters with the consequence that the bulk of the oysters died
off from exposure to the sun and from lack of water. Very
few survived but these were sufficient to repopulate the beds
when the floods came to restore the lake to a normal level.

It appears to me extremely probable that the spawning
season of Pulicat ovsters coincides with the onset of floods in
October and November. If so, at the end of a period of low
levels in the lake all the exposed old oyster shells will become
clean and bright by the combined action of sun and rain by the
time the)' are once more submerged by the rising waters and
will form the best possible kind of cultch for swimming oyster-
spat to settle upon. It will be remembered that I laid
emphasis upon the fact that with the exception of one deposit,
the oysters in each bed examined were of identical age through-
out that bed. There must be, at least, annual production of

21

spawn from each bed but it appears that ordinarily no suitably
clean cultch is available to attract fresh spat. Only when some
of the adult oysters now living shall die off iu the next great
drought will suitable cultch be provided to meet the taste of
the swimming spat which must have clean surfaces for attach-
ment or they will die without making attachment. Shells
covered with mud and diatom slime are valueless as cultch ;
at the present time practically all the oysters now alive in
Pulicat lake are in such condition.

If this method of oyster-culture be adopted, additional area
may be obtained by planting up the muddy shallows with
mangroves and by inducing oyster spat-falls upon the stilt
roots thrown out by these bushes. In some districts mangrove
oysters are of considerable economic importance ; the culture
is most simple and it would have other advantages. At present
the mangrove is all but absent from the lake ; its introduction
would help to accelerate the silting up of the muddy shallows
east of Venadu. It would in this way reduce the area of the
water-spread of the lake at its shallowest part and so reduce
that excessive evaporation which in dry seasons brings about
all the difficulties resultant from the partial drying up of the
lake. Yet another advantage would be the supply of large
quantities of bark for net-tanning which would be thus pro-
vided for the fishermen — mangrove cutch being probably the
best barking material known for nets. Its collection and pre-
paration form a considerable industry in Burma and in Borneo.
In passing I may also mention that I have seen mangrove
purposely planted along the shores of a muddy bay on the north
coast of Kattiawar to furnish supplies of firewood.

Karimanal inlet is the only place where continuous culture
is possible. Eeceiving more tidal water than any of the other
localities where oyster beds are situated, its oysters may be
expected to show the best growth ; against this advantage is to
be set comparatively limited area. The west side only is
available for culture, the east side being exposed to silting
and shoal movement in consequence of the manner in which the
bar shifts gradually from the south to the north end of its run
during the years it remains open.

If culture be worked in three to four-year periods, all
oysters save a large breeding reserve in deep water being
harvested just before a closure of the bar, then the area
available is of very considerable extent— not less than ten
square miles at a moderate estimate.

The most suitable plan of operations would probably be to
prepare by liming a great quantity of cultch — old oyster and

22

cockle shells, and bricks and tiles, entire or broken (Pnlicat is
full of ruined brick buildings), during the period when the bar
is closed and the level of the lake falling. When the shallows
off Pulicat, Karimanal and Annamalaicheri become dry or
nearly so, and not much further shrinkage is expected, the
prepared cultch should be spread over the firmest and cleanest
area available and left there till the expected floods arrive to
stimulate the reproductive glands of whatever oysters survive
and induce spawning with consequent spat-falls upon the
collectors laid down if conditions prove favourable.

Fascines or bundles of casuarina twigs might also be tried
as spat-collectors, these being anchored preferably in the deeper
water section of the lake. The culture of mangiove oysters
would entail greater initial expense as mangrove seeds would
have to be obtained and planted. Extensive planting, if
successful, would have such far reaching beneficial effects by
reducing the extent of the shallowest portion of the lake and
by forming a barrier to overflow northwards of flood water,
that it may prove desirable eventually to offer some special
inducements in order to encourage this method of oyster farm-
ing. For a long time however the cultivation of mangrove
oysters by private individuals will not come within the range
of practical politics ; it must wait until oyster-culture in the
shallows by means of shell, brick, and fascine spat-collectors has
been proved successful and profitable. Meanwhile it would he
distinctly useful and appropriate if an experimental planting of
mangroves be taken in hand by the Fisheries Department with
a view to ascertain the species best adapted to suit the purposes
in view under the peculiar conditions existing in the lake.

If systematic cultivation of edible oysters be taken up
extensively, culture of the magnificent pearl-producing green
mussel (Mytilus smaragchnus) would probably follow, as its
natural association is with our local oyster. In the Sonnapur
river in the Gaujam district where they are, or were till
recently, fished for the pearls contained, there exists a distinct
Ostrea-M/jlilus smaragdinus formation ; indeed the same associa-
tion is noticeable in the Ennore backwater though less emphatic
owing to the smaller extent and the relative sparsity of the
oyster population.

These large mussels are actually more highly esteemed in
India than are oysters ; they form an excellent main ingredient
in curries. In Malabar and Travancore there exists an exten
sive fishing industry in the collection of mussels for this
purpose, an industry that serves as a training school for a
hardy race of divers, hundreds of whom are accustomed to

23

cross to Ceylon whenever a pearl-fishery takes place there.
Dried, these mussels will find a ready market in China, and
for this may prove more useful than oysters, as the bodies are
firmer and more bulky than those of the latter. If put up in
a tasteful manner in tins they are also likely to find a ready
market. The pearls occasionally contained would also form a
source of some profit to the culturist ; they lie nearly always
close to the surface of the mantle and would be readily discern-
ible during the preliminary preparations for either tinning or
drying ; they may be removed at this stage without difficulty
and without detriment to the prepared product.

Combined culture of oysters and mussels is therefore to
be recommended, particularly as the only needful preliminary
would be to provide a sufficient number of mature mussels
to serve as u breeders ". From these the needful spat would
arise to populate the oyster beds. With increased experience
special mussel spat collectors might be found desirable, but in
the beginning no such device appears requisite.

Area ( ? rhowbea) exists in considerable numbers especially
in the Karimanal inlet and its culture on Japanese lines may be
feasible if oyster farming be capable of successful conduct.

Ennore,
22?id September 1908.

NOTE

ON

AN ATTEMPT TO ASCERTAIN THE PRINCIPAL

DETERMINING FACTOR IN OYSTER-SPAWNING

IN MADRAS BACKWATERS

BY

JAMES HORNELL, f.l.s.

In a report dealing with the results of a biological survey
of Pulicat lake made in August 1908 with the main object of
ascertaining the suitability of this largest of Madras backwaters
for the culture of the edible oyster, I arrived at the conclusion
that " it is extremely probable that the spawning season of
Pulicat ovsters coincides with the onset of the floods in October
and November."

2. It has been noted by observers that the spawning season
of oysters in European countries and on the eastern seaboard
of the United States is correlated with the marked rise in
temperature which occurs in shallow waters along the coasts
of such latitudes during the summer months, particularly in
June and Julv ; Dr. H. F. Moore of the United States Bureau
of Fisheries states indeed that oysters do not begin to spawn
on the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts till the temperature
of the surrounding water reaches about 70° F. (not less than
67° F.), that it may be assumed that on the gulf coast a heavy
discharge of spawn rarely, if ever, takes place much before
May 1st, and that spawning in all probability is practically
completed by the first week in August. In FraDce, at Arcachon
and Auray, spat-collectors are seldom placed in position before
the middle of June, the beginning of July being the usual
maximal spawning period.

3. In India conditions differ in many essentials ; the tem-
perature of shallow waters scarcely ever falls below the minimum
of 67° F., while during May to September it seldom registers
less than 80° F. often rising as high as 90° F., yet I was
unable to see any evidence that spawning occurred freely during

4

26

these months. As a consequence I was led to look elsewhere
for some other factor capable of imparting an adequate stimulus
to the nerve centres controlling the emission of the reproduc-
tive products, and, as already stated, at the end of my inspec-
tion of the oyster-beds at Pulicat I arrived at the conclusion
that the chief determining stimulus has little or nothing to do
with variation in temperature in the case of Southern India,
whatever it may have in the north, as for example on the
oyster-beds in the neighbourhood of Karachi ; rather did it
seem to me a question affected by differences in the density or
specific gravity of the water bathing the beds. It appeared
to me that so far as the oyster-beds on the East Coast are
concerned the spawning maximum synchronizes with the
earlier portion of the heavy rainfall period of the north-east
monsoon which begins normally about 15th October and lasts
through November. At Madras, where the meteorological
conditions coincide closely with those prevailing over the chief
backwater on the East Coast, the average over 80 years *
shows that the total annual rainfall is distributed as follows : —

INCHES.

During the first 5 months of the

vear,

January to May

• • •

4-50

Duriug June to the end of September

15-00

„ October

• • •

11-00

„ November

• • •

13-25

,, December

...

5-25

Total for year

49-00

4. To test the accuracy of this theoretical deduction, I
arranged last September, before leaving on an extended tour
on the West Coast, for the conduct of an experiment with spat-
collectors in the Ennore backwater to extend through the
rainy season of October and November. The material selected
consisted of ordinary curved ''• country " roofing tiles. These
were given a preliminary coating of lime (ordinary slaked lime
stirred into a bucket of sea-water to a creamy consistence) and
then in some cases given a second coatiDg of 1 of lime to 3 of
sand. The tiles were made into small bundles of six rows of two
tiles each, the alternate rows at right angles to those above and
beneath, and with the concave surface downwards in all cases.

V'tdi Russell in " History of the Buckingham Canal Project," Madras, 1898.

27

The bundles were secured with wire aud I left instructions
with the Superintendent of the experimental station to place
two bundles at weekly intervals in the shallow water of a small
area of the backwater, previously selected and enclosed, lying
immediately eastward (seawrards) of the fisheries station.

5. These spat-collectors wTere accordinglv placed in position
on the following dates : 23rd and 30th September, 13th, 22nd
and 29th October, 5th, 12th, 19th and 26th November, 3rd
and 8th December. On my return to Ennore on 12th December
I examined the whole of these collectors and it was extremely
gratifying to find that a very satisfactory set of spat was
clearly in evidence. Unfortunately, owing to a number of the
bundles not having been marked so distinctively as they should
have been, it was found impossible to distinguish between the
different lots laid out in October, but this is of comparatively
little importance as all the October lots were thickly covered
with spat.

6. So far as the individual bundles could be identified,
the following are the results: —

Lot ], two bundles of collectors^ laid out 2%rd September. —
Only an odd spat of small size and apparently of recent attach-
ment adhering here and there upon the tiles in these collectors ;
the surface fouled greatly wTith fine muddy sediment.

Lot 2, laid out 30M, September— The majority of the tiles
in these two bundles bore no spat, more particularly those of
the lower rows ; a few oysters were found on the upper tiles
and the majority of these were of a particularly large size,
ranging downwards from If X 1J inch. There were several
between l-i- and If inch in diameter, those uncrowned being
almost circular in outline. The census of oysters on the tile
carrying the largest individual is as follows: —

Under or concave surface —

Depth. Length.

1 of 4*70 X 4'70 centimetres.

1 of 3-60 x 3-90

1 of 2-75 x 3-30

1 of 2-70 X 3-40

1 of 2-25 x 3-35

1 of 3-35 x 2-20

1 of 0-50 x 0-50

1 of 0-40 x 0-4U

Total ... 8

5)

28

On the upper or convex surface a number of very small
ones appeared : —

Centimetres.

■ 9 being between J 0'50 X 0'50.

\and 0-40 x 0-40.

1 of 0-80 x 075.

1 of 0 95 x 0-80.

1 of 0-90 x 0-75.

1 of 1-50 x 1-90.

1 of 2-10 x 2-10.

1 of 2-10 x 2-60.

15

The concave surface bore in addition a large number of
barnacles (Balanus) and 21 serpulid tubes averaging from 1*75
to 2*00 centimetres in length ; on the convex side there were
but few barnacles but along the margin at one end was a
considerable quantity of short green conferva.

The total oyster population on this tile was 8 individuals
above 2 centimetres in diameter and 15 under this size, the
dimensions of the tile, like those of all the others, being 9
inches by 6 inches approximately.

The characteristics shown by these tiles put down on 30th
September were the presence of a small number of young oysters
of large size ranging from 1^ inch to 1| inch in diameter and a
larger number of small ones of half an inch in diameter and
under, but even these were not numerous.

Lots 3, 4 and 5 laid down on the l%t\ 22nd and 29th
October. — These six bundles having their identity confounded
have to be treated as one lot. This however does not appear
to be of great consequence as they all appear equally thickly
covered with spat, so much so that the spat crowd one another
to such an extent as to cause contortion and an outturning of
the edges at right angles to the plane of the body. On this
account it is impossible to measure the length and depth accu-
rately, but an approximation of the average of the size which
predominates is 2-50 Y 2-70 centimetres. Taking two tiles
from different bundles, we counted 48 oysters on tile A,
varying between 2'70 X 2*70 centimetres and 2x2 centi-
metres, the majority inclining towards the larger size ; on tile
B the number of those ranging between these two sizes was 35.
In both cases there were a few of still smaller sizes, 17 in the
case of A, and 23 in the case of B ; these ranged down to '80
centimetre X '80 centimetre. On A there were one Anomia
2*20 centimetres in diameter, a few small barnacles, serpulid

29

tubes and crusting calcareous polyzoa, also two young Mytilus
•4 and -5 centimetre in length, respectively. On B were 3
Anomia averaging 2*25 centimetres diameter. Barnacles on this
tile were very scarce and quite tiny, but crusting polyzoa
was abundant and had interfered with the growth of several of
the smaller oyster spat.

On A the whole of the 60 spat were located on the concave
side of the tile ; in B out of the total 58, 43 were on the
concave side, 15 on the convex. No observable growth of
algas had occurred on either tile, but the concave surface in
both had a somewhat dirty appearance due to the roughness of
the surface caused by the crowding and distortion of the young
oysters.

Lots 6, 7, 8 and 9 — bih to 26^ November. — On none of
these was there any considerable set of spat. A typical tile
selected at random gave the following census : —

24 on the concave side, 9 on the convex. Of the former,
the largest was 1-90 X 1*90 centimetre ; the smallest 0-65 X
0-60 centimetre. Between these extremes there was a perfect
gradation. Of barnacles there were 22 of about *3 centimetre
across ; no serpulids and no Anomice, but of crusting polyzoa
there. were three colonies, the largest being 3 centimetres in
diameter.

Lots 10 and 11 of Zrd and 8th December appeared perfectly
clean and were put back into position again.

7. Summarizing the results, it appears that spawning did
not take place till the very end of September or the beginning
of October, as the collectors put out on 23rd September bore
only a few odd spat of quite small size ; those tiles apparently
became fouled before spawning took place, and only recently
became scoured clean here and there, allowing of the attach-
ment of an occasional larva.

The great number of spat of more or less the same age on.
the collectors laid out in October point to this month marking
the maximum or rather the optimum of the spawning activities
of the adult oysters in this locality ; alongside of the density
of set in October, we see a diminished set continuing until
December as shown by lots 6 to 9 laid down in November.
In this connection it must be noted that in this particular Indian
species as in the American O. viryinica, the ova pass several
days in a swimming stage before sinking to the bottom and
making attachment. Any that attached for instance on 25th
October were spawned probably about 20th October and so with
all other attachments.

30

8. Now what were the conditions during these months?
When I left Ennore on 23rd September, the backwater as it
had been for the }Tear preceding had no opening into the sea
and the rains had not commenced on the coast, although the
level of the backwater had shown signs of rising. A few days
after I left heavy rains were experienced and during October
the backwater rose rapidly and so high that to relieve the
pressure of the flood in the Buckingham Canal which crosses
the backwater, steps were taken by the Public Works Depart-
ment to cut a channel from the backwater to the sea. On 25th
October when the flood level had risen three feet above the
level at which it stood on 23rd September, the cut was made,
the head of flood water rushing through to the sea with such
violence that a deep channel was formed with the result that
from that date to the present the backwater has remained tidal.
This access of a great volume of fresh water poured into the
backwater during the three weeks preceding 25th October
very greatly reduced the density of the water and this taken
in conjunction with the fact that the October laying of spat-
collectors was the one marked by the best set of spat obtained is
strong evidence that this rapid reduction in the density of the
surrounding water was the stimulus requisite to stir the adult
oysters in the backwater into sexual activity — the emission of
milt or spermatozoa in the case of the male and of ova ready
for fertilization in the case of the female. A heightened
temperature certainly was not the cause, as the temperature
of the water before the onset of floods was higher than during
their continuance.

9. The experiment, imperfect as it admittedly is — I was
absent during the whole time it was being conducted — proves
two points of the greatest interest : — (a) that the maximum
sexual activity of the edible oyster of the East Coast rivers and
backwaters synchronized with the heavy rains of October and
November^ October being apparently the optimum ; (b) the
exceedingly rapid rate of growth indicated for our Madras
oysters. It also furnishes very strong evidence in favour of
the view that a rapid reduction in the density of the surround-
ing water and not an increase of temperature as in European
and American waters, is the factor which determines the season
at which the majority of oysters shall spawn.

10. With regard to the rate of growth of oysters; in
France the spat w7hich attaches to collectors, say in the first
week of July, is not detached till October, a period of at least
three months, and by this age it is not larger than the thumb
nail, at the outside 1-80 centimetre or about f inch in diameter.

31

Growth in England and Holland is considerably slower, while
in America, whereas South Carolina oysters take 6 to 7 months
to reach a length of 2J inches, in the warm sounds of North
Carolina, they reach a length of 1| inch in from two to three
months.* In our experiment the rate of growth is considerably
better than any of these except perhaps that of North Carolina,
as we have seen that between 30th September and 12th
December or within 2 \ months they attain a length of 1^ inch,
while if we assume, as I think is fair, 22nd October as the
mean date for the fixation of the spat attached so closely to the
collectors laid out between 13th and 29th October, then these
oysters by the 12th December or in the space of If month,
reached a length of 1T\ inch or 2-7 centimetres, a rate twice
and a half more rapid than that considered satisfactory in
France.

11. Altogether the experiment is most satisfactory in its
results ; it has shown that the collection of spat can be carried
out by the simplest of meaus and at a very low cost ; it has
demonstrated conclusively the rapid rate at which growth pro-
gresses and confirms my conclusion arrived at by other reasoning
during my survey of Pulicat lake, that the Madras oyster will
attain an excellent marketable size within 2J years, possibly
even within two years.

12. In conclusion it is interesting to note that the local
oyster of our backwaters, which I believe to be identical with
that of Ceylon backwaters, and which has been identified as
Ostrea cucullata, is more closely akin to the oyster of the east
coast of America, 0. virginica, than to the French and English
native. The appearance and form of the shell and the habit of
growth agree so closely with the characteristics of the American
species, that the two seem little more than geographical races
of one species, just as the pearl oyster of our coasts occupies
the same position towards the so-called species of the Gulf of
Mexico, the connection of the Gulf of Mexico with our own
seas being, indeed, much closer biologically than are the seas
of Europe.

* Moore " Oysters and Oyster culture." U.S. Fish Commission Report for 1897,
Washington, 1897.

Ennore,
2nd January 1909,

PLATE

Fig. 1. Tile Collectors in Ennore Backwater covered with Oyster spat
deposited during the floods of october 1908.

Fig. 2. Collecting Edible Ovsters off Cannanore by means of diving.

Note the small raft-buoy carrying a wand to which are tied small bundles of betel, etc., for
the diver's refreshment between dives.

[Photo, J. Hornell.~\

REPORT

ON THE

FEASIBILITY OF OPERATING DEEP-SEA FISHING

BOATS ON THE COASTS OF THE MADRAS

PRESIDENCY, WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE

TO THE SELECTION OF FISHING

CENTRES AND HARBOURS

OF REFUGE,

BY

JAMES HORNELL, f.l.s.

[Three plates.]

The advantages likely to accrue to the fishing industry
from the introduction and extended use upon the coasts of the
Madras Presidency of larger sized fishing boats from 10 tons
register and upwards in size, have been so exhaustively detailed
by Sir F. A. Nicholson in two reports to Government
(February 1906 and May 1908) that it is superfluous to do
so here.

2. It will suffice therefore if I recapitulate the four heads
under which these advantages have been grouped in the papers
referred to.

They are four in number, and are as follows : —

(a) To take crews safely and comfortably into the further
waters of the fishing grounds and to allow them to stay there
for some days, following and catching the shoals ;

(b) to allow the use of better and more powerful nets
and lines ;

(c) to save time, to lessen the number of hands, increase
freedom of action, and to permit of the use of mechanical
appliances to save labour and increase efficiency ;

(d) to enable means to be taken by the fishermen to
ensure the proper preservation of fish from taint from catch
to shore.

3. Mr. Sullivan Thomas in the Proceedings of the Board
of Revenue, 21st August 1886, No. 1887, has also stated his
opinion that the principal means to arrest an assumed growing
scarcity of fish on the Madras Coast is the same remedy as has
been applied in England, viz., "to have better appliances,

5

34

that is to say, much larger nets and more seaworthy boats and
to go further to sea." But whilst among those who have
studied the subject a consensus of opinion exists that the
introduction of larger boats with the ability to employ nets
of greater dimensions than those now in use is necessary if
there is to be any considerable increase in the prosperity of
our fisheries, there has been some divergence as to the practi-
cability of employing such boats, at least upon the East Coast.
Mr, Sullivan Thomas pointed out the lack of any harbour
of refuge on the Madras coast line to which fishing boats
might run for shelter in a storm, and the special danger
from cyclones to which a fishing fleet would be exposed in
consequence of this deficiency.

4. To gain reliable data to enable this doubt to be resolved
prior to taking final steps to settle the type of fishing craft
most likely to prove suitable for the peculiar local conditions
which have to be faced, Sir F. A. Nicholson deputed me
recently to make an examination of the shore line both on the
East and "West Coasts of this Presidency. Up to the present
date I have completed a survey of the coast extending over
practically the whole sea-front of South Canara and Malabar
on the west side, while on the east I have visited all points aud
ports of importance between Cape Comorin and Pamban, and
from Point Calimere to the Penneru river, 90 nautical miles
north of Madras. I shall try to state the essential facts and
conclusions brought out by the enquiry as succinctly as
possible, but giving such details of the various ports and
estuaries as may be of permanent value for reference purposes.

5. Varying physical characters in the coast line have
necessitated corresponding divergence in the types of fishing
craft hitherto employed. Four distinct coast sections are
linked with four such types of fishing craft in the districts
I have examined, two being of major and two of minor
importance. These coast sections may be distinguished respec-
tively as —

(a) The catamaran coast,

(b) The dhoney coast,

(c) The boat-catamaran coast,

(d) The canoe coast.

6. (a) The Catamaran coast— Wherever heavy surf breaks
on a long stretch of open coast unbroken by any shelter-giving
headlands, the form and handling of the catamaran have been
brought well nigh to perfection. In the effective simplicity
of its design, in the safety with which it can be launched and

35

brought ashore through the wildest surf, in the ease with
which its parts may be taken apart and carried up the beach
and afterwards reassembled, the catamaran is certainly the
most serviceable craft for use on a surf-beaten coast. For 250
miles south of Madras and for a considerably greater distance
to the north, practically no other craft is employed in fishing ;
the larger ones carry three or four men each and are furnished
with a well-barked permauent sail of fair proportions.

No notable headlands break the monotony of the coast
line from Point Calimere to long past the Penneru ; the only
available harbours excepting Madras, are those formed by the
estuaries of the larger rivers, and of these a large proportion
become useless for the greater part of the fine weather fishing
season, the south-west monsoon period, owing to closure of
the bars brought about by the silting action of strong long-
shore currents running northwards acting concurrently with a
cessation of river flow, the consequence of drought. Between
Madras and the Swarnamukhi river, 60 miles north of Madras,
the estuaries of all the rivers and backwaters are liable to close
during the hot season, and even when they do remain open the
depth of water over the bars is too low to prevent of ready
ingress and egress in the case of boats of several feet draught ;
north of the Swarnamukhi river all bars remain open continu-
ously, but so far I have been able to examine two only, the
Kandaleru and Penneru rivers. The former estuary, 70 miles
north of Madras, constitutes the old harbour of Kistnapatam,
a place of considerable importance in the coasting trade till the
rise of the Buckingham Canal and the completion of the coast
railway diverted traffic into new channels. Thirty years ago
it wras the port of Nellore and native craft of considerable
burden, and drawing as much as 9 feet of water, entered the
river for repairs, the repairing sheds being situated along the
margin of the deep water Tying west of the present forest
bungalow; the estuary itself is of ample depth, in places over
25 feet, and has excellent road communication with Nellore,
17 miles distant. In 1833 it was credited with having a depth
of 11 feet of water on the bar at high spring tides.

The condition of the river at the present day is somewhat
less favourable; on the occasion of my visit, which coincided
with high water of a spring tide, the greatest depth on the
bar was 7f feet ; as the range of tide is from o to 3J feet, at low
tide 4 J to 4| feet would be the best water available. Apart
from this, the position of the river mouth may be said to be
permanent, while the estuary is less liable to silting than any
other on the Coromandel Coast. A mud bank formerly existed
off this port (I do not know whether it still remains), and it

36

is interesting to read in Gr.O., No. 293, June 1883 (Marine),
tliat, when His Excellency the Governor lauded in 1878 at
Kistnapatam in order to visit Nellore, this mud bank gave
effectual protection to the steamer " Khandalla " from the
violence of a evclone which came on while the steamer was
awaiting His Excellency's return and which was very severely
felt from Madras to Masulipatarn. Captain Taylor, the then
Master Attendant of Madras, in relating this experience says
u I remained at anchor in the ' Khandalla ' upon this mud
" bank and though the sea was unusually high outside, and
" the centre of the storm passed very near, bursting on the
" coast at Ongole, and doing great mischief, we did not experi-
ence any discomfort, the sea being reduced to a long lazy
44 swell."

Between the Kandaleru and Penncru rivers, the Kodur
river, Gangapatam backwater and Nallateru river enter the
sea, but as their bars are open only intermittently after floods,
they are valueless as fishing boat centres.

7. The next place examined was the mouth of the Penneru
river, 90 miles north of Madras. This river is one of consi-
derable size and its bar never closes. Unlike the Kandaleru,
the river mouth is not always in the same place, and at times
of flood there may be several openings; this lack of concentration
renders the scour of floods much less effective than it should
be and as a consequence the river estuary (or backwater) is very
liable to silting. In many places in the channel where I
sounded at about low tide on 16th September 1908 the depth
was as low as 2~ feet. On this day at one hour before high
water the least depth on the bar was 5 feet, which should
give G feet at high-water. In spring tides at least another
foot should be available or a total of 7 feet against the
9 feet in 1883 which Marshall gives in his " Handbook of
Directions to the Ports in the Presidency of Madras." As
already mentioned the position and formation of the bar are
unstable ; sometimes there is but one opening to sea, sometimes
several. On the day I visited it, the width of the single mouth
was too great to permit of a good scour and the best channel
over the bar was of considerable length, passing for some
distance parallel with the shore between two lines of surf. A
rather heavy surf extended a considerable distance seawards,
as though there were a lengthy stretch of shoal water off
the entrance to the river.

Altogether the bar appeared somewhat " ugly " and not
one that I should feel safe in attempting in any fishing boat
other than a catamaran. It may well be that at other seasons
the bar channel is shorter and more favourably situated ; that

37

would but emphasize the lack of stability which appears to be
a characteristic of the entrance to this river. In passing, it is
interesting to note that the fishermen and others with whom we
conversed were unanimous in stating that the depth of water
in the river was formerly greater than at present and that the
volume of flood water — the prime agent in scouring deeply the
channel and the bar — has greatly lessened since the anicuts at
and above Nellore were constructed. The same cause is
operating in most of the East Coast rivers, a decreased volume
of water and lessened scour, owing to the making of anicuts.
An instance in point is the rapid deterioration of Cocanada
harbour after the completion of the anicutover the Godavari at
Dowlaishweram and the silting up of the mouths of the
Tambraparni after a similar construction of anicuts upstream.
With the progress of irrigation works and increased cultivation
under such systems we may look for a still further reduction in
the volume of water in the terminal sections of the East Coast
rivers with the result that river ports will still further
deteriorate.

Northward of Penneru there are several harbours which
may probably be found very suitable as fishing centres, notably
Masulipatam and Cocanada, but with these I have no personal
acquaintance.

8. Taking a survey of the coast southwards of Madras we
find no harbour of any fishery value till we reach Cuddalore.
Covelong and Sadras which lie between,, were both once the
centres of considerable trade but at present have no importance,
Covelong bar being closed nearly the whole of the south-west
monsoon. During this season there is, however, good shelter
for small boats in the small bay to the north of Covelong
point and for half the year it may be safely used as a boat
anchorage. Cuddalore is well situated to serve as a fishing
centre ; the river bar though not a deep one is not dangerous,
the tiading importance of the place is sufficient to ensure
efforts being made whenever exceptional shallowing takes
place, while rapid transport of catches is assured by the
proximity of the railway ; a siding runs down to the quay wall
where fishing boats would discharge. The bar has been at
times troublesome, sometimes through silting, at other times
by change in its position. But in spite of all this the place has
never intermitted its importance since the East India Company
opened a factory here and built Fort St. David iu 13S3. At
present the depth of w7ater on the bar is seldom more than 6
feet at spring tides, with a mean range of about 3 feet. About
150 lighters belong to the port; most of these are about 10
tons register, but there are a few decked lighters of 25 tons

38

drawing between 2 and 3 feet. The draft of cargo boats is
usually restricted to 2 feet as on this they are able to cross the
bar at any state of the tide in fair weather. .Native craft of
200 tons and drawing 5 feet occasionally enter the river
at high water for repairs.

At present comparatively little fishing is carried on as the
Patnavar Chettiar who form the fisher caste here get such
regular and well paid wages as boatmen that they prefer such
work to the uncertain remuneration and hard life inseparable
from the fishing industry as now carried on. Still men in
plenty are available to man fishing boats if regular wages or
other equal inducement offer.

9. Porto Novo at the mouth of the Vellar river and about
11 miles south of Cnddalore has almost equal advantages with
the latter port. On the day I visited the harbour very little
surf was breaking on the bar ; the channel over was easy with
about the same depth of water as upon the Cuddalore bar.
A small quay convenient for the rapid handling of cargo is
situated half a mile above the bar and about two miles by
road from the railway station.

On the date of my visit two channels over the bar were
in use, one, the more direct, used by the smaller lighters, the
other and longer which runs northwards instead of directly
eastwards, by larger craft. Several coasting vessels were laid
up in the river, among them a brig of 150 tons waiting a good
spring tide to cross the bar. Fishing craft drawing 3 feet
should be able to enter the river at high water every day
throughout the vear, while if thev draw 6 inches less thev should
be able to enter at almost any hour except dead low water.
One great advantage which Porto Novo has as a fishing centre
is that the roadstead or anchorage off the port enjoys excellent
shelter in southerly winds owing to the large shoal off the
Coleroon river which breaks the swell. The bottom is mud
and affords good holding ground. Until of late years Porto
Novo was much frequented by native coasting craft ; the
gradual opening of the coast railway and the competition of
Cuddalore have combined to divert traffic and Porto Novo in
its present melancholy state of decay, like so many towns on
this East Coast, is evidence of the frequently baneful local
effects entailed by that centralization m commerce which
has been one of the most marked changes wrought by the
introduction of steam.

10. The S6 miles of coast from Porto Novo to Point
Calimere, is one monotonous stretch of low sandy land
presenting a straight front to the sea. At frequent intervals
streams and rivers intersect it, nearly always with a town or

39

fort bearing a name of historic interest at the mouth.
Devicotta, Tranquebar, Karaikal, Nagore, and Negapatam are
the chief of these and, save in the case of the last named,
are subject to the same causes of decay which have robbed
Porto Novo of its prosperity.

The Coleroon opens some 4 miles south of Porto Novo
and if the bar were navigable the broad river within would
form a most magnificent harbour. As it is, the river opens
into the sea over a wide shallow bar on which the surf breaks
heavily for a considerable distance owing to the shallowness
of the sea in the immediate vicinity. Much silt is brought
down during floods, forming extensive shoals seaward of the
entrance ; the tendency of the river mouth to move northwards
is very pronounced.

11. Tirumalavasal, 13 miles north of Tranquebar, is the
next port to be reached. One of the branches of the Cauvery
discharges into the sea near the town, but like the mouth of
the Coleroon, this entrance is somewhat variable. A fair
amount of trade is carried on chiefly with coasters which lie off
the port and are served by a number of cargo boats which cross
the bar into the river to load. At low water a depth of 2 to
2\ feet of water is found on the bar at the times when it
is open. During the last of the hot weather the bar usually
closes, reopening as soon as the monsoon floods arrive. In
regard to accessibility the river is rather better than 1hat at
Negapatam, but scarcely so good as at Cuddalore or Porto
Novo.

12. Tranquebar, once the busy port of the principal Danish
settlement in India, comes next in order in our progress down
the coast. At the present day sea-borne trade has practically
abandoned the port, and the river is scarcely ever used by
coasting craft.

For specially designed shallow draft fishing boats the bar
presents no particular difficulties, while the river within offers
snug shelter. During the greater part of the year the bar
carries about 2 feet of water at low tide, with 4 to 4j feet at
high water of spring tides. A considerable number of hardy
fishermen live outside the town and do a large curing trade at
certain seasons, helped substantially in this by the proximity
of the large salt factory maintained by Government at this
centre. These men in common with other fishermen betwreen
here and Negapatam already have some acquaintance with
deep-sea fishing and have already experienced the need
for larger and more stable craft than their ordinary three-
log catamarans. I found that from the end of May to

40

the middle of August the fishermen of this coast make long
journeys to the deep-sea in search of flying-fish, which
at tin's season are usually met with off this coast in great
abundance. As these fish seldom go far landwards of the
margin of the Kala pani, the fishermen have to prepare to
go, if need be, out of sight of land. This they regularly do,
but to cope with the heavier seas met with at such a distance
from laud, large craft are temporarily improvised by tying
seven specially large catamaran logs together. In this way
a deep-sea catamaran is contrived capable of accommodating a
large catch of fish and of earrving a small quantity of food and
water. Each of these catamarans is said to carry a crew of
eight men. Usually they leave shore at 6 o'clock in the morning
reaching the fishing grounds by 3 p.m. If shoals of flying-fish
be seen, a satisfactory catch, enough to load the boat, is usually
made within two to three hours ; at sunset, whether or not a
good catch has been made, they cease work and return shore-
wards reaching home early the next morning if the wind
favour them. It is worthy of particular note that if no shoals
be met with before sunset, the men start for the shore at this
hour; catch or no catch, the open nature and the smallness of
their craft entail return within 24 hours if such be humanly
possible — no man will willingly face a longer period of such
exposure and confinement as the use of a catamaran entails,
to say nothing of the inability to carry foul and water for a
longer period. Often these men return starving and worn out
and yet without a single fish as reward for the privations they
have endured. Such men, I believe, would welcome the
introduction of sea-going and sea-keeping boats, which would
enable them to stay, if need be, days together at sea. Indeed as
will be mentioned later, Negapatam men have taken this step
recently and point the way for further development.

1 should add, before leaving this subject, that instances were
brought to my notice where men engaged in this fishery have
been actually on the verge of starvation because of excessive
delay in reaching shore owing to head winds. On some
occasions the men have been unable to reach home for three
whole days, being driven well nigh to Pondicherry before they
could make the shore.

Altogether Tranquebar offers many advantages as a fishing
boat centre ; a fisher population inured to hardship and already
practically conversant with deep-sea fishing is alrcad y established
there, curing facilities are first class owing to the proximity of
a salt factory, the river would give shelter to the fishing fleet in
rough weather while the railwa}T from Porear Koadat Karaikal,
6 miles away, provides the requisite facilities for distribution.

41

13. Karaikal. — This small French port would also make a
good fishing centre. The river mouth seldom closes (it did in
May 1905) and that its bar offers no obstacle to light draft
traffic is evidenced by the numerous cargo lighters which load
cargo at neat wharves within the river to carry to the steamers
of the British India and Asiatic Steam Navigation Companies
which call off the port fortnightly. The railway station is
within a quarter of a mile of the cargo wharves.

Nagore and Negapatam. — These twin ports are situated
within five miles of each other, Nagore being this distance to
the north of Negapatam, which is 222 miles by rail from
Madras.

Negapatam is by far the most prosperous port between Point
Calimere and Madras, but this is in spite of considerable natural
difficulties. Asa harbour Negapatam is inferior to several of
the ports so far enumerated, and keeps its trade chiefly because
of the conservatism of business men (otherwise i: vested
interests ") and the support given by this being a terminal
railway port. Of recent years the river entrance has steadily
deteriorated, causing continual anxiety and trouble, more
especially during the mouths of January and February when
there is considerable danger of the bar closing entirely. In
February 1907 and January 1908 the entrance was 4.00 feet
south of the jetty and had only 6 inches of water over it at
low water of spring tides. From 'February to October or
November no greater depth than 12 to 15 inches can be reckoned
upon at low water, with a rise of from 2 to 2^ feet at springs.
During such time traffic over the bar is possible only for a
limited time before and after high water, sometimes (as in May
1905) for one hour only before and after. As a consequence
the cargo boats here are of comparatively small size, ranging
mostly from 8 to 10 tons register. The dimensions of one of
the larger are : length 45 feet ; beam 8 feet 7 inches ; depth 5
feet ; burden 10 tons in fine weather.

It is interesting to find that the deterioration of this river
entrance is an instance of the harm which may be done to a
harbour by the reduction for irrigation purposes of the volume
of water in the river which produces the scour requisite to keep
the bar navigable. In the present instance a diversion of the
river Vellaiyar was made some years ago by which its stream
was prevented from joining the Kaduvayar of which the mouth
forms Negapatam harbour ; as a consequence the floods in the
river were reduced and the bar scoured less deeply than in
previous years- At the present time I understand that steps
are being taken to return some of the diverted water with

6

42

the hope that the increased head of water may rectify the harm
occasioned.

Taking it as it is now, Negapatarn affords good anchorage
outside the river, but is valueless as a port of refuge. Any
fishing boats using it will do so only on account of its value as a
distributing centre ; they must go elsewhere for shelter — either
to Nagore to the north or southwards to Thopputturai or to the
south-west of Point Calimere — an arrangement which would be
found probably quite satisfactory as well as practicable.

14. Negapatam fishermen like those of Tranquebar and
Nagore go to some distance beyond the 100 fathom line of
soundings during summer in search of shoals of flying-fishes
and have the same custom of improvising specially large
catamarans for this particular fishery. This year (1908) an
innovation in methods was made which is most significant and
satisfactory to those who urge the need of larger boats for the
proper development and conduct of our fisheries. For the first
time on record cargo boats or lighters this summer were fitted
up as fishing boats and used in the flying-fish fishery. The
pioneer boat of the enterprise caught over 80,000 fish in one
day and this so excited the native traders of the town that
eventually twelve out of the 70 available lighters belonging to
the port (apart from the fleet owned by the Madura Company)
were engaged in the fishery. For the most part the crews
were recruited from the ranks of the port boatmen, 6 to 7 men
to each boat.

As much as Rs. 200 to Es. 300 each was taken by some of
the boats for a good day's work, the boats returning home daily.
The total quantity of fish caught must have been very great ;
one trader informed me that he himself purchased 10 lakhs of
the dried fish for shipment to Rangoon, Penang and Singapore.
It is also eaten locally and considerable quantities are de-
spatched to Tanjore. Preparation of the fish consists in it being
opened longitudinally, eviscerated, washed in sea water and
sun dried ; no salt is used.

If adverse winds be experienced the catamarans are some-
times so much delayed that the fish becomes putrid and has to
be thrown overboard. However it has to smell very badly
indeed before the men proceed to this extremity. Even if two
days old on landing, they will yet attempt to cure it ! Here
most assuredlv the services of a swift carrier attending to a
group of boats working at sea for several days together, would
be most valuable.

15. Nagore. — This town, situated on the river Vettar, is
now a considerable distance from the point where the river

43

debouches into the sea. As a haven for small craft the river is
considerably superior to that at Negapatam as the depth of
water on the bar is seldom less than 2 feet at low tide, the mean
range of springs being 2~ feet. In the north-east monsoon the
depth is greater and ships of 200 and 300 tons burden used to
enter the river at that season and undergo repairs in mud
docks. On September 29th when I visited Nagore, there was
little surf on the bar and three schooners were in the river,
ranging in size from 50 to GO tons, the crew of one busily
engaged in making ready for sea.

As the fishermen of Nagore are comparatively numerous
and as many of the Lubbais who form a preponderating section
of the population are well provided with money, the principal
elements are present to make Nagore a thriving fishery port
once the utility and profit of sea- going fishing boats be
demonstrated.

1 6. Velanganni, a large Roman Catholic fishing village,
located at the mouth of a creek some 6 miles south of Negapatam
is in quite as bad a condition as its larger neighbour. During
the hot weather there is seldom more than b" to 12 inches of
water on the bar at low tide, putting it out of count when in
competition with places such as Nagore and Thopputturai.

Thopputturai is a rising port a few miles north of Point
Calimere. Like all other harbours on this coast it lies at the
mouth of a small river differing chiefly in that it is more
suitable for boat traffic than most others. At low water there
is said to be seldom less than 2 J feet of water on the bar. A
number of dhoneys of 20 to 3l.) tons belong to this port, which
affords excellent shelter during the south-west monsoon.
Altogether it is a verv srood harbour for shallow-draft craft and
as a fishing boat centre during the south-west monsoon.

17. Point Calimere would form an excellent location for
deep-sea fishing boats. There is no harbour and no need of
one, as boats may anchor under the lee of the land to the
northward of the point during the south-west monsoon, and to
the west and south-west of it during the north-east monsoon.
If the necessity for shelter be urgent they may run for refuge
to Thopputturai harbour. Fishing boats using the neighbour-
hood of Point Calimere as their base would have the option
of two rail ports at which to land their catches, Negapatam
during the south-west monsoon and Adirampatam during the
north-east.

18. With Point Calimere my review of ports on the
catamaran coast from the Nellore district southward ceases.
We have seen that within this extent of 330 miles of coastline,

u

the number of available harbours suitable to shelter fishing
craft is very limited in the northern section and consists only of
Kistnapatam and Madras, while in the southern section we have
a very satisfactory array — Cuddalore, Porto Novo, Tirumalai-
vasal, Tranquebar, Ivaraikal, Nagore, Thopputturai and Point
Calimere, with Negapatam as an additional working centre
during fine weather. Of course the best harbour of all is
Madras, where neither surf nor shallows ever obstruct the
entrance and where shelter from even the violence of a cyclone
is afforded bv the boat basin. Next in value come Point
Calimere, Thopputturai and Negapatam worked in conjunction,
with Porto Novo and Cuddalore not greatly inferior.

I am inclined to recommend that Tranquebar be tried as the
head-quarters of the first experimental deep-sea fishing boat
during the flying-fish season which lasts from June to August
inclusive, especially as this port is the most suitable centre
for the investigation of the Tanjore chank fishery.

II. — The Dhoney Coast ; Muttupet to Tuticokin.

19. From Muttupet to Tuticorin coastal conditions alter
completely ; the dreary monotony of a straight-line coast
disappears, bays and headlands become numerous, breaking the
sea-front and furnishing shelter in varying degree to fleets of
small native craft. This section of the coast falls naturally into
two sub-sections, a northern forming roughly three sides of the
shallow sea known as Palk Straits, and a southern forming the
western boundary of the head of the Gulf of Mannar. The two
parts differ considerably. The coast line of the northern one
affords comparatively little shelter except at the northern and
southern ends, where the ports of Muttupet and Pamban are
respectively situated. The southern sub-section on the contrary
possesses some of the safest and best harbours, Madras excepted,
within the bounds of the Presidency. In great part this is due
to the protection afforded by a chain of islands which stretch
intermittently parallel with the coast from Tuticorin to Pamban,
supplemented by the shelter given against northerly winds by
the general east and west trend of the shore line. Sometimes
as at Tuticorin and Pamban the islands close in to the south to
form true harbours of refuge, equally safe whether the south-
west or the north-east monsoon be blowing ; at others as at
Kilakarai the islets approach each other sufficiently closely on
the seaward aspect as to form an effective breakwater parallel
with the shore so that vessels may approach the port either from
the eastward or the westward. Indeed from about 8 miles west
of Kilakarai right on to Pamban the chain of islands is so effective
that the passage within is recognised as a safe channel for vessels

45

plying between Kilakarai and lJamban even when the south-
west monsoon is at its worst. Pilots conversant with the
intricacies of this inner channel, as it is called, are officially
recognised but seldom employed as few vessels save local craft
pass this way at the present clay.

As a direct consequence of the excellent shelter afforded
at frequent intervals along this coast, several types of small
sea-going craft, as distinct from larger tiading craft such as
brigs, schooners, and barques, have arisen at various centres,
Muttupet, Pamban, Kilakarai and Tuticorin, each distinguished
by special features designed to meet special local conditions or
particular requirements. These in several instances require
comparatively little modification to fit them to become excellent
fishing boats for deep-sea work ; as it is they all are capable of
crossing to Ceylon and of taking part there in the pearl fisheries
of which the scene of operations may lie as far as twenty miles
distant from the fishing camp and often involves stormy experi-
ences. The boats and men from Pamban, Kilakarai and Tuticorin
form the backbone of the Ceylon fishery, while a few quaint
Muttupet craft are never awanting. Except the Kilakarai
contingent, these boats are seldom or never used for sea fishing,
but their existence is a factor of the greatest importance when
we contemplate the introduction of fishing craft designed to
fish, if need be, far from land and capable of keeping the sea
for days together. As it is, the rig and build of some of these
boats approximates wonderfully closely to what is charac-
teristic of modern Scotch herring drifters. Both use forms of
that most useful of sails, the lug — in one the lateen, in the
other the clipping lug — and were the Pamban boat to have more
beam and the Tuticorin lighter to have less heavy lines, these
boats if decked would pass muster as very serviceable fishing
boats in the waters of Northern Europe.

20. A few details of the principal havens under notice
may be useful for further reference.

MuUupel and Adirampatam are situated 20 and 30 miles
respectively westward of Point Calimere. Both are subject to
the same disabilities so that particulars of Muttupet will suffice
for both. This town lies some seven miles up the winding
river Korayar and is a large settlement of the Lubbais, who
here trade largely with Ceylon. The carrying craft are princi-
pally native schooners snd brigs of considerable tonnage, which
on account of the extreme shallowness of the sea, generally
anchor several miles from shore. The boats by which cargo
is conveyed to these vessels have long journeys to make and
have to combine the handiness of river boats with sufficient

46

stability to face monsoon winds some miles out at sea, especially
as with southerly and south-easterly winds a heavy sea sets into
the bay of Adirampatam. The combination is a difficult one to
achieve and the type of boat that has evolved is like many
compromises — a result that is far from satisfying to the critical
mind though practically it may be and probably is the best result
possible pending, say, the introduction of shallow- draft motor
lighters, which would be a boon to shipping at this port were
it not that sailing vessels the world over and in India in parti-
cular seldom appreciate that time is a synonym for money in
commerce.

The Muttupet type of fishing boat is much longer and
narrower than that of the cargo boats and is built on the lines of
a canoe, so that in calms and headwinds it may be propelled by
paddles with fair speed and a minimum of exertion. Three
masts are stepped, the fore and mizzen masts extremely short,
the main considerably longer ; the sails are small square sails
good enough for running before the wind, but not very service-
able in beating to windward ; for this, reliance is placed upon
their numerous paddles ; they are really rowing canoes of great
size fitted with masts and sails to enable them to take advantage
of favouring breezes. They offer no assistance in the problem
before us save that they serve as training schools to a consider-
able body of men who would readily adapt themselves to the
handling of fishing luggers.

Adirampatam fishing boats differ in having one mast only ;
a long balance board or outrigger projects on either side.
Plate I, figure 1 , depicts the peculiarities of this essentially
local type.

Ammapatam arid Tondi. — These ports lying on the western
coast of Palk Straits are open roadsteads ; they appear too
exposed to form suitable centres for moderate draught fishing
boats but I am unable to write definite! v as this is one short
stretch of coast line I have not yet been able to visit.

21. Pamban, with which must be included Mandapam on
the mainland, is remarkable for having produced a type of boat
running from five to fifteen tons, more nearly akin in build and
rig to North European design than anything else in India. Its
use was primarily to ferry pilgrims bound for the great shrine
of Riimeswaram across the Pamban Pass, the narrow strait
separating Mmeswaram island from the mainland. The wind
seldom serves both ways and a long series of short tacks is often
necessary — the outcome of which necessity has wrought such a
modification of the lateen sail as to give the Pamban rig a close
approximation to the handy fore and aft rig seen so highly

PLATE I.

MADRAS PISHING BOATS.

Fig. L. Aihrampatam Fishing Boats.

Fig. 2. Adirampatam Creek. Cargo Lighters in the Foreground.

[Photo. J. Hornell]

47

developed on the Norfolk coast and at the oyster centres of
Kent and Essex, where in the one case the configuration of the
banks, and in the other the necessity to beat backwards and
forwards across a limited dredging ground, require a similar
quickness and handiness in going about.

The smaller Pamban boats carry a single mast bearing a
handy lateen lug sail, the larger ones favour a small rnizzen
similarly furnished ; both iu variably possess a good jib. Both
stem and stern-post are straight, the stern always square and in
this differing from the sharp stern seen in the boats of
Tuticorin, Kilakarai, and Jaffna (Ceylon). The difference is
probably due to the necessity to keep down length in boats
having to work through such a narrow and winding channel as
Pamban Pass.

22. The dimensions of two of the smaller Pamban boats are
as follows : —

Length

Beam

Depth

Draft loaded, about ...

Tonnage

One of the larger boats, a j6 tonner, when fully laden drew
slightly over i feet on an inside depth of 5 feet. From the
low free-board allowed it is seen that they are boats intended
for work in protected waters ; it is true they often make
comparatively long voyages, they are often to be seen in
Tuticorin harbour or lying at anchor in the roadstead off
Negapatam ; they also attend the Ceylon pearl fishery in large
numbers, but such voyages are coasting trips with several
snug shelters along the route. To make these boats safe for
deep-sea fishing a considerable addition to their beam would be
necessary with some little increase in depth and better lines aft.
With these modifications such an improved Pamban boat would
be able to carry an increased spread of canvas and should
prove a useful deep-sea fishing boat. Nothing in rig requires
altering.

As a harbour of refnge Pamban or rather Mandapam is
unequalled by any port in India. During the south-west
monsoon a fishing fleet would enjoyr perfect security on the
northern side of the Mandapam promontory and of Kameswaram
island, during which time the boats would have the whole of
Palk Strait and Bay for the field of their operations, while

A.

B.

30' 5"

33' 8"

7 5"

7' 0"

2' 9"

4' 0"

2 0

3 0

5 tons

7-55/130tons

13

dr. ' . .>: Q] - . \ w &tt] 1 pl^ U wi w ork in

y shell ared - - the Qui! of Mannar
w ::':-. as] E Ka lugal Point,

A- . - rtban should prove most favour-

abl w >■ lian Railway Company has a

is ..: Mai lapam; .. h centre of Madura

is n \ ~. w bile if the 9 2 J a.m.

am Ma be fish pan be delivered at

IV \ -.: I ,ori - sent by the 1- 15

r.M. •.-. . m Ma reach Madura at 8 5 r n..

rrichinopoly junction at "< 5 \.m. and Danjore at 1-55 \.m.
v. ith ■. .. - es of - guaranteed by the work of

sea-g< - its, distribution should

be highly ; th to the enter] - g middleman and to

. Company, Liegulai supplies, . enterprise, a
sideral

23, fi ■■ -This port, a strc ghold of sea-faring

Lubbais, is well s Ibvs L*al islands which lie some five

s - awai 1 and . as a i atural brea nvater, Sailing vessels

ol air s ■' ancl town ii sa et} tl b whole year

1*. may be const a fully satisfactory haven for

its - Iraft, the great drawback being la k

. Kaninad and the railway.

Indeed the last th fa Kilakarai man is land

• sit ; shut V. bv i "... - of roads from tho neighbouring

.and towns, ho nevei thinks of going anywhere except bv

\\c h . si - splashing and diving in the shallows

an luates through tho i hank fishery to the proud day whoa

his father i us manhood by taking him as a follow

diver to a pearl fishery, But pearl fisheries unfortunately are

not annua'. - :ntions. and during the intervals the divers of

Kilakarai divide their time ' tween ehank diving and sea

g . ■'■ g, » ehanks fished bv these men lie either in Pa lie

•

Hay or to the north and north-oast of the Jaffna Peninsula, A
■ resort f shing during the south-west monsoon

is the neighbourhood of I'hanishkodi at the oast end ^i
Ram&waram island, so that what with the Ceylon pearl fishery,
the Jaffna ehank fishery, and seining on the Rdme'svi iram
coast, tho Kilakarai fisl k may justly lav claim to be

considered the most enterprising fishermen in the Presidency,
A ug thorn are numerous wealthy men of influence— the

»

chi . arl oyster mercbunl .. pearl fishery usually hails from
here, the present lessee of the Ramnad Chank fishery is one o\
thorn; th y are - : . - folk, given perhaps to an over-

fondness for the stai pagoda but the more useful on that
account it they can be persuaded of the value of deep-sea

49

fishing and of an improved arid larger type of boat for its
prosecution. The boat's at present used at Kilakarai are of a
distinctive type particularly interesting as they evidence once
more that within limits the fishing community of the East
Coast of Madras i- an enterprising and adaptative body of men ;
f believe thai up to the present day the fishermen of this part
of the country, so far as local limitations imposed by pecu-
liarities of the coa tline will permit, ha?e kept full pace with
the limes, thai is with the demands made upon them to supply
fish to the neighbouring communities ; what has checked
progr< - has been lack oi the means to ensure distribution
beyond a few miles from the ooasl The advent of railways
affording rapid transit to large inland centres of population has
suddenly changed conditions, but even yet difficulties and
inexperience in knowing how to keep fresh fish wholesome
during transit, fetters the situation. But to return to the
Kilakarai type of boat, it differs from every other in the world
as it has been evolved to rait the very special conditions
associated with the pearl and chank fisheries. The boat must
provide accommodation for a considerable number of divers
working together. Above all, as the pearl and chank fisheries
can be carried on only during the finest season of the year,
when Light wind- and dead calms are frequent, boats designed
\or this ^ailing must be readily and quickly moved from point
to point as each in turn is exhausted of .-hells. Hitherto paddles
alone have been available, hence the boats of Kilakarai are
built long and narrow to allow five divers to work on either *ide
if need be, and to facilitate frequent change of anchorage in
the search for a rich section of the bank.

The rig is of the simplest consisting of a single mast,
stepped nearly amidships, on which is set a primitive looking
cotton square sail. So long as the wind is steady and not over
violent these boats make an excellent pace; to counterbalance
their inherenl lack of stability a long balance or outrigger
board is run out amid-hip< on the weather side and weighted
with from 2 to 5 and even 6 men according to the strength of
the wind. Several times I have seen three-fourths of the crew
of one of these bouts squatting or standing on the outer end of
the outrigger board. A big lee board is always carried and is
often in requisition as the boats are built without keel. So
well adapted are- they to the speeial requirements of pearl and
chank fishing that it is unlikely the type will be readily
exchanged for another ; more likely will it be that if the merits
of another type be demonstrated for say drift netting, suc-h will
be used concurrently with and not in displacement of the older
7

50

form. At present Kilakarai and its vicinity possesses a larger
fleet of sailing boats than any other port on the East Coast of
the Presidency.

24. Tuticorin. — The excellence of this port as a haven for
small craft is too well known to require description. It is
enough to state that there is good anchorage and shelter within
the harbour for any number of boats drawing np to 6 feet.
Unfortunately the depth of water is decreasing steadily in
most parts in consequence of a process of silting which is going
on uninterruptedly and which is likely to convert Tuticorin
harbour eventually into salt flats similar to those to be seen
around Punnaikayal at the mouth of the Tambraparni.

From Tuticorin southwards to Manapad is the homeland of
the Paravars, a shore-dwelling people who make the best sailors
to be found within the bounds of the Madras Presidency ; they
are the traditional divers and boatmen of the Pescaria coast, the
men whose ancestors worked the pearl fisheries for Pandiyan
kings, for the Portuguese Crown, and for the Dutch East India
Compauy; and who to-day contribute the finest and largest
pearling boats to both the Ceylon and Tinnevelly pearl fisheries.
So, while their sea-skill in handing sailing craft in the main has
been learned in the hard school of experience, natural aptitude
for the work is in their blood, innate and transmitted from a
line of boat-sailing forefathers who have pursued the same
calling through fully 2,000 years.

25. The roadstead where steamers calling at Tuticorin must
anchor is from live to six miles from the landing and shipping
jetties and without protection from the heavy seas and boister-
ous winds of both monsoons ; the cargo to be handled is of
great bulk, next in total tonnage after that of Madras, and it
must be landed or shipped without delay whatever be the state
of the weather. These considerations have caused the evolution
of the finest type of open lighter on the coasts of India, boats
running from 15 to as much as 60 tons register. They are mas-
sively built of b inch teak, stoutly ribbed, and lined with thick
planking. Forward is a small space decked in for convenience
in heaving anchor, and being boarded off serves as a store and
occasional sleeping-place.

In build they bear a family resemblance to the fishing
luggers of the British and French coasts. The stem is straight,
the stern sharp, and the sternpost little raked. Their rig is a
single lateen sail of noble proportions carried on a very stout
mast stepped well forward. Unlike the pattamars of the West
Coast the mast has a very slight rake and what it has is aft.
A stronger and shorter mast can therefore be used and stepped

51

well forward owing to the straight cut of the stem and deep
forefoot. The latter characteristics enable these boats to beat
against the wind in a way unknown to the pattamar and similar
craft on the West Coast. No finer sight can be seen oft' our
coasts than a fleet of these boats beating out to the roadstead in
the face of a strong breeze. Heeling well over under the power
of the great lateen that billows in graceful curve below its huge
yard, these boats ride the seas in a manner that bespeaks the
weatherliness of their model, and the skill of the helmsman.

For deep-sea fishing their beam is somewhat low ; the
absence of a mizzen would be a drawback in drift net fishing but
with these points remedied and a full or halfdeek provided, I
believe such a boat, maimed as it would be by men accustomed
to the rig from boyhood, would be perhaps as serviceable,
seaworthy and speedy a fishing boat as one could desire.

26. This type of boat has never been employed locally in
sea-fishing other than pearling, indeed owing to the great
demand for lightermen at Tuticorin and the good wages paid,
there is comparatively little fishing done at Tuticorin and what
is done is largely carried on in canoes. The men are, however,
quite willing to go with the times once it be shown that it is
profitable to change their methods. Partly by reason of the
increasing demand for good fish and partly to greater inter-
course with Ceylon, the Sinhalese outrigger-canoe or Kulla is
gaining a footing in Tuticorin. Four years ago the first one to
be owned by a Tamil was brought from Ceylon ; to-day the
same owner possesses two and two others own one each, all em-
ployed in whiffing for seer {Cylium). These swift sailing boats
in the season go long distances seawards, 10, 12 and even 20
miles from land. They are probably the first outriggers worked
by Tamils, and few as their number still is, they, in common
with the utilization of sailing lighters in the pursuit of flying-
fish off Negapatam, indicate that the fisher community is
awakening to the need for better sea boats in face of the larger
demand for fish brought about by increase of spending power
among all classes and the improvement in means of transit
provided by the extension of steam communication.

In passing it is interesting to note that the demand for fresh
fish in the Tuticorin bazaar has created the beginnings of a
fish carrier trade ; it is now a regular practice to despatch swift
canoes from Tuticorin to the fleets of catamarans and canoes
fishing off Vaipar northwards and off Punnaikayal to the south-
ward to purchase fish as it is caught and hasten back with it to
Tuticorin.

62
III. — The Boat-Catamaran Coast; Punnaikayal to Cape

CoMOKIN.

27. Along the stretch of coast between Tutieorin and Cape
Comorin another change in the physical character of the shore
line occurs ; here no chain of islands lie parallel with the
coast ; in their place we meet with a number of fairly bold
headlands stretching towards the east and north-east, usually
continued a considerable distance in the latter direction by sub-
merged reefs on which the surf breaks heavily in rough weather.
These headlands provide good shelter for small craft on the
northern side during the south-west monsoon, while from the
trend of the coast and the reefs to seaward a fair amount of pro-
tection is also given during the remainder of the year. Away
from the shelter of the land, the sea is frequently a stormy one,
wilder indeed than the Madras sea for here the full force of the
south-west monsoon is felt, intensified by the swirl of wind and
current induced by the projection of (Jape Comorin into the
Indian Ocean. In consonance with this requirement to encounter
and ride over the mountainous seas often experienced the
catamaran has been perforce retained. At the same time owing
to the shelter given by headlands, the ease with which boats
may be beached without having to run the gauntlet of the cruel
surf met with on the coast of the Bay of Bengal enables the
form of the catamaran to be so modified as to become a better
carrier and fit to carry larger nets and bigger catches. The
boat-catamaran is the result.

This is a large form of catamaran composed of three logs
semi-permanently secured together by cross pieces at either end
in such manner that the side logs rise higher than the upper
surface of the centre one so as to form a longitudinal hollow
which entitles these craft to be termed boat-catamarans ; they
are enabled by this contrivauce to carry and operate larger
nets than their brethren further north who use the catamaran
properly so called.

In consequence of the greater carrying capacity of these
boat-catamarans the fishermen of the coast from Punnaikayal
to Comorin use a form of net called the Maddai valai similar in
construction to the Odam vala of the Malabar coast. It is a
form of seine possessed of a distinct family resemblance with
the tuck seine ; like the latter it is a most effective engine for
the capture of shoaling fish more particularly the sardine and
mackerel. Besides the catamaran, dug-out canoes are much in
evidence on this coast ; they are used when fine weather pre-
vails. They are employed chiefly in drift netting and line
fishing ; the Maddai valai or Odam vala appears not to be used

63

from these canoes, its use being restricted to the catamarans
The latter as well as the canoes use sails in going to and from
the fishing grounds, hut in the case of the catamarans using
the Maddai valai, which necessitates the co-operation of two
boats, it is customary for one only to carry mast and sail, the
second lashing alongside the first, one sail doing for the pair, a
neat contrivance to economise space and give more room for
nets and fish.

The principal havens on this section of our coast are as fol-
lows, taken from north to south : — Punnaikayal, Kayalpattanain,
Virapandiyanpattanam and Trichendur, Kulasekarapattanam
and Manapad, Periya and Sinna Thalai, Ovari and Kumari or
Cape Comorin.

28. 'Punnaikayal or Pinnacoil as the orthography is usually
corrupted has proud memories of the past. It was for long the
principal settlement of the Portuguese on the fishery coast,
being the centre of the pearl fishery administration in their
earlier days. It was one of the many scenes of Saint Francis
Xavier's activities ; his eloquence and energy here rendered
stable and permanent the adhesion of the Paravars to the
Roman Catholic faith given a few years before for political
reasons. Here too was reared the finest cathedral church ever
erected on this coast, the fragment which exists attesting pro-
portions nobler, and design more elegant than any church now
existing locally. The town is of comparatively recent origin ;
it did not exist at the time of Marco Polo's visit to this coast
(A.D. 1292). Then Kayal, the Palaikayal of to-day, was the
centre of the pearl trade and stood at one of the mouths of the
Tambraparni. To-day it is several miles inland, separated from
the sea by long stretches of low deltaic land intersected by
winding creeks. Prior to the advent of the Portuguese the
silting up of Kayal harbour had progressed so far that new
settlements were made on^ the actual coast line, one at what
is now known as Kayalpatnam, by the Muhammadan traders,
the other by the Paravars at Punnaikayal, at the mouth of a
branch of the Tambraparni. The Muhammadan choice was the
better, for while both places have suffered by the steady
accretion of sand on the seaward side, cargo boats of 30 and 40
tons are still able to ship cargo from the beach at Kayalpatnam,
whereas Punnaikayal is now about a mile and a half distant
from the creek entrance into which no boats larger than a canoe
can enter.

At present Punnaikayal is an extremely dirty and poor-
looking village set round about four whitewashed Roman
Catholic churches in the middle of a waste of unreclaimed

54

alluvial flats. The land is but little elevated above sea level,
so that in the flood time of the Tambraparni, water washes
through the streets of the village lapping the base of the kitchen
middens on which the huts are built, and converts the village
temporarily into several small islands. That fever follows in
the wake of the floods is of course natural. A good many of
the people migrate to Tuticorin and even Colombo, finding
work as boatmen — the Colombo pilot boats are largely manned
by Paravars from this coast — and it is a movement that
should be fostered. The principal reason for adhering to such
an unsatisfactory situation is largely explained by the fact that
a particularly rich fishing ground exists opposite the village in
the form of a deep depression or basin in the sea floor extending
eastwards for 3 miles from about 1| mile from shore and
averaging 1 mile in breadth. The bottom is fine sand and mud
and varies in depth from 7 fathoms on the west side to 18 and
20 fathoms at the extreme east, where it shoals suddenlv to
1\ and 9 fathoms rockv bottom. Over the area of this curious
depression the Punnaikayal fishing fleet works during the greater
part of the year seldom having to go further atield for their
harvest.

29. Kayalpatnam. — This harbour is very small but such as
it is, it gives good and convenient shelter in any except a
dead north-east wind. Deep water, 9 to 12 feet, is found close
to the beach ; there is usually no surf and boats of 30 and 40
tons can moor head to beach near enough to permit of cargo
being carried aboard by coolies. Constant traffic with Tuticorin
is maintained the whole year round by means of Tuticorin
lighters, the chief item of shipment being salt from a factory
on one of the creeks of the Tambraparni. The harbour is
formed by the projection of a small rocky ridge overlain with
sand at the south extremity, which, with Trichendur Point, gives
protection from the south-west and south. From the end of
the south horn of the little bay a submerged reef is continued
towards the north-east and breaks the force of the sea from
south round to east-by-south. To the northward the land
trends a little to the eastward of north, but very slightly,
hence a north-east wind blows right into the bay. With a stout
stern mooring out, native craft do not suffer as the holding
ground is good.

Scarcely any fishing is done here, the Lubbais of the place
being largely engaged in trade or employment in other towns,
more especially as boatmen, boat owners and pearl merchants,
often returning to Kayalpatnam to spend the evening of their
days.

5

K

30. Trichendur and Virapandiyanpattanam. — At the extreme
south of Trichendur bay, is the little village of the same name,
while further north and more in the bight of the bay is the
landing place for the large town of Virapandiyanpattanam.
The latter is the handier port to reach and was selected in 1900
as the pearl fishery port of that year. The bay is a repetition
in physical character but on a much larger scale of the Kayal-
pattanam harbour ; the lofty headland of Trichendur shelters
from the south, while Trichendur reef stretching 3 miles to the
north-east affords good shelter, except to the north-east, to the
anchorage of Virapandiyanpattanam, situated 2^ miles west-
south-west from the northern extremity of the reef through
which are many passages well known to local fishers and
boatmen. Fishing boats using this harbour would probably
find it advisable during the worst of the north-east monsoon to
use the anchorage off the village of Alanturai which lies to
the south-west of Trichendur Point. Little fishing is at present
carried on from Trichendur bay.

31. Manapad and Kulasekarapattanam. — These [two ports
are the counterparts of the two just described, Manapad being
a Paravar fishing town built under the shadow of the lighthouse-
crowned promontory of Manapad, while Kulasekarapattanam
is a cargo port 1~ miles northward to which small native
coasters resort.

Manapad point, which is 8 miles south of Trichendur
pagoda, is a high rocky headland jutting boldly into the sea
with a submerged reef extending from 3 to 4 miles to the north-
east of the point and another for about 1 mile to the south-east.
North of the headland there is a great extent of foul ground
over which are heavy breakers in the north-east monsoon.
Westward of this broken water lies the Kulasekarapattanam
anchorage, reached either through the wide passage south of
Trichendur point or through one or other of many small channels
leading through the breakers. During the prevalence of east
and north-east winds this anchorage is insecure and subject to
a heavy breaking swell. At such times boats using Manapad
or Kulasekarapattanam might find it advisable to land their
catches at Periyathalai, a large fishing village five miles south-
west of Manapad.

Manapad is a thriving well-kept town possessing a large
fleet of boat-catamarans and a fair number of canoes. When I
visited it on 14th October, the catamarans were landing large
catches of sardines. As a fishing centre it has the advantage
of cheap salt, a large factory being situated about 1^ miles from
the outskirts.

56

3*2. Periyathalai, Sinnathalai, Utankudi and Ovari. — These
are busy fishing villages situated in shallow indentations in the
coast line south-west of Manapad. As the coast here runs
south-west and north-east, there is good shelter during the
north-east monsoon, but during June, July and August the
heavy sea and swell which roll in from the south precludes
the possibility of deep-sea boats lying off these villages. At
such time they would have to seek shelter at Kulasekarapat-
tanam or Virapandiyanpattanam.

33. Kumari is a pretty and well-built town under the lee
of Cape Comorin. Many catamarans and canoes use it as their
port, and in the north-east monsoon the shelter it affords is
excellent.

During the months when the south-west monsoon is strong;
it has the same disadvantages as Ovari and Periyathalai and
during that season deep-sea fishing boats would either have
to be hauled up or sent to a more favoured port. Probably
the most profitable arrangement during the south-west monsoon
for Jarge boats hailing from the open ports from Manapad
southwards would be for them to shift their working base to
a northern port, Negapatam or Madras for preference.

IV. — The Canoe or Malabar Coast.

34. Taking Malabar in its wider sense to include both the
districts of Malabar and South Canara, we find complete
uniformity in the type of locally owned fishing boats employed
along the whole coast from Cochin to Mangalore. Except at
Mangalore and to the northward where large fishing boats from
Ratnagiri are to be seen, the dug-out is the only fishing craft
in use, even catamarans are absent. Two models only are used,
the one flat-bottomed, the other somewhat rounded below. The
chief differences lie in the size and the purpose for which em-
ployed. The larger, which run to 32 feet in length by 3 feet
wide and 1\ feet deep, and of 3 to 5 tons burden, are usually
used in pairs, chiefly in working the net variously called odam,
peru or nallu-vala in Malabar and maribalai in South Canara ;
the smaller, averaging about two tons burden, are employed
principally by the long liners (beppu) or the casting-net
fishermen. The larger boats usually carry seven of a crew, the
smaller three when lining, four when used in cast-net fishing.

Such uniformity in type of boat along the whole of this
coast bespeaks uniformity in physical conditions and in fishing
methods, an inference which on examination proves to be

PLATE II.

MADRAS FISHING BOATS.

Fig. 3. Tuticorin Chank-fishing Canoe-boats.

Fig. i. Boat-catamarans in Punnaikayal Harbour.

[Photo. J. IIornell.~]

PLATE III.

MADRAS PISHING BOATS.

!' ■'

•agp ,-*£t%x.^

3$f>> ~J6$JF

Fig. 5. A Group of Madpai Valai Nets drying, Punnaikayal.

Fig. 6. A Malabar Coaster making for Cochin Harbour.

[Photo. J. Hornell.']

57

correct. Along the whole coast fine weather prevails during
the north-east monsoon, not relatively fine weather as we get
inshore on the East Coast during the south-west monsoon, but
actual ;i summer seas " with gentle land and sea breezes which
carry the boats to the fishing grounds in the morning and
bring them home in the afternoon at the most convenient of
hours. More than this, the majority of the better fish found on
this coast also study the convenience of the fishermen by
coming close inshore in most years and coming not singly or
in small groups, but in huge phalanxes or shoals. Nature
calls for no special effort to be put forth on the part of the
Malabar fishermen so far as inshore fishing is concerned, hence
the dug-out being found sufficient has not been improved upon.

The canoe in this part of India has no lesson for us save to
indicate how well sheltered the whole Malabar coast is during
half the year; for this period the whole extent of the coast is
one continuous haven, when the principal value of having a
number of ports or specific landing places is that such may be
chosen at or near centres of population or convenient to railway
stations whence some part of the catches may be despatched
inland in a fresh condition. During the other half of the year
the conditions are very different ; a heavy sea rolls in upon the
shore and precludes the possibility of small vessels anchoring
near the land in safety except at a few exceptional places
favoured by the presence of phenomenal mudbanks. From
15th May to 15th September the river ports along this coast
are virtually if not actually closed, many of the buoys are
removed and some harbour lights temporarily extinguished.
Under such unfavourable conditions, even though there be
occasional lulls in the violence of the monsoon winds, it would
be, I fear, hardly worth the risk for large fishing boats to remain
in commission on this coast during the south-west monsoon.
They should, however, be able to resume operations towards the
middle or end of August, especially if they utilise the advan-
tages of the mudbanks off Alleppi, Narrakal (Cochin), Calicut
and Quilandi ; St. Mary's Isles and Mount Dilli at this season
also offer good shelter from strong north-west winds which
occasionally prevail. To men with ample local knowledge the
many river mouths along this coast would also be serviceable
a.t this period as harbours of refuge in and out of which they
could work, as do cargo boats at present at several ports,
according to the promise of the weather.

Alternatively to this laying up for several months, large
fishing boats employed on this coast during the north-east
monsoon might sail round to the Madras side for the south-west
8

58

monsoon season, making Negapatam, Porto Novo or Madras
their base as might be found most suitable.

35. The general character of West Coast ports may be
summed up in the statement that from October to May small
vessels may anchor close inshore at almost every one and that
light-draft craft built on the lines of the proposed fishing boats
may cross the bars of the principal river havens for some time
before and after high water. Naturally some ports offer greater
advantages than others ; for the sake of reference I shall now
give a brief note upon the respective advantages of those most
likely to prove useful havens if sea-going fishing boats come to
be employed in numbers.

Under present conditions Cochin, Mangalore, and Calicut
(with Beypore) enjoy a decided superiority over all others, the
two first because their river havens mav be entered at any
state of tide, the last because of the presence of an extensive
mudbank which for three years past has provided a smooth
water inshore anchorage along the sea front and given surf-free
landing for a considerable distance south of the port pier.

Of ports less highly favoured, but perfectly suitable for the
purpose in view, quite a number are available, namely, Quilandi,
Mai pi, Kundapur, Beliapatam and Mount Dilli together,
Tellicherry, Ponnani, Caiman ore, Chaughat and Mahe : the
names as arranged indicate approximately the order in which
they appear to rank as fishing-boat centres considered from tbe
point of view of safety. Between the first five there is very
little to choose, all are most excellent, each in its own way ;
the last named four are also safe havens from October to May.

36. To give a few of the more important particulars
ascertained during a recent tour along the coast regarding each
of these havens —

Cochin is the best river harbour in the whole Presidency
for the six months during which the north-east monsoon pre-
vails ; during the rest of the year the port is considered unsafe
and is closed to sailing vessels from 15th May to 15th Sep-
tember between which dates the bar buoys are removed. During
this season boats may anchor in safety in smooth water on the
mudbank about two miles north of Cochin bar. Formerly this
bank lay off TSTarrakal. a small place five miles north of Cochin ;
of late years it has shifted gradually southwards till now it lies
off Mallipuram, two miles to the south of Narrakal. At the
first burst of the monsoon considerable sea is usual on this
mudbank and on the beach eastward, but at the end of about a
week so great a quantity of excessively fine mud passes into
suspension in the water that the same effect is produced as oil

59

would have, the sea becoming perfectly smooth ami of a lake-
like stillness although beyond the limit of the bank high seas
may continue to run. The beach consists of very soft mud and
affords smooth landing during the south-west monsoon.

The Cochin bar at present has about 11 feet of water in the
shallowest place at low water of spring tides, springs rising 3
feet. A 2,000-ton steamer has entered, light, and come out
safely on 13 feet partly loaded. Depths of 6 to 7 fathoms are
found immediately within the entrance channel together with a
very large area of suitable anchorage available for boats drawing
8 feet and under. A strong current sets out during the ebb
and renders the bar dangerous to small boats when opposed by
a sea breeze.

Apart from its great natural advantages Cochin is at present
particularly well situated to become a great fishing port ; it is
within easy reach by rail of Coimbatore, the Nilgiris, and a great
inland district where the people at present never see fresh sea
fish ; the port has long had a great and well deserved reputation
for the excellence and reasonable prices of the ships turned
out by its shipwrights — an industry favoured by the neigh-
bourhood of the Cochin forests"; finally Cochin now possesses
an extensive fish-manure and fish-oil factory built by one of
the foremost British fish manure firms and equipped with the
most modern machinery adapted to the economical and rapid
treatment of the raw materials employed.

37. Chaughat, 36 miles north of Cochin, is the most
southern port in the Malabar district, for though Cochin is
within this Collectorate for administrative purposes, its geo-
graphical position links it with Cochin State and Travancore.
There is good mud anchorage off the river mouth, and small
craft are able to enter the river at high water. It is doubtful
whether fishing boats drawing 3 feet of water would be able to
use this river as a port of refuge ; in bad weather they would
probably have to run for Ponnani, 18 miles to the north or bear
down southwards for the Narrakal mudbank. Fishing is
extensively carried on at this port at present by canoes ; a
large proportion of the fish is salted, consumption in the fresh
condition being very restricted.

38. Ponnani, 18 miles north of Chaughat, is situated at
the mouth of the Ponnani river. Its physical situation is
practically the same as Chaughat with the important difference
that there is considerably greater depth of water on its bar.
Usually boats drawing 5 feet are able to enter even at low
water, there being in normal seasons 6 feet water at low tide
of ordinary springs, with 1 feet rise to high water. It is a busy

60

port with a large trade in timber, tiles and cured fish. A
number of large cargo lighters belong to the port; several
boats from 20 to 40 tons were under construction on the day
of our visit.

39. Tanur, a large town and a place; of considerable fishing
importance, affords no shelter to boats, which have to anchor
in the open roadstead abreast of the town.

40. Calicut and Beypore may be considered together,
Beypore being only 6 miles to the south of Calicut.

Some three years ago the mudbank which then lay off
Varakal, a small village about 3 miles north of Calicut, moved
down the coast till abreast of the commercial quarter of Calicut
and lias remained there since, rendering this port one of the
most convenient upon the coast. The population is large and
comparatively prosperous, making it a good centre for the local
sale of fresh fish ; ice too is procurable from a small factory
able at present to turn out 2 tons per day, so were a regular
supply of good fish to be available, such as sea-going luggers
would provide, a good opening is present for an enterprising
firm to organize a profitable inland ieed-fish trade. The outlet
for well- cured fish is also excellent, as Colombo-bound coasting
steamers call regularly at frequent intervals.

Beypore river gives excellent accommodation for laying- up
purposes ; the least water on the bar is 4 feet low water spring
tides, while the rise to high water springs is 5 feet, of neaps 4
feet ; the range of neaps is 2 feet. Within the river there is
ample anchorage, good bottom from 9 to 17 feet, low water
springs.

Both at Calicut and Beypore buggalows and large pattamars
may always be seen on the stocks ; the shipwrights here are
fully capable to build to European designs ; in November this
year, three large Arab buggalows were hove down on the open
beach near Calicut old lighthouse for repair and general overhaul
—a fact which speaks well for the excellent protection affoided
by the mudbank.

41. Varakal was formerly the landing and shipping place
for Calicut cargo in rough weather, prior to the shifting down
of the Varakal mudbank to Calicut, three years ago. It is
quite probable that the bank will move back to its old position
one of these years in which event Varakal would become a
suitable fishing boat haven.

42. Quilandi is a place of considerable size, 12 miles north
of Calicut. A mudbank similar to that at Calicut lies abreast
of the town giving excellent anchorage and an easy landing
free from surf. The coast to the north forms a shallow bay

61

bounded on the north-west by Kadalur Point, affording shelter
from the north-west winds which frequently blow with violence
from February to Ma}'. Sacrifice rock, the centre of a noted
ashing ground in this district, lies 10 miles west-north-west.

43. Badagara, an important fishing and trade centre 12
miles north of Quilandi, offers no special shelter to sailing craft ;
the anchorage is an open roadstead, good mud holding ground.
In stormy weather boats might run either for Quilandi or for
Tellicherrv, 10 miles northward.

44. Make river, 7 miles north of Badagara, has a narrow
entrance much impeded by rocks ; the bar is considered
dangerous except in fine weather ; at high water vessels drawing
5 and even 6 feet are able to pass in. Several buggalows were
at anchor within the river in November 1908. The port is
closed during the south-west monsoon.

45. Tellieherry, 4 miles nortli-wrest of Mane, already a very
busy fishing centre, offers good shelter to small craft in the
fine season, the inshore anchorage rendered smooth bv the
presence of a small mud-bank and with additional protection
from north-west winds by a natural breakwater of rocky reefs
and islets stretching south-west from the northern extremity of
the port. One of the busiest and best conducted fish-curing
yards in Malabar is situated here, enormous quantities of
sardines, mackerel, catfish and sharks being cured, largely for
export to Ceylon by the coasting steamers of the British India
and Asiatic Steam Navigation Companies. A mile and a half
north-west of the port, the mouth of the Anjerkandi river offers
facilities for small craft to lay up in bad weather or for repairs.
It is regularly so used by the cargo lighters serving this port.

46. Cannanore. — Good anchorage for small vessels is found
close inshore in the bight of the bay south of the fort and
military ground. It has the advantage of being sheltered from
the north-west as well as the north and north-east directions ;
landing is usually easy ; a long sw7ell is very characteristic of
this anchorage in certain seasons, especially if there be westerly
or southerly winds; in November 1908 we experienced this
most markedly on the two occasions w^e were anchored there
in the S.S. " Margarita " ; in both instances the swell was
considerably greater and more pronounced within the bay than
outside and it continued for hours after the land breeze began
with the consequence that laying to the wind we were almost
broadside to the swell, rolling abominably. The port is
practically closed from the beginning of June to the end of
August, being fully open to the south-west.

62

47. Mount Dilli and Beliapatam river. — Mount Dilli, the
boldest headland on this coast, lies 12 miles north of Cannanore.
It forms a conspicuous landmark, visible from a distance of 25
miles in clear weather, but " in the hazy weather of March to
April scarcely 15 miles." In the bay to the south-east small
vessels find convenient shelter during the north-east monsoon,
especially against north-west winds which frequently prevail
off this cape from February until May, and which are accom-
panied by a short confused sea.

The Beliapatam river enters the sea midway between
Cannanore and Mount Dilli. It is an important inland water-
way navigable for large boats the whole year round for some
distance from the sea. In conjunction with the bay under the
lee of Mount Dilli this river port would form a useful fishing
and distributing centre. Indeed it has already been so used,
as some Ratnagiri boats which until a few years ago were
brought down the coast by a Cannanore fish contractor made
this place their base. The anchorage is not so cramped as at
Cannanore, there is less swell and the river mouth is handy in
the event of rough weather coming on.

Mount Dilli may be said to mark the northern limit of
Malabar, and the southern of South Canara.

48. South Canara. — The 52-miles stretch of coast line
between Mount Dilli and Mangalore is uniformly low and sandy
with no headlands to give shelter and intersected by but few
rivers and those in all cases so shallow as to be available onlv
for small boats. Of these rivers Kavai immediately north of
Mount Dilli is the best ; Kassergod river estuary and Cumla
creek are the only others of importance and in both cases the
position of the bar and the depth of the water over it, are so
variable that it would be misleading to give any figures. This
is of little importance however in view of the proximity of the
first-class port of Mangalore.

49. Mangalore, the chief town of the South Canara district,
possesses a river port having at present not less than 9 feet of
water at low water of spring tides on its bar ; ordinary springs
rise 7 feet, neaps 5 feet. In November 1908 the S.S-
" Margarita " drawing 7 feet 8 inches had no difficulty in
entering and leaving at any state of the tide except that in
leaving at low tide, turning room was at times greatly restricted
by the awkward anchorage taken up by several native craft.
The anchorage opposite the lighthouse carries from 10 to J 4
feet at low water springs and there is a large area available with
soundings fit »m 4 to 6 feet at the same state of the tide,
suitable for fishing boats.

63

This port is a favourite with the Ratnagiri and Rajapur
fishermen, who bring their boats here regularly under contract
with the local fish merchants, staying from October till March.
The boats they use are of three sizes, but all are intended for
deep sea drift netting. From October to the end of December,
the two smaller sizes are employed, leaving harbour usually at
2 to 8 p.m. and returning the next day between 10 a.m. and
noon. The drift net used at this season is the vowri-balai,
having a mesh of 4| inches and made in pieces measuring 20
to 27 fathoms each. Usually 40 of these pieces are attached
together to form a fleet of nets. Principally bonito, small seer
and shark are taken in these nets.

About the end of the year the smaller Ratnagiri boats
return home being replaced early in January by larger boats
with big-meshed drift nets used in deep water almost ex-
clusively for large sharks and rays. These Ratnagiri boats
are excellently built, very broad in the beam, handsome in the
lines, and carry a great press of sail. As onr home boats do,
these also lower the mast — they carry but one — upon a crutch
when riding to their nets. The shark drifters usually stay
out about three days ; occasionally as long as seven. In the
latter instances their catches are landed in very bad condition,
often crawling with maggots, the quantity of salt taken to
sea being inadequate to preserve the fish satisfactorily. The
large boats are said to cease work about the end of March or
beginning of April.

The two larger boat types used by these men from the
north are lateen rigged and are true boats, reminding one
much of the general design of Danish and Nordland open
fishing boats. In both there is the curved and overhanging
stem, the sharp stern and raked stern post ; both are low in
the waist, and with comparatively low freeboard, in both a
wash-strake is fitted whenTieavily laden, and both depend on a
single mast and single sail.

The smallest of the three Ratnagiri types in some respects
is the most interesting as it is, I believe, the highest develop-
ment of outrigged canoe. The basis, in common with the
Ceylon form, is a dug-out canoe, but on this has been raised
not perpendicular sides less than 18 inches apart as in the
Sinhalese model, but a series of strakes flaring outwards
considerably and producing a fairly roomy boat capable of
carrying a fleet of nets about half the length of that used by
the smaller of the two larger boats. The outrigger is boomed
out in the usual maimer, and the boat carries a sail of the same
type as her larger sisters.

64

50. Mulki, a fishing centre about 12 miles north of
Mangalore. The river entrance dries nearly across at low
water springs, but lias 6 to 7 feet on the bar at high
water.

51. Mcdjji an<l St. Mar if s Isles. — Malpe is a flourishing
fishing centre at the mouth of the Malpe river, well protected
to the westward by the chain of St. Mary's Isles, three in
number. The channel between these islands and the mainland
is about a quarter of a mile wide with depths of 6 to 12 feet at
low water. During north-west winds, small sailing boats find
shelter under the lee of Deria Bahadur Grhur, the middle and
highest of the islands. The Malpe fish-curing yard when first
opened was located on the island named ; later it was trans-
ferred to Malpe. The Ratnagiri boats working from here do
not usually enter the river; they land their catches on the
beach abreast of the village and when they lay up for a day to
clean up and oil their boat and nets, they move over into the
lee of Deria Bahadur Ghur. Malpe river offers good shelter
also, the bar although shallow being so well protected that the
sea does not usually break thereon. We crossed it several
times at the end of November, finding the least depth to be 4
feet. At low water ordinary springs there are sometimes
places with but 2 feet water, but as springs rise 8 feet and
neaps 6 feet, there is ample water at certain states of the tide
for pattamars and batelas to enter. Quite a number were
within the river at the time of our visit.

52. A very large shore seine called the Rampini or
Rampan net was introduced here from Goa some years ago.
At the present time there are quite six of these nets in use
here each owned co-operatively by as many as 45 shareholders,
who contribute both in labour and in material. A large out-
rigger boat is used to load this hii2;e net said to measure over
a mile in length. The condition of the fishermen appears to
be good ; the introduction of this Rampini net admittedly has
done much to improve it, for though the cost of a net is com-
paratively high, Rs. 1,500 to Rs. 2,000, huge catches are made
when shoals appear in the bay. One net which we saw hauled
ashore produced 4 tons of sardines alone, and we heard of
another haul the same day that vieided 10 tons. These were
being dried on the beach for manure. Besides sardines,
mackerel [Scomber microlepidotus) was being taken in large
quantities at the same time ; the fish-curing yard was full of
them, and the Sub-Inspector informed us that close on 3,000
maunds (= 110 tons) had been brought to the yard the day
previously, all caught by means of this Rampini net.

65

53. Kundapur river, 18 miles north of Malpe, is the last
port in South Canara. It makes a good fishing station, as the
river has a depth of 10 feet at high water of spring tides, with
about 2 feet at low tide.

54. Table of the mean range of ordinary spring tides at
ports in the Madras Presidency :

West Coast. [ Hast Coast.

Moan range

Mean ran

in feet.

in feet.

Malpe and St. Mary's

Tuticorin

3-2

Isles ' 8-0

Pamban ...

2-6

Mangalore ... 7"0

Atnmapatnam

1-25

Cannanore . . . 4*5

Negapatam

2-6

Tellicherry ... 45

Madras . . .

3-5

Calicut and Beypore 4-l

Cocanada

50

Chetlat and Kiltan

Vizagapatam

51

(Laccadivos) ... 7"0

Allepi ... ... o'O

Quilon ... ... 2-8

V. — General Conclusions.

55. From a study of the details given above, several facts
of outstanding importance emerge ; we see that the differing
conditions of weather and physical characteristics met with on
different sections of the coast and sometimes even at ports on
the same part of the coast have in the past necessitated the
employment of fishing craft and cargo lighters of several
different and distinct types to conform with special local require-
ments, a fact to which we must give full weight when deciding
upon the design and rig of any experimental deep-sea fishing
boat to be introduced at special ports ; we see that although
the West Coast of this Presidency, with an extent of coast line
one-fourth of the extent of that on the East Coast, produces
according to Sir F. A. Nicholson's computation thrice the
weight of fish taken on the other, the fishing season there is
restricted in large measure to the fine weather season of the
north-east monsoon ; lastly, we have to note the success of deep-
sea fishing wherever an attempt has been made to tvork it with
large or specially designed boats, by the fine Ratnagiri boats drift
netting off the Canarese coast, the seer lining off Tuticorin,
and the flying-fish fishery of! Negapatam and Tranquebar ; we
have noted further that, with the exceptions named, the
fishing craft of the Presidency are wholly unsuited by reason
either of smallness and lack of shelter, combined in the case of
the Malabar canoe with inability to face even moderately rough
weather, to make prolonged trips to sea and to carry nets of
9

66

the large dimensions required to make deep-sea fishing a
succass. This last matter has already been dealt with very
fully by Sir F. A. Nicholson in his several reports on the
Madras Fisheries and may now, I think, be taken as granted.

56. The selection of fishing centres and the necessity for
separate classes of fishing ports, — The catamaran having con-
quered the surf, special fishing ports or havens have not been
requisite hitherto in the districts where this type of craft is
in use ; wherever a sandy beach is found the catamaran may
be used, hence in the neighbourhood of populous centres the
whole coast line for miles together is used indifferently by the
catamaran men. On the East Coast where fishing is confined
very largely to a fair weather season when landing is easy
almost anywhere, the same result is seen ; fishing hamlets dot
the coast irrespective of any consideration for the superior
shelter to be had within neighbouring river mouths, indeed the
open beach has quite a superior attraction in the eyes of fisher-
men as its use enables them to reach the fishing grounds more
quickly than if they had to come from out a river mouth.

07. The case of sea-going boats is wholly different. Of
necessity they must be of such a build and depth as preclude
them from being hauled up daily upon a beach, and, with the
exception of the West Coast during the fine season, it would
not be advisable to anchor them off the open beach (except at
Point Calimere) unless there be a safe haven within easy reach
in the event of a sudden outset of stormv weather. Even this
would entail risk in manv localities and would necessitate one
or more of the crew remaining aboard at all times. We
may expect therefore that if any considerable number of boats
eventually take up work on our coasts, the same process of
local centralization will take place here as has taken place in
Britain as the village cobble gave place to the smack and the
latter in turn to the steam trawler and steam drifter, till at the
present day the fishing craft belonging to half a dozen ports
monopolize between them three-fourths of the entire fish trade
of England and Scotland.

58. Apart from the matter of safety, the selection of
special fishing centres is desirable in fishing interests as only
by so doing can outside capital be attracted and the industry
placed on a sufficiently wide basis. Catamaran and canoe
fishermen may be likened to retail traders ; large fishing craft
must be handled on broader lines and made to conform to
commercial ideas of wholesale trading. To be profitable the
catches of sea-going fishing boats must be large and they must

67

be landed at centres where there exist special facilities either
for curing or for disposal in the fresh condition. For the
former the proximity of a salt factory whence salt may be
obtained without incurring heavy transit charges and of a
conveniently situated fish -curing yard are the main desiderata ;
for the latter the most suitable centres will be such as will
possess a large population, or offer special rail facilities for the
transport of fish inland ; the presence of an ice factory at any
rail port will be an attraction of no mean weight.

59. In a survey of the East Coast from a point 100 miles
north of Madras (I have not been able as yet to visit the
maritime districts beyond the Penneru river) the most suitable
centre whence a fleet of sea-going fishing boats may work is
undoubtedly Madras. It fulfils every requisite condition — a
harbour offering in the new boat basin absolute protection
even against cyclones, a population aggregating over half a
million, an excellent train service, and the largest ice factories
in South India.

60. North of Palk Straits, Negapatam probably offers
advantages which would rank it next after Madras, principally
because the fishing grounds off Negapatam and Point Calimere
and extending thence towards the north of Ceylon are particu-
larly rich both in surface and in bottom fish and because the
railway from Negapatam gives rapid access to the rich Tan j ore
and Trichinopoly districts, these towns being reached in 2|
and 4 hours respectively from Negapatam.

Cuddalore and Porto Novo are also promising centres ;
they are fairly good havens and both well served by the
railway.

61. Boats fishing from the above-named ports presumably
would dispose of the bulk of their catches in the fresh condi-
tion ; for those relying more upon curing as an outlet for their
catches, Tranquebar and Kistnapatam are the most likely ports,
the special reason being that a salt factory is situated within
a short distance from the landing place in each instance.
Cheap transit by water is available at both ports, at Kistna-
patam by means of the Buckingham canal, at Tranquebar
by native coasters.

62. Of the numerous ports available south of Palk Straits.
Tuticorin is probably the best favoured ; its harbour is safe
and open the whole year round, it is a rail terminus, is
situated conveniently to a salt factory, possesses an enterpris-
ing population, keen traders, and the best of boatmen, and
maintains steamer connection with all parts of the world.

68

Pamban, Kilakarai and one of the ports near Manapad rank
next, their relative value to be gauged only after practical
experience has been gained.

63. Rounding Cape Comorin to make a choice of fishing
centres, we are confronted with the fact that excellent as are
so many of the ports on the Malabar and Canarese coasts, the
fishing season there is limited to the fair weather period from
October to May inclusive. During the rest of the year the
fishing fleet must either lay up or follow the good weather to
the East Coast.

64. Apart from this consideration, the most suitable fishing
centres arranged in the order of probable importance, due
regard being given to the conveniences at present available for
rapid and profitable disposal of the catches both in the fresh and
cured conditions, are : — Calicut, Mangalore, Cochin, Telli-
cherry, Cannanore, Ponnani and Malpe. The first four indeed
appear practically on a par with one another, Calicut's special
advantages being the location there of a small ice factory and
the shorter railway journey thence inland. Apart from these
advantages Mangalore has particular claims as it is already
used as a deep-sea fishing centre by the Ratnagiri boats and has
the largest dried fish export of any town on the west coast.
Further, Mangalore is the nearest port to that immense ocean
shoal, the Bassas de Pedro or Munyal Par which extends 70
miles from north to south and is 10 to 15 miles in breadth.
Judging by analogous conditions the bottom, which consists of
sand, shells and coral at a depth of 22 to 28 fathoms, appears
particularly well suited to be the resort of very great quantities
of valuable bottom fish. This great bank is virgin fishing
ground as it lies a full 100 miles from the nearest land and
cannot be exploited save by boats able not only to keep the
sea for a fortnight but if need be to face severe weather with
confidence-

The Sesostris bank, another promising ocean bank lying 15
miles westward of the Bassas de Pedro, also awaits the advent
of large sea-going fishing boats working out of Mangalore
harbour.

65. Types of boats. — The design of the sea-going fishing
boats suitable to work from the various harbours enumerated
above will be subject to considerable variation dependent upon
(a) the particular fishery on which employed, lining, drift-
netting or trawliDg, (5) upon the character of the harbour or
coast where employed, and (c) lastly upon the length of the
trips to be made and whether the catches are to be brought
ashore fresh, alive or more or less partially cured.

69

66. Working out of deep water harbours, boats such as the
latest designs of Scotch herring boats, are indicated as most
suitable for lining and drift-netting ; decked boats of this type
should hold their own in any weather commonly encountered off
Indian coasts and quite suitable to make the long journey from
Mangalore to the ocean banks north of the Laccadives.
Whether the local lateen sail, serviceable, simple, and immensely
powerful, should be retained, or whether it may be replaced by
the handier British lug and mizzen can only be decided by
experience ; it should be the aim of any working experiment in
deep-sea fishing to settle this point by specific trial, either by
working competitively two boats rigged in the two fashions
or by trying one boat first under the one rig and then under
the other, under the same conditions and for a period of several
weeks at each trial. The big lateen has the initial advantage
of being already thoroughly understood, excellently handled by
the men of these coasts particularly by the boatmen of Tuti-
corin and Pamban and by the Bombay men who man the
Ratnagiri fishing boats and the fleets of pattamar coasters seen
in such numbers along the west coast during the north-east
monsoon ; as developed in the Tuticorin cargo boats this sail
gives wonderful speed in the light winds so characteristic of
our seas.

European boats, especially those of Great Britain and
France, are built and rigged to withstand Atlantic gales,
perhaps the worst weather to be met with anywhere in the
world ; and, as their fair weather winds are generally stronger
than our ordinary winds, the sail area carried by a Scotch
fishing lugger is very considerably less than Indian coasters of
the same size habitually carry. For example in a design of a
typical fishing lugger as used in British waters, the sail area
works out at 900 square feet in a 40-foot boat, whereas an
Indian designer gives 1,500 square feet sail area to a 50-foot
boat.

67. No restriction as to depth and draft of water need be
placed on fishing boats using the harbours of Madras, Mangalore,
Cochin and Pamban. Those usiDg most of the other harbours
in the first instance and till we have further experience, should
be restricted to a maximum of 5 feet draft when loaded. For
harbours with specially shallow entrances and those such as
Kistnapatam where considerable surf breaks on the bar, decked
boats of an improved Ratnagiri type, shallow, of great beam
(more than 1 in 3 of the length), and with both stem and stern
well sheered, should prove the most suitable.

68. The next step will be to translate these deductions into
practice and to learn from every -day working experience carried

70

on for several seasons, what the extent of deep-sea fishing
actualities are and what the limitations. As the first step
towards this I would recommend the building of two fishing
luggers each of 15 tons register, one to be built and rigged to
the design of a herring drifter already obtained from Messrs.
John Tyrrell & Sons, Arklow, through the courtesy of the
Rev. W. S. Green, c.b., Department of Agriculture and
Fisheries, Ireland, the other to be built on the lines of a Tuti-
corin cargo boat, modified in certain particulars such as increas-
ing the beam, giving either a full or a half deck, and the
addition of a small mizzen as a help in steering and lying to
the wind when riding to drift nets.

Ennore.
Ust December 1908.

REPORT

ON

THE RESULTS OF A FISHERY CRUISE ALONG

THE MALABAR COAST AND TO THE

LACCADIVE ISLANDS IN 1908,

BY

JAMES HORNELL, f.l.s.,

Marine Assistant to the Honorary Director,
Madras Fisheries.

[With 27 photographs and text-figures.]

A fishery investigation cruise in the Government steamer
" Margarita" was arranged towards the end of 1908 by Sir
F. A. Nicholson, Honorary Director of the Madras Fisheries,
with a view to collect such reliable data, by direct enquiry
and experiment upon fishery problems on the West Coast of
this Presidency, as would determine the most suitable lines
on which practical development and the more detailed investi-
gation of important problems should be conducted. Among
the principal questions with which this investigatory cruise
was to deal and to endeavour to elucidate were the following,
namely : —

(a) The suitability or otherwise of west coast fishing
grounds for steam-trawling.

(b) To what extent and on what lines are the industries
of drift- netting and long-lining capable of development and
extension.

(c) The determining influences which control the migra-
tions of sardinesaud mackerel, entailing an inshore superabund-
ance in some years, a more or less complete dearth in others.

(d) An enquiry into the vertical and horizontal distribu-
tion of the microscopical organisms (plankton) which constitute
the food supply of the smaller food-fishes.

(e) Observations at sea upon the principal methods of
fishing pursued on the Malabar and Canarese coasts, with a
view to introduce improvements both in boats and equipment and
to determine if any appliances elsewhere in use are suitable
and appropriate for introduction.

(/) An enquiry as to what ports on the West Coast are
most suitable to serve as fishery centres in the event of deep-sea
fishing being developed.

72

(g) The present condition of fishing industries in the
Laceadive Islands and the potentialities which exist for the
development of the marine resources of these islands.

Besides these primary lines of enquiry whatever opportunities
offered for investigation of the food and parasites of fishes, and
of the general marine fauna of the districts visited, were to be
availed of so far as time would permit.

2. The working period of the cruise extended from 24th
October to 10th December 1908, a period of seven weeks.
Daring this time the coast from Pound ni in the south to Malpe
in the north was fully examined, the neighbourhood of Cochin
was also tested by the trawl, and eight days were devoted to a
visit to four islands in the Laceadive Archipelago.

A summary of the principal observations made, with such
practical deductions as appear pertinent to the improvement
and development of fishing industries, will now be given under
separate headings.

A. — The suitability or othenvise of West Coast fishing
ground* for s team - trawling.

3. I had purposed to give a detailed account and analysis
of every trawl-haul made, but on going over the great mass of
detail in my note-books it seems preferable to confine attention
to the facts of main fishery importance and to hold over records
of rare fishes and the like to the more appropriate occasion of
a purely faunistic report.

In all, fifty-two hauls were made varying from half an hour
to three hours in duration ; the majority were daylight hauls,
but a number were made at night ; the latter gave no better
results than the former.

4. A small 1 5-foot beam -trawl was employed principally ;
during the last fortnight of work a yacht's 42-foot otter-trawl
was also used. It would have been preferable to have had
larger gear iu the case of the beam-trawl or heavier in the
case of the otter ; unfortunately the steamer at our disposal is
iil-adapted to this form of fishing and without a costly refit, it
was impossible to employ apparatus of greater power.

5. The evidence furnished by the investigation as a whole
is most distinctly adverse to any prospect of the develop-
ment of West Coast fisheries by means of steam -trawling within
the 30-fathom line, a conclusion I was prepared for from a
careful studv of the charts of the area to be examined. With
a few unimportant exceptions the bottom from about a mile
from shore out to 30 fathoms, from Ponnani northwards to

73

Mangalore, is composed of a soft dark grey mud with small dead
shells, chiefly bivalves, more or less sparsely distributed through
it. As a rule the sedentary fauna of this area outside of the
10 -fathom line is extremely scanty consisting principally of small
lamellibranchs {Tellina, Area, etc.), some Denialium and small
gastropods with occasional hauls of large and beautiful Rostellana
and Turritella. Apart from these the fauna is sparse and
inconspicuous, while algae are of course entirely absent ; to
describe the bottom in the parlance of the dredgerman, there is
cc no feed on the ground," that is to say, such a poverty of life
exists on the bottom that there is little attraction there for
bottom-feeding fishes. These adverse conditions and their
bearing on the number of bottom fishes in the neighbourhood
are shown in the following details of typical hauls made at
several different centres between Ponnani and Malpe ; the
particulars are taken almost verbatim from field notes made at
the time the trawl was hauled.

6. Haul 2, 23rd October 1908. Shot-trawl 10-40 a.m. in
15 fathoms, Narrakal bearing S. 86° E. Course N. by W.
Hauled at 11-30 a.m. in 14 fathoms. Bottom all the way soft
dark grey mud with a few small dead shells. Result : —
1 scorpion fish (Pterois russeUi), two small cuttlefish [Sepia).,
one small flat-fish (Pseudorhomhus arsius) and a few small
gastropod shells.

7. Haul 3, 26th October. Shot-trawl 8 a.m. in 7 fathoms,
Calicut lighthouse bearing N. 81° E., 3J miles, course west ;
hauled trawl at 8-50 a.m. in J3| fathoms ; bottom soft mud all
the way with shells of a small hairy Area and a pink Tellina.
Result: — 19 small fishes, mostly Pristipoma guoraka, a common
species distinguished in Malayalam by the onomatopoeic name
of KorrukuruppM, because of the loud croaking noise it makes
when taken out of the water. None of these fishes were over
5 inches long. Current running north.

8. Haul 8, Gth November. From 10 into 12 fathoms,
south-west of Calicut, 5 to 6 miles from land. Bottom, dark
grey mud. Result : — Two adult Psettode.# immei, a stoutly
built flat-fish, four young soles, 2 to 6 inches long, five small
Drepane punctata* one silver pomfret, 23 small round fish
of six species and one Ray (Pteroplatea micrara), 24 inches
across disc. Also 14 prawns averaging 7 inches long and two
cuttlefish (Sepia).

9. Haul 5, 6th November. Eight fathoms north-west of
Beypore; bottom dark grey mud with dead shells of small Area

10

74

and Tellina. Trawl one hour down. Results : — One Kay
{Pteroplatea micrura), two silver pomfrets, one Drepane
punctata and 20 mixed small round fish, also one cuttlefish.

10. Hauls 11 and 12, 9th November. Along 10-fathom
line between Tellickerry and Cannanore ; 4 J miles from land;
bottom dark coloured mud with occasional dead shells. One
hour haul in each case. Results : — Both hauls blank.

11. Haul 16, 10th November. 10 to 15 fathoms west-
south-west of Cannanore ; course west; bottom mud. Duration
of haul, 1J- hours. Result : — Blank.

Haul 17. Going west from haul No. 16. 15 into 17
fathoms ; bottom mud. Duration of haul, one hour. Result ; —
A blank haul.

Haul 18, 10th November. 25 to 27 fathoms ; south-west
of Cannanore, 14 miles from land; bottom, a sandy mud with
a good many broken small shells and some polychaete tubes
of mud agglutinated with mucus. Pishes caught : — Two large
plaice-like flat-fish (Psettodes irumeh), 17 and 12^ inches long
respectively, one Saurida tiimbil (nearly related to the " Bombay
duck "), and two Synagris sp., 7 and 8 inches long. Trawl out
one hour.

12. Haul 25, 12th November. 27 fathoms, due west of
Cannanore. Bottom, dark grey mud with small dead shells in
fair quantity, several species of small mud-dwelling polychaetes.
Trawl out 15 minutes. Result : — two large Psettodes irumei
(flat-fish), and one small Serranus fasciatus, a vertebra from a
large whale, and several shells of Murex: Rosiellaria and
Xenophora, the last with numbers of other shells cemented to
its whorls symmetrically. A number of that interesting fish
Bregmaceros macelellandi: measuring 2 inches and under, were
also taken.

13. Haul 34, 17th November. 13 fathoms south-west by
south off Mangalore. Trawl down one hour ; bottom, dark
grey mud. Result : — a few round fishes of 4 to 6 inches long.

14. Haul 36, 20th November. Midway between Primeira
Rocks and Caup Lighthouse. Depth 6 fathoms. Trawl down
one hour 20 minutes. Bottom dark grey soft mud with dead
shells. Result : — three small fish ; five cuttlefish (Sepia).

15. Haul 46, 6th December. South-west of Ponnani, 14
to 15 fathoms. Trawl down 1J hours. Bottom, dark grey
mud. Result : — A few mixed small fish including ribbon fish
(Trichiurus), Equula^ Pristipoma^ and one Psettodes.

75

16. The above hauls are characteristic of the results obtained
everywhere from mud bottom at depths of 6 to 30 fathoms
along the Malabar Coast. In the shallower parts of this area
we are on the fringe of the inshore feeding grounds of a number
of species of small round fishes, while the hauls made in the
deeper water usually gave signs of the presence of the plaice-
like Psettodes irumei, a predaceous flat-fish which appears to be
the only important bottom fish on muddy bottom in the area
under notice.

17. The results obtained by trawling in the zones which
bound the 10 to 30 fathom region both on the landward and
seaward sides were frequently much richer, a consequence of
the richer and more varied fauna of the bottom in both regions.
Inshore, especially in the neighbourhood of river mouths, the
bottom contains a varying admixture of sand ; rocky patches,
giving foothold and hiding to sedentary organisms, worms, and
Crustacea, are occasionally met with, while retarded inshore
currents and the eddies formed by the projection of headlands
provide conditions favourable to the concentration of swarms of
neritic (inshore) plankton, especially of the smaller crustaceans
as amphipods, copepods, ostracods and schizopods, which con-
stitute in turn the lure directly for young and small fishes and
indirectly for large species. In the vicinity of river mouths
and in bays under the shadow of rocky headlands our trawl
results showed rays and flat-fishes (Pleuronectids) to be thickly
congregated, as far example off the mouths of the Beypore,
Beliapatam and Mangalore rivers. Typical hauls made in
these places, i.e., off river mouths and in indentations of the
coast, are the following : —

18. Haul 6, 6th November. In 7 fathoms west of Beypore
river, mud bottom. Trawl down 50 minutes. Eesults : —
A fine show of nine good sized Bay-fish [Pteroplatea micrura)
and half a bucketful of round fish and prawns. The round
fishes included two species of catfish.

19. Haul 10, 9th November. In 6 fathoms. Off the
mouth of Darmapatam river, near Tellicherry. Haul between
8 to 9 a.m. ; bottom mud. Catch : — Two large Kay- fish
(Pteroplatea micrura), five good sized Drepane punctata, one
black pomfret, 18 mixed round fish and a handful of prawns.

20. Haul 13, 9th November. Five fathoms south-west of
Cannanore ; bottom mud. Haul down from noon to 1 p.m.
Catch: — 7 Psettodes irumei, three large Kay-fish (one Aetobatis
narinari and two Pteroplatea micrura) and 40 mixed round
fishes. The Psettodes, dark coloured plaice-like flat-fish, were

76

of excellent size, none under 11 inches in length, while two
were 16 inches long. In three instances these fishes had soles
(Gynoglossus sp.) of 5 to 5^ inches in length, in their stomachs.

A tow-netting made at this station showed the plankton to
be excessively rich in copspods, and to contain a large number
of fish eggs.

21. Haul 14, 9th November. 5 to 4| fathoms. South-west
of Cannanore, course south-east from previous haul ; bottom
mud; duration of haul, one hour. Catch: — One large ray,
two adult Pseltodes, one 17-inch sole (Gynoglossus), three
cuttlefish, and a considerable quantity of small round fishes.

22. Haul 19, 11-th November. i\ to 5 fathoms. West of
Cannanore. Bottom mud. Catch : — A fine ray, 3 feet across
disc, a 13 inch sole, a quantity of crabs and large prawns, 5 to
6 inches long, and the usual show of small mixed fishes. The
plankton at this station comprised a vast abundance of water-
fleas (Daphniae) ; while Eupliausia (a tiny shrimp) and fish eggs
were present in large numbers.

23. Haul 20, 11th November. 5 to 4 fathoms. 2| to 4
miles north of Cannanore lighthouse ; one hour haul ; bottom
mud. Catch : — Two hammer-head sharks, two large dog-fish,
four large soles ]5 to 16 inches long, with a bucketful of
small mixed fish including three species of catfish. A vast
abundance of water- fleas also characterised the plankton at this
station.

24. Haul 22, 11th November. In 5 fathoms. South of
Mount Dilly and adjacent to the mouth of Beliapatam river.
Half hour haul. The catch was excellent consisting principally
of large soles (Gynoglossus sp.) with a quantity of mixed round
fish and prawns. The number taken is not known, as the
majority escaped as the net was being hauled ; the fish had not
had time to work down into the pockets.

25. Haul 23, 11th November. East of Beliapatam river
mouth. 4 to 5 fathoms ; bottom, mud. One hour haul.
Current running north. Catch like that of haul 22 but richer,
as we got 19 soles (Gynoglossus sp.) of 14 to 17 inches in
length, two large rays (Trygon bleekeri), and a small lot of
mixed round fish and prawns. The average weight of the soles
was over half a pound.

26. Haul 29, 16th November. 8 to 10 fathoms. North-
west of Mangalore river mouth. Bottom, soft dark grey mud
with abundance of dead shells of small bivalves and gastropods
including Dentalium in quantity ; the tests of small sea-urchins

77

numerous ; water discoloured. Duration of haul one hour 20
minutes. The catch amounted to a total weight of 55 lbs. made
up as follows : —

LBS.

Cuttlefish ( Septa) ... ... ... .,. 14

First-class fish (chiefly flat-fish and pomfret) ... 16

Second-class fish ... ... ... ... ... 25

55

27. Haul 30, 17th November. 5^ to 5J fathoms, begin-
ning from two miles south-west of Maugalore river, thence
going southwards. Plankton abundant. Enormous shoals of
sardines present. Bottom, sandy mud ; water discoloured with
sediment ; strong ebb tide from river mouth. Duration of haul
three-fourth hour. The catch amounted to 68 lbs. ; weight
made up of flat-fish (Psettodes) 4^ lbs. ; small round fish 12 lbs.;
three rays and two dogfish 51^ lbs. ; total 68 lbs. The rays
were P. ?nicrura, while the dogfish were the highly esteemed
Chiloscyllium indicum.

28. All these hauls gave an encouraging show of fish
especially when we bear in mind that the size of the trawl was
extremely small and that a trawling smack, to say nothing of a
steam trawler, would use a beam at least twice as long, thereby
more than doubling the potential catching power, because
when using a small trawl such as ours, the chances of a fish
escaping when disturbed by the ground rope are greater than
with a wider mouthed net ; in the one case if a fish dart
sideways, say S feet, it may pass clear of the net, whereas in
the case of a larger net, the same startled flurry would not
take it clear of the side of the trawl mouth and it would be
passed down into the cod end. Again, crews of trawling
smacks after working one locality for some clays would discover
the places where fish congregate most numerously and by work-
ing on selected fishing grounds would obtain further improved
returns. Another point in favour of better catches by smacks
than our returns indicate, is that whereas all our inshore trial
hauls were daylight ones, smacksmen would be prepared to
work at night and as we know from European experience
night trawling generally gives better results than by daylight.
Everything is in favour of a great increase iu the bulk of the
catches if a larger trawl be worked from smacks and when we
consider that several of our hauls gave satisfactory catches even
under the unfavourable conditions under which we laboured the
prospect of developiug a profitable inshore trawling industry on
the Malabar and Canarese coasts is sufficiently promising to justify
effort and capital being put into a working trial of the business

78

were it not that the establishment of such a fishery would be
likely to prove detrimental to existing inshore fisheries, more
especially to the sardine industry. This might be occasioned
both by (a) an active interference by hampering the canoe
fishermen while occupied in shooting and hauling their nets and
(b) by disturbing the bottom. We shall see in the third section
that the evidence gathered during our cruise tends strongly to
show that Indian sardines feed upon or close to the bottom and
therefore any extensive disturbance of the diatomaceous scum
flourishing thereon would probably entail disastrous effects upon
this most important industry. The further investigations
contemplated should furnish sufficient data to determine this
matter definitely and if my fears be confirmed, it may be
advisable eventually to pass a regulation prohibiting trawling
within inshore waters.

29. The narrow zone between the 30-fathom line and the
edge of the submarine cliff which abruptly demarcates the
seaward limit of the shallow-water shelf or plateau margining
the coast remains for consideration ; unfortunately the Margarita
proved quite unsuitable for deep-water dredging and we were
able to make but a few hauls, and these in no greater depth than
40 fathoms. However as the bottom along the edge of sound-
ings, say between 40 and 90 fathoms, appears from the chart to
consist of much the same variety of bottom as we found between
36 and 40 fathoms — fine sand with shells, stones, and an
occasional patch of rock — it is to be expected that the same
faunistic results will prevail generally over such area.

30. What we found was that wherever bottom of inter-
mingled sand, stones, and rock occurs between the 30 and 40
fathom lines, decapod crustaceans and gastropod molluscs are
exceedingly abundant with a show of small rock fishes
(Serranus spp.). The great variety of crustaceans is most
characteristic ; every haul made brought up large numbers of
two species of swimming-crabs, while the bastard or broad-
headed lobster Scyllarus and the strange brown velvet clothed
ball-crab Dromia, were numerous. No samples of rocky bottom
were obtained although on one occasion we had unwelcome
evidence of its presence in a badly torn trawl net. The larger
material lying on the bottom consisted principally of dead shells
increased in size by accretion, the bygrowth over and upon
them by massive colonies of polyzoa, small oyster shells and
worm tubes. In one haul we brought up a large fragment of
furnace slag measuring S by 8 by 4 inches, evidently thrown
out from some passing steamer.

Sea-fans, sponges, zoophytes and echinoderms, so common
on hard bottom on the eastern coast, were practically absent ;

79

no large fishes were taken although a large number of small
ones, rock-fishes (Serranus chiefly) and spotted soles (Cynog-
lossus) were present in most hauls.

31. Summarizing results the main conclusions I draw are — .
(a) That the shallow inshore zone bounded by the 6-fatliom

line is sufficiently rich in many localities to support a profitable
trawling industry conducted by sailing smacks, were it not that
such would probably be harmful to more important existing
interests ; the principal bottom fish numerous in this zone
(during November) are the fine predaceous flat-fish Psettcdes,
running to a length of 17 inches, soles (Cynoglossus) of the
same size, large rays of the genera Trygon and Aetobatis
together with the smaller but more abundant Pieroplaiea micrura,
hammerheaded sharks, dogfishes and a variety of small round
fishes. Cuttlefish and prawns may also be taken in abundance
in the trawl in many places in this zone especially in the
neighbourhood of the larger river mouths.

32. {b) The median shallow water zone bounded respectively
by the 6-fathom and the 30-fathom line is quite unfitted for
profitable trawling operations. The bottom is uniformly
composed of a soft dark grey mud supporting a most meagre
invertebrate fauna. The only fish at all plentiful here is
Psettodes irumei, but although the majority of hauls on this
ground attested its presence, its numbers are too few to make
trawling profitable. As an example Of the sparseness of life on
this bottom, trawl haul No. 35 at a depth of 22 to 26 fathoms
produced only 13 of these fishes, although the trawl was down
5J hours ! The remainder of this catch consisted of 12 lbs. of
cuttlefish and one pound weight of mixed small round fishes.

33. (<?) Outside of the 30-fathom line trawling conditions
improve greatly, the bottom becomes firmer and is largely
composed of fine grey sand,, with more or less admixture of
mud, shells and stones. Crabs, squat lobsters (Scyllarus) and
fairly large gastropod molluscs abound and large fishes ought
to be plentiful. Their existence in quantity has yet to be
proved, as the means at our disposal on the Margarita cruise
were inadequate.

A better sea-boat fitted with a suitable trawl-winch and
appliances, and operating a larger sized trawl are essential to a
definitive test. Personally I am now inclined to think it
probable that this zone, which has an average breadth of 25
miles and extends the whole way from Cochin to Kundapur, a
distance of 260 miles, would prove profitable if worked by a full-
powered steam trawler. From what I know of bottom of
similar physical character (fine grey sand) elsewhere on the

80

Indian coast, I believe that with a large trawl towed at a
sufficiently high speed, large numbers of the so-called Indian cod
(Serranus spp.), of rock-fishes (Lethrinus spp.), and of sharks
and rays would reward the enterprise. But even if a sufficiency
of fish be obtainable, the difficulties which surround the
question of the profitable disposal of the catches will remain
for solution, and in my opinion it is more easy to trawl fish
than to organize the distribution and sale section of the
enterprise. Trawl fish to pay should be sold fresh ; if curing
be necessary then expenses may be so heavy as to render the
enterprise profitless.

B. — The development and extension of drift netting

and long-lining.

34. Drift nets. — Drift netting has long been practised on
the West Coast both in Malabar and South Canara where it
provides employment for a large number of men. Development
has, however, been markedly unequal in the two districts, for
whereas in South Canara, thanks to the energy and enterprise
of Ratnagiri fishermen, progress lias beeu steady and satisfac-
tory on lines surprisingly akin to those followed in the North
Sea by our own herring drifters, on the Malabar coast, on the
contrary, the industry has suffered arrestment at a very early
and imperfect phase and may be characterized as in an arrested
embryonic condition, capable of no improvement without a
complete revolution in the design of the boats employed in this
fishery. In the case of the Ratnagiri men the dug-out canoe
has been definitely abandoned as wholly unsuitable, its place
taken by true boats, large, well designed and well built, able
to go far to sea and to accommodate that great length of nets
which is necessary in order to ensure catches sufficiently large
to prove really remunerative. In striking contrast to this
enlightened policy is opposed the touching fidelity of Malabar
to its dug-out canoe, a type of fishing craft the worst possible
for the prosecution of drift netting on any but the most paltry
scale. It is not as if the value of drift netting as one of the
principal methods of sea fishing were little known or appreciated
in Malabar ; on the contrary in a primitive way it is practised
by the men of every fishing village on the coast, and its import-
ance in their eyes is demonstrated by the fact that there are
more varieties of gilling nets in use in this district than of any
other net type. The difficulty or rather the impossibility of
further development is due solely to the fact that the smallness
and unseaworthiness of the fishing canoes in use set inexorable
limit to the size of the nets employed and the distance from

81

land at which they may be used. This bond of the dug-out
must be broken before progress can be resumed.

35. The present condition of drift-net fishing on the
Malabar coast may be summarized by stating that of drift nets
properly so-called (Ozhuku vala being the generic Malayalam
term), there are six varieties in ordinary employment, namely,
tirandi vala, valia sravu vala, elam sravu vala, nariyam vala,
oclu vala and kandadi vala. The respective dimensions and
uses may be tabulated as follows : —

Classification of Malabar drift nets (Ozhuku vala).

No.

Name.

Fishes chiefly caught.

* Approximate
of meshes.

size

Remarks.

1

Tirandi vala

Large rays (Rhinob-

16 fingers or

12

Average size of

atidfo and Raiida?).

to 16 inches.

mesh 13 J inches.

2

Valia sravu vala . .

Large sharks and

14 fingers or

11

The cord very

sawfish.

inches.

strong, thrice as
thick as that of
the tirandi vala.

3

Elarn sravu vala . .

Medium sized sharks.

12 fingers or
to 9| inches.

8*

1 Ayakora = fy#«w»rt
guttatiim and 0.

4

Nariyam vala

Largest sized seer

10 fingers or

n

commersoni.

(ayakora), sharks,

to 8 inches.

Palamin = Chori-

palamin and kora

nemns lysan.

5

Odu vala or valia

Medium sized seer.

8 fingers or h\ 1

to 6

)> Bamin = Pohjne-

kandadi vala.

inches.

muSySpp.

6

Kandadi vala

Small seer ;vari-

4^ fingers or 3

Ho

Valai = Ghirocen-

min), bamin, valai,

3f inches.

trus dorab.

catfish, dogfish.

Kora = Scisena
spp.

* The size of mesh is measured from end to end with the mesh stretched length-
wise : the size giv6n is equal to twice the length of one side from knot to knot.

36. These nets are made in short lengths or pieces as in
England, a number of pieces being mounted end to end when
preparing the nets for use. The length, breadth (depth), and
number of these pieces are extremely short when compared
with what is customary in Europe ; though the dimensions are
somewhat variable according to the particular ideas of each
fisherman or community, the length and breadth of Malabar
" pieces " are usually not more than 7^ fathoms by 2|
fathoms stretched measure, or about 5 fathoms by 10 to 12
feet when measured spread on the ground. The kandadi vala
is said to be made sometimes double the length of any of the
other nets, but the one I measured at Beypore was the usual 7 j
fathoms by 2^ fathoms stretched measure, with a mesh of 3^
inches and floats of light wood (sticks) attached three feet apart.

37. The usual number of pieces constituting a " fleet of
nets " is from 8 to 10, usually 8. All are made of fibre (hemp)
and are barked. The head rope is thin and made of coir.

11

82

As suspended in the water when set, a fleet of eight of
these nets, the usual complement of one canoe, is less than 60
fathoms long, stretched measure, and forms a curtain or wall of
net not much more than 12 feet in depth. Compare this with
the 16 to 100 nets operated by British drifters engaged in the
herring fishery, each of which is from 25 to 30 fathoms long by
a depth of 4| to 4f fathoms, averaging from 1,000 to over 2,500
fathoms when stretched and giving a working length of from a
mile to a mile and a half when mounted. In the case of mackerel
the length is even greater, extending to as much as 2§ miles ;
with these nets however the depth is decreased to 2 or 2^
fathoms ; so that the total weight and area of fleets of these
two descriptions of nets when used by boats of the same size,
appoximate fairly closely.

38. In ease it be said that it is invidious to make com-
parison with nets as employed in Europe where conditions may
be very different to those prevailing on the Indian coast, the
answer lies in what Eatnagiri fishermen are doing on the Cana-

rese coast. At Mangalore and at Malpe any time between
October and March, these men may be seen putting to sea with
a fleet of nets in each boat 40 in number, each measuring from
27 to 35 fathoms long (stretched) or a total of from 1,080 to
1,400 fathoms ; the actual length when set averages about three
quarters of a mile. The comparison is well brought out in
tabular form thus : —

Comparison of the dimensions of Indian and British drift nets.

o

o

1-}

a>

e

■4-1
O

<D

a

33

c

irH

r&
CO

a .

ID

<D S
N ,JJ

w

O) -

o re

s- -

<c -

rd 2

*_§

<*- OS
O --t-i

a
-k -^

P-l 0)

® C

Q

o E

as o

« .a

O »3

A a

-^ -H

- ®
H

o

A .

C <°
<D OS

■-• CS

. 1 +^

ore

H

Malabar.

Odu vala.

b\ to 6.

8 to 10
(usually 8).

2

H

About 50
fathoms.

Malabar

Kandadi vala.

Vowri(for

bonito, seer

and shark).

3£to3i.

8 to 10
(usually 8).

40

2

7*

About 50
fathoms.

South L'anara

(used by Katna-

giri boats).

\\ to 4|.

21

27 to 35.

f to I mile.

Great Britain.

Herring net.

2

16 to 100.

4£ to 4*.

20 to 30

1 to If miles.

Mackerel net.

21

100 to 150.

2 to 2*.

20 to 30

2\ miles.

39. The appliances, methods, and boats employed by the
men are open to considerable and many improve-

Eatnagiri

ments, some of which will be touched upon later, but even as
they exist now their superiority to Malabar methods and gear
is so marked as to be beyond comparison ; the former are

83

designed on sound lines readily capable of adjustment and
development to meet new requirements or to operate on a
greater scale ; the latter are limited to their present trivial
development owing to the restraint imposed by use of dug-out
canoes as the sole form of fishing craft employed. An improved
type of boat must be adopted in Malabar waters before progress
can be resumed, but those methods which Bombay fishermen
find successful should bo within the capacity of Malabar men to
emulate now that the demand for fish, both cured and fresh, is
expanding rapidly in consequence of increase of population,
improvement in the economic condition of the masses, and,
more particularly, improved and accelerated means of steam
transport and distribution. With improved methods of curing
the demand for cured fish especially is capable of enormous
increase, and the employment of drift-net boats of an improved
Ratnagiri type is the best way to obtain the requisite supplies ;
in doing so such boats would tap what is to all intents and
purposes a new source of supply, because south of Mount Dilli,
the offshore waters, say from 7 fathoms outwards, are untroubled
by the fisherman. In addition, drift netting for sharks would
confer great benefit on other fisheries ; these fish swarm off
the Malabar coast and as many are predatory > following and
feeding upon shoals of smaller fishes, the havoc they cause is
enormous. Even when they do not gorge upon fishes, they
compete with them for their food-supplies, for the shoals of
small crustaceans in the waters, and for the worms, burrowing
prawns, and other creatures of the bottom preyed upon by the
bony fishes. Every boat load of sharks brought in must be
considered not simply as so much weight of food and fish oil,
but as the removal of so many destructive enemies and active
competitors of the more valuable food fishes.

40. The concession recently made by Government in res-
ponse to the representations of Sir F. A. Nicholson, of allowing
issue of cheap salt to boats engaged in deep-sea fishing removes
a great obstacle to the successful conduct of deep-sea drift
netting on an enlarged and extensive scale, and will remove the
great objection made in the past to the employment of Ratna-
giri methods in the shark fishery by certain curers who state
that the catches brought ashore by the Ratnagi boats are fre-
quently (usually) more or less putrid and infested with maggots,
faults due entirely to faulty curing entailed by the employment
of salt in insufficient quantities.

41. Before concluding this section upon the prospects of
drift netting on the Malabar coast, it will be useful to state
exactly what Katnagiri methods at present are. To explain
this, I cannot do better than detail some personal observations

84

made during a night at sea with one of these boats fishing from
Mangalore.

42. As is the usual practice, the boat in question left port
early in the afternoon. After clearing the river mouth a west
course was steered at a speed of about 5 knots with a favourable
light breeze. At the end of 1^ hours run the course was
altered to south and continued without change till 5-30 p.m.
when soundings showed the depth to be 13 fathoms, sand
bottom, the distance from land being about 7 miles. The
tindal intimated that the nets would now be shot. One hand
took charge of the head line with its row of wooden floats, while
another took up the foot of the net which lay neatly piled in
the waist of this shallow low-freeboard boat, which, having no
deck, is without separate net-room accommodation. The nets
were rapidly paid out over the side, the boat running south by
east the while. When the last of the "fleet" was shot, the
boat was brought up into the wind, 10 to 15 fathoms of warp
paid out, sail furled and then first the yard and then the mast
itself were lowered aft till they rested on a rectangular crutch
at the stern above the tiller.

The last of
these operations
was completed as
the sun sank
below the horizon
when the men
prepared to make
themselves com-
fortable and take
a rest till 8 p.m.
when the first
examination of
the net usually
takes place.

Ficr. 1.

5

^^=^Z^

Cintch over stern to take mast and yard, Patnagiri

fishing1 boat.

43. The net used during this season, October to January, is
the vowri, a light hemp net having a mesh of 4j inches. It is
■usually made up of 40 pieces, each piece when mounted being
from 20 to 27 fathoms in length, by about 2 J fathoms deep.

85

Fig. 2.

Flag buoy on Katnagivi drift-net.

The head rope, made of coir, is well buoyed with very numerous
wooden floats of cylindrical form and is marked at one-third
and tw^o-thirds of its length by a large Y shaped wooden buoy
carrvino; a small flag;. These buovs measure three feet over all.

To resume the account of the night's operations ; at 8 p.m.

the little outrigger canoe
which these boats carry
for the purpose was
launched over the side and
three men paddled away
along the line of net now
streaming north-west-
wards into the wind. As
the canoe passed along
the net two men leaned
over the side, the one
gathering in the lower
edge of the net and the
other dropping it back
after examination. This
examination was made
again three times during the night. Soon after sunrise the net
was hauled and after being re-stowed in the waist and the last
fish gathered up, mast and sail were raised and the run home
commenced. On the way back a ceitain proportion of the fish
is usually gutted and cleaned, but complaint is sometimes heard
from the contractors, who receive the fish, that this gutting is
largely neglected with the result that by the time the boats
deliver their catches, from 11 a.m. until as late as 3 p.m. if the
wind be light or adverse, the condition of the fish is anything
but good. The value of a steam or motor carrier or of motor
power in the fishing boats themselves is clearly indicated here.

44. The fish, brought in by these boats consists principally
of seer, bonito, palamin (Chorinemus), catfish, sharks often ef
large size, together with occasional sword-fish, also Rhinobaiis
and other rays.

45. The boats used by Eatnagiri fishermen are of three
kinds, the two smaller, used in the vowri net fishery, returning
to port daily ; the larger used in the deep-sea shark and ray
fishery which lasts from January to March. The net used by
these larger boats is called Vavuryala balai, a large edition of
the Malabar sravu vala, of large mesh and stout twine. In
jmrsuit of their prey these boats have to go considerable
distances from land and even to the limit of soundings, the
100-iathom line. They keep the sea continuously for periods

86

varying from throe to seven days according to the success
obtained or the character of the weather. The fish caught
during the voyage are gutted and split by the crew and sprinkled
with a most inadequate amount of salt supplied to the men bv the
contractors to whom they hire their boat and their services.

16. Successful as are the two Ratnagiri drift fisheries there
is room for improvements in several directions in regard to
each ; the care and the preparatiou of the catch require more
careful attention ; especially is the use of more salt absolutely
necessary in the case of the deep-sea industry ; special recep-
tacles should be designed and introduced for the proper stowage
of the fish ; if partially or, better still, wholly decked, the
boats would be able to extend their working radius and
exploit new grounds, and if this were done, mechanical means
in the form of a small capstan might be introduced to reduce the
labour involved in hauling great lengths of net, an improvement
which would be of further benefit by enabling the men to use
larger iieets of nets than at present possible ; with decking and
possibly some enlargement of the boat herself, fleets of several
different nets may be carried for use when shoals of smaller fish
be met, the vavuryala mesh being too large to capture seer and
bonito; finally if motor power were installed and the working
cost kept low, greatly increased catches would result in the
course of a season as the boats would be independent of the
calms and light and adverse breezes which so often hamper
them as sailing craft, and the condition of the catches when
landed would be benefited correspondingly.

47. The extension of the fishing radius is perhaps the most
important advantage to be gained by increasing the sea-going
and sea-keeping qualities of these boats. During the cruise
among the Laccadive Islands made subsequent to our visit to
Mangalore, extensive grounds, which are undoubtedly very rich
in fishes of all sizes — sharks, sword-fish, rock-fishes, bonito and
flying-fishes — were seen in several localities ; the great bank,
carrying depths of 8 to 25 fathoms, south of Ameni, and that
north of Androth appeared particularly attractive but are as
nothing in comparison with the enormous bank called indif-
ferently Bassas de Pedro, Munyal Par, or Padua bank, which
extends for a distance of 70 miles north and south, has an
average breadth of quite 12 miles, with hard bottom of sand,
shells, and coral at a depth of 22 to 28 fathoms, conditions
particularly well suited to make it the resort of a great
abundance of fishes. As it lies off bangalore at a distance of
fully 100 miles only well-found sea-going boats will be able to
fish there. Should this Government acquire a Fisheries
Inspection vessel auswering this description, a working

87

experiment on this bank should be marked out as an important
item in the programme of her duties.

48. Reverting to a comparison of drift-netting as carried
on in Malabar and South Canara waters, it has now been made
clear, I think, from the facts detailed, that in the former district
opportunity offers for expansion on an extensive scale of drift-
netting operations by the introduction either of boats and nets
as used by Ratnagiri men further north (the physical and
faunistic conditions of the sea and sea-bottom are similar in
both districts) for the development of the inshore grounds, and
of decked boats for the off shore grounds. In the case of the
inshore boats, those resorting to port daily, not only is it
certain they would have success with the vowri in fishing for
what may be called medium sized fish, but bv drift nets of
smaller size with a 2-inch mesh, they should net great quan-
tities of mackerel (aila = Scomber microlepidotus) usually very
abundant during the cold weather on this coast. In years when
mackerel and sardines do not resort to inshore waters, these
boats would be particularly useful ; they would probably be
able to save the situation and turn a bad season into a fairly
prosperous one by seeking the shoals in deeper water where at
present the crank canoes, good enough for work in smooth
water close inshore (within the 5-fathom line), are not able to
go. Here I may mention a valuable experience in regard to
this disability gained during the "Margarita's" cruise. In
order to test whether this disability might be overcome by the
use of a launch to tow canoes to and from fishing grounds in
deeper water, it was arranged for the " Margarita " to tow two
canoes, manned by 14 men and provided with a set of drift nets
to a greater distance from coast than they ever go. We left
Calicut at 3 -BO p.m. and proceeded due west, stopping at 5-40
p.m. at a point 6| miles from land with soft mud bottom, 13
fathoms. Here the canoes least off and shot their net at fj-1 5
p.m. a moderate north-west wind blowiner and the sea slightly
disturbed. At 10-45 p.m. when there was somewhat less wind
and sea, one canoe returned and reported that at 8 o'clock there
was too much sea to permit of hauling the net and that they
were unable to do so till nearly 10 o'clock. They refused to
shoot the net again.

49. As the second canoe did not return (she missed the
steamer and found her way to shore eventually) we had to
drift about till daybreak. At that time the wind and sea had
improved considerably, the weather quite as good as that in
which excellent results are obtained by drifters in the North
Sea. All the same the canoe men regarded the weather as
" bad ", they averred that they could not resume work unless

88

there was very considerable further improvement, and that
there was too much wind and current. As actually gauged by
observations our drift was one knot per hour. In the hope of
making further trial we edged further out to sea till at 4 p.m.
we were 32 miles from land with a gentle breeze blowing and
moderate sea. At 5-15 p.m. the men wished to cast off and try
again but Captain Heycock, who was in command of the
steamer, considered it would be difficult to fiud the canoe after
dark in which case the men's position would be dangerous and
could not permit this. After some persuasion the men agreed
to shoot the nets from the canoe while in tow of the drifting
steamer but almost immediately after this was done the men
called out that their head-rope was breaking under the strain
of the steamer's drift and let go the tow rope ; on account of
the danger to which their canoe was exposed, they were taken
in tow again as soon as possible and they refused to try again.
The conclusions to be drawn from this experience are clear
that canoes are quite unsuited for drift netting beyond the lee
of the shore, that the present nets are too short and weakly
mounted to be used from largpr boats, which must have nets
proportioned in strength and length to their size in order that
their drift under the influence of wind may be more or less
counterbalanced by the drag of the nets and the warp. Of
course this last fact is a matter of common knowledge at home,
but I wish to emphasize it here for the benefit of those who
may wish to develop drift netting on the coast of India. The
great value of a motor fitted into a moderately-sized drifter for
the purpose of easing strain on the nets by heading towards
them wdien wind -drift is too great, is a most important advan-
tage of such an installation, although the primary use is
in conferring independence of winds and calms in going to and
from the fishing grounds.

50. Long lining. — If local statement may be relied upon this
fishery as now practised on the Malabar coast arose by a
process of independent evolution during the last twenty- five
years. Certainly it has not been practised many years what-
ever may have been its origin, whether by local evolution or by
introduction from another district or country. Its rise and
development hold out much encouragement to those concerned
to improve fishing methods as they afford practical evidence of
a spirit of progress and enterprise among some sections of the
fishing community. At the present time line-fishing is
practised at the principal fishing centres along the west coast
and it is significant that these liners are all Moplahs.

51. Two descriptions of lining are practised, cheria beppu,
or small book trots, and valia beppu, lines armed with large

89

hooks. The former are usually ahout 600 fathoms long with
hooks attached every lj fathoms hy 9 inch snoods. Five
hundred hooks are ahout the maximum iu use. The fish
caught are chiefly catfish, seer, palamin (Cftorinemus)* kora
(Sciaena), katuwa, dogfish and rays. The bait employed
consists of sardines, mackerel, and other small fish which are
purchased from net fishermen. Small canoes manned by two
men are exclusively used iu this fishery ; they leave shore at
daybreak and reach their fishing ground generally between 8
and 9 a.m. returning home in the afternoon.

52. The fishes sought after bv the large hook long-liners
are limited almost entirely to sharks of large size. The line
used is short, from 100 to 200 fathoms in length, the hooks
being suspended at 10 fathom intervals from the ends of
jointed ironwire snoods about 1 J feet long. Stout home-made
hooks are used, measuring from 8 to 10 inches in length and
are baited with large pieces of other fish, more especially dog-
fish ; beef is also said to be used when procurable at suffi-
ciently low price. The same small canoe as used by the small
hook liners is favoured, manned by two men or by three as
maximum ; one reason why they prefer a small to a large canoe
is that a large shark is more difficult to load into a high-sided
large canoe than into a small one. A small canoe may be
canted over and the shark slipped in ; if need be the men
jump overboard, submerge the canoe and bring it under the
shark, subsequently baling out the water — a similar plan to that
recently adopted in one of the home graving docks to load a
large submarine aboard the ship that was to convey her to
Japan.

53. The shark liners proceed further seawards than any
other fishermen on the West Coast with the one exception of
the Eatnagiri men ; severaHimes we met them between 6 and
7 miles from land fishing in depths of 16 to 20 fathoms.
They claim to go further seawards but we never saw them any
more than 7 miles out, the distance carefully ascertained by
compass bearings. Even fishing at this distance is of compara-
tively recent adoption ; I was told that this u deep-sea "
shark lining has not been practised for more than six or seven
years.

54. Considerable as has been the development of this
method of fishing, it compares unfavourably with long lining
as carried on in Europe where, instead of the paltry 500 hooks
arming a Malabar trot, a long line may extend to five or six
miles in length and carry from 5,000 to 6,000 hooks.

12

90

55. As with the present drift-net fishing in Malabar
waters, long lining having reached a certain stage of develop-
ment is unable to make further progress because of the limits
imposed by the small size and crank nature of a dug-out canoe
for operations on a more extensive scale than the present.
The industry has reached the limit of development capable
under present conditions and no advance can be made till the
advent of larger and more weatherly boats. The shark fishery
particularly appears to offer immense opportunities for develop-
ment if long lines be used from larger boats. With such boats,
seer-whiffing after the Sinhalese fashion, employed on the way
to and from the shark grounds, should prove a profitable and
easily carried on addition to the ordinary operations. With a
large boat carrying a stout mast the objection of the liners to
use a larger craft (in the form of the big size of canoe) would
vanish, for lifting tackle from the mast head would furnish the
means requisite to heave even the biggest sharks aboard.
Seagoing boats would also permit of efforts being made to
develop pelagic fisheries in the neighbourhood of and also
beyond the 100-fathomline forbonito, flying-fish and swordfish
more especially. Bonito we see caught by the Eatnagiri men
in fair numbers in their vowri drift nets, we know they are
speared in the Laccadives, and that the bonito fishery forms a
great and profitable industry and the chief employment of the
islanders at Minicoy and in the Maldives, but from the experi-
ence of the Japanese and the Maldivians hook and line in
conjunction with live bait appears to be the most killing
method. The possibility of founding and developing a great
bonito fishery is sufficiently tangible to warrant a determined
and sustained effort being made when a suitable boat, such as
the projected 40-foot fishing lugger to be built for the Fisheries
department, is available. A peculiarly favourable factor which
makes largely for the eventual success of the suggested investi-
gation is the ease with which the necessary live bait (sardines)
may usually be procured on the West Coast. Should the
attempt be decided upon it will be desirable to engage a couple
of Maldivians skilled in this particular fishery to furnish the
requisite technical advice and to teach the art to the regular
crew, they in turn being instructed by the officers of the
department how to improve their present imperfect curing
methods. Indeed there is much to be said in favour of having
a complete crew of Maldivians, men from Minicoy preferably
as they belong to the Collectorate of Malabar ; these men are
born sailors and fishermen, and as they frequently take service
aboard steamers in the Indian coasting trade tbey have not

01

that objection to far-away voyaging which characterises so
many Indian fisherfolk otherwise suitable.

56. A seagoing experimental fishing boat would also be able
to test various methods for the capture of the flying-fish which
abound so greatly beyond soundings. Floating trots baited
after the Laceadive manner and the Negapatam screw -pine lure
would both be tried, together with others which are under
consideration. In actual work, in order to expedite the opera-
tions, several fishing methods may be tested simultaneously, for
example, shark-trots, bonito-trots and flying-fish lures are
all capable of operation at one and the same time, while
seer- whining may be tested on the way out and home.

57. Fish-wells. — Line-caught fish are particularly well suited
to be taken ashore alive. Unlike trawled and drift-netted fish
they suffer no serious injury in the process of being caught and
may be transferred from the hook to a "well" aboard the
fishing boat or to a live ear without hurt, and iu either of these
receptacles may be conveyed to port and kept for a reasonable
time till required for market. Naturally prime fish so treated
would command excellent prices and would come in most
usefully whenever a short spell of bad weather prevented boats
from putting to sea. Kora (Sciaena) and such genera as
Luijanus, S err anus and Leihrinus, fish likely to be caught in
quantity, and all tolerant of handling and some amount of
knocking about, are particularly suitable for carriage alive in
wells and cars.

The determining influences which control the migrations of
sardines and mackerel on the Indian Coast.

58. It is matter of common knowledge that the supplies of
both sardines and mackerel exhibit enormous and at present
inexplicable fluctuations from time to time in the Malabar and
South Canara fisheries ; sardine shoals in particular are known
to be peculiarly variable in their distribution through the years
whereof we have any records, in some seasons being so prodi-
giously abundant that 34,000 tons of their dried bodies may be
exported in one year, e.g., 1907-1908, after all food requirements
for fresh and cured fish have been satisfied, the latter accounting
for upwards of a quarter of a million maunds in a prolific year,
while in other seasons the supply falls away so utterly that not
a ton of fish is made into manure. In such years of dearth the
amount cured may fall as low as 28,702 maunds (1898). To
compile data from past records sufficiently extensive and reliable
to be of real value in an investigation of the factors determining

92

these fluctuations would be an extremely difficult and unsatisfac-
tory task ; it would also be one of doubtful utility both on
account of the many lacuna? in the information available and
because of the complete lack of correlated and contemporaneous
records of those biological and hydrographic conditions which
we presume to be intimately concerned in influencing the
periodical movements of migratory fishes. To arrive at a
serviceable explanation of the problem we shall have to obtain
intimate knowledge and keep systematic record of the relative
seasonal abundance of plankton both in bulk and in detailed
constitution within the areas under investigation, of the weather
conditions prevailing at the same periods and places, the
clearness or the turbidity of the sea at the times when shoals
are numerous and of the direction of the inshore drift at the
critical periods ; particular attention must also be paid to ascer-
taining with exactitude the proportion in which different
organisms contribute to the food of sardines and mackerel
respectively so that this may be compared with the constitution
of plankton collected simultaneously.

The conduct and results of such investigations will be
particularly important and illuminative in seasons when sardines
or mackerel appear to desert inshore waters. In such a year
besides the scientific investigation and record of biological and
hydrographic conditions, exploration of the deeper zones outside
the ten -fathom line in search of the missing shoals should be
prosecuted with unremitting energy in view of the great eco-
nomic importance of a solution of this question, to say nothing
of its intrinsic scientific interest.

59. The vast importance of the sardine and the mackerel to
the fishing population of Malabar and South Canara as well as
to the coast populations of Granjdm, Vizagapatam and Tinnevelly
districts on the East Coast cannot easily be overestimated, in
as much that they have sometimes been dubbed kudumlam pular-
thi, " the provider for the family ". The great industrial value
of the two fisheries in question may be gauged in some degree
from the figures of the quantities treated in fish-curing yards
during the period 1896- 1908 shown in the table which follows
this paragraph. It must also be borne in mind that an additional
quantity, which probably approximates to at least one-half of
the average of these years goes into consumption in the fresh
condition, and that a relatively enormous surplus is turned into
manure after the food market is fully satisfied in those years
when sardines are exceptionally abundant as for example
1906-1907 and 1907-1908 when quantities approximating to
12,000 tons and 34,000 tons respectively were exported from

93

Malabar and South Canara ports in addition to the smaller
quantities used in India itself on coffee and tobacco plantations.

60. Table of the quantities of sardines and mackerel treated
in the fish-curing yards on the Malabar and South Canara coast
from 1896, also of the quantities of sardines cured on the East
Coast of the Madias Presidency since 1900.

(Compiled from fish-curing yard returns.)

Malabar and

South Canara.

East Coast.

1'ear.

Sardines in

Mackerel in

Sardines in

tnaunds.

mannds.

maunds.

1896

387,295

253,857

1897

253,649

90,365

. .

1898

28,702

401,946

, ,

1899

A poor year for

Returns not

. ,

sardines.

aviiilnble.

1900

57,880

238,500

75,000

1901

137,190

828,000

11,000

1902

219,760

588,500

45,000

1903

185,160

263,050

24,000

1904

133,200

292,550

29,000

1905

126,080

339,000

40,000

1906

148,259

34,030

45,000

1907

279,821

260,200

. 85,692

In 1907 sardines were more abundant than they had been
since 1896, and it is noteworthy that the mackerel fishery
was a failure in 1897 and 1906, in the one case a year suc-
ceeding, in the other, one preceding a phenominally good sardine
season.

61. During the Margarita's cruise particular attention was
paid, so far as circumstances would permit, to the lines of
enquiry enumerated above ; a large number of observations,
experiments and collections were made at sea and much infor-
mation collected from Salt Department officers, fishermen and
curers when in port, which has enabled a considerable amount
of progress to be made in clearing up a number of important
preliminary questions, so that we are enabled to see much
more clearly the chief lines of investigation on which work
in future should be concentrated.

62. The large bulk of material collected, plankton, stomach
contents, and samples of sea-bottom, will require considerable
time to identify, analyse, and tabulate, and little can be said
in detail about them at present ; general facts and observations
are more easily dealt with, and in order that a foundation be

laid on which future work may more readily he built, I shall
now give an outline of the more important observations made
and data collected, premising that such are admittedly im-
perfect and subject to revision when further information be
available.

C. — The spmvning season and migrations of Indian Sardines.

63. Excluding the anadromous Hilsa (Olnpea ilisha)^ the
three most important members of the herring family in Indian
waters are the three sardines : C. fimbriata, O. longiceps and 0.
We ; of these the two first are by far the most important being
respectively the chala matthi and the nalla mqtthi or u oil
sardine' of the Malabar coast aud the buthai and erabai of
South Canara.

64. The oil sardine (0. longice_ps, Cuv. et Val.) is of the
greatest value for many purposes ; it is used extensively as
food in the fresh and the cured condition, is the source of an
excellent oil invaluable in the jute industry and considered a
great specific when smeared over their boats by West Coast
fishermen and boatmen against the attacks of the ship-worm ;
as fertilizer for tobacco, coffee, tea and other crops the excess
over local requirements is employed largely in years of super-
abundance when it is shipped abroad extensively, principally
to Ceylon and Japan. It is also noteworthy as the species
best suited for canning.

65. On the West Coast of India this sardine appears in
quantity during normal seasons towards the end of June. Shoals
arriving at this period consists entirely of adult individuals with
the reproductive products, roe and milt, well advanced ; shoals
with ripe rocs continue to be met with even till the end of
August. The spawning period is one of considerable duration
and it appears certain that there is considerable variation in the
date at which the gonads arrive at maturity in the members of
separate shoals. It would seem, indeed, that the shoals arrive
inshore in the order at which these gonads ripen ; that those
sardines whose gonads ripen first, are the earliest arrivals and
the rest in order of maturation of their reproductive products.

66. Fry of 1 inch in length have been noticed at Calicut
towards the end of July, while I have record of a large catch
of very small oil sardines averaging 1| inch long, at Teliicherry
on 6th August 1908; on the day preceding the capture of the
latter fry a great shoal of adults, full growu and ready to spawn,
passed Teliicherry from north to south and yielded a haul of
250 maunds to the fishermen. This shoal was followed at

PLATE 1.

"'-»-»

,X'^

''*•s^g^r*f,"

» j

rib

<■>>,* : , ' Jr.*-;*. .
■ ■ ■ .--

Pig. 3. Fishing Canoes ox the Beach, Oannaxore.

Fig. 4. Peru or Odam vala drying, Canxaxork.

[P/wto. J. Hornell.1

95

intervals by others with ripe roes right up to the end of
August ; after that the shoals consisted entirely of spent indivi-
duals. The period from the end of June to the end of August
may therefore be taken as the spawning season of the oil-
sardine on the West Coast ; it may be that spawning is a little
earlier in the north than in the south, as the shoals appear to
arrive off the South Canara coast rather earlier than off Calicut
and Cochin, but this is one of the questions requiring more
exact observation that has yet been given. After spawning,
the nalla-matthi rapidly grow fat and become so oily that there
is difficulty in curing them as food and, in consequence, are
largely turned into oil and dried for fertilizer. In September
these fat-laden sardines begin to be caught and enormous hauls
are made in some seasons during the months of October,
November and December. In January the fat loading their
tissues begins to decrease and bv the end of March thev are
practically free of fat and mint on this account for canning.
Practicallv the same evcle of events occurs on the East Coast
of Ceylon and on those sections of the eastern shore-line of the
Madras Presidency (Tuticorin to Cape Comorin and along the
Vizagapatam and Granjam Coasts) frequented by sardines, where
shoals appear towards the end of September to disappear in
February on the Ceylon Coast and about the end of April on
that of Ganjam. The spawning season and dates of arrival and
departure of the other sardines 0. fimlriata (Chala matthi) and
0. Me agree generally with those of C. lontjiceps^ but neither
ever attain the extreme fatness of this more important species.

67. Both from what I heard from fishermen and from
observations made at sea I believe we have everv reason to
conclude that during normal seasons, i.e., those during which
large catches are made at intervals from July to March, the
migration of these sardines, which occurs sooner or later after
March, is a comparatively short one. Judging by what little
we know of the life-history of other species of sardine in Europe
we should infer that, as there, the general movement is probably
not one parallel with the coast but one more or less at right
angles to it, a migration from shallow water into deep. Many
facts support this in the case of the Indian sardine under notice,
among others, the observation made during our visits to Calicut
inshore fishing grounds at the end of October when we found
that, as the result of a cyclonic disturbance in the neighbour-
hood of Cape Comorin and of a resulting strong swell and current
from the South, the shoals of sardines previously abundant at
Calicut disappeared entirely and did not return till, at the end
of six days, normal weather conditions were re-established.

96

Again, it is the unanimous statement of fishermen that while
they find the shoals come close inshore from the end of Septem-
ber till the middle of February, from about the latter time till
the end of the season's fishing the shoals are found farther
from the coast, a change which synchronizes with the onset of
strong north-westerly winds which blow in February and
March causing the sea to be turbid for a considerable distance
from the shore. The sardine fishing grounds from July to the
end of September are also rather further seawards than those
from October to February.

68. It is very significant to note that during the period
from October to February practically no current is felt close
inshore along the South Oanara and Malabar Coast line ; the
wind at this season is a land breeze so that a band of wonder-
fully still water, varying from two to three miles in width,
skirts the coast under ordinary conditions. In this neritic zone
in response to strong sunshine, the semi-stagnant physical
condition of the medium and the rich mud bottom, a pheno-
menally luxuriant growth of diatoms springs up as though
by magic, followed by prodigious swarms of tiny crustaceans
(copepods, ostracods, phyllopods, etc.) and worms that feed on
the diatoms and on one another and in turn become rich food
for larger organisms. I am fullv convinced that to feed on
this apparently inexhaustible banquet and to give their fry a
well-fed start in life are the two great reasons that impel our
sardines to come close inshore during years of favourable weather
conditions. Examination of the stomachs of the fish, comparison
of the contents writh the nature of the plankton collected by
our tow-nets, together with a daily study during five weeks
spent at sea on the sardine coast of the coincident presence of
sardines and particularly rich aggregations of certain forms
of plankton whenever physical conditions conduced to an
enormously rich and rapid growth of such organisms, have
left no room for doubt in my mind as to the reason for the move-
ment close inshore of sardines during such weather and current
conditions as we had in October, November and December 1908.

69. Food of sardines. — On the surface of the muddy deposit
which forms by far the chief proportion of the sea bottom both
in the shallows and up to depths of 30 fathoms everywhere off
the Malabar and South Canara coasts, a dense flocculent growth
of diatoms springs up whenever and wherever still water
conditions prevail ; the optimum of such conditions appears to
be reached in normal seasons between the end of September
and the beginning of February in the warm shallows under the
lee of coast, the period in which the skies on the West Coast are

97

clearest and sunshine strongest, conditions most favourable to
the rapid growth of such plant life as diatoms. It is on this
flocculent scum of diatoms, a scum that is not always quiescent
upon the bottom but is known to rise towards the surface under
certain conditions of light and temperature, that I found sardines
feeding largely during October, November and December ns
shown by microscopical examination of the stomach contents
of fish caught at this season. Fishermen and the fish-curing
yard officers always describe the food of sardines as " mud " ;
the fish-curing returns continually contain the statement
" stomach contents — mud ". To the naked eye the contents of
the stomach and intestines of every specimen I have examined,
appear as a smooth homogeneous stiff greenish-grey mud ;
broken up in water and examined under a hand lens or low
power of the microscope no recognizable constituents can be
made out, but when viewed under a ± or J inch objective the
mass becomes resolved into a paste of organic debris mixed
with large quantities of many speoies of diatoms. Among the
genera represented the most numerous are Coscinodiscus, Navi-
cula and Pleurosigma. Considering the large quantity of
unrecognizable debris present, together with such things as
decayed fragments of the vascular tissue of plants, it appears
to me that much of the feeding of sardines takes place on the
bottom, and that they browse upon the flocculent surface of the
muddy sea-bottom, in analogous manner to that in which grey
mullet may be seen in aquaria cropping the low algal growl h
and slime that often gather on the sides.

70. Not having yet had an opportunity to visit the West
Coast during the first half of the year, I am unable to write
with any certainty either of the cause which impels the sardines
about April to move away from the localities where they had
been abundant during the preceding six months or of that which
brings about gradual absorption of fat during the early monlhs
of the year. From the fact that in February strong winds from
the north-west set in, producing a more turbid condition of the
sea along shore and that from this time onwards catches of
sardines are made at a greater distance from the shore than from
September to February, it appears probable that bottom currents
set in with gradually increasing strength dispersing and arresting
the growth of that diatom scum in shallow inshore waters which
we know from observation is luxuriant during at least the last
three months of the year. With such dispersion of the main
food supply, sardines probably find their inshore commissariat
inadequate to feed their great multitudes with the two-fold
result (a) that much of the reserve fat in their tissues is used
13

98

up, and (b) that the shoals break up more or less and pass
gradually into deeper water, where although there may not be
such an enormous abundance of food as in inshore waters from
October to January, a sufficiency may be found under normal
conditions to satisfy the hunger of the disbanded shoals as the
sea bottom as far as the depths of 30 to 35 fathoms consists of
the same fine mud met with in depths of from 2 to 6 fathoms ;
there is probably a free growth of diatoms there quite apart
from the abundance we find suspended and floating in the water,
and on such the sardines probably disperse to feed. This will
be a subject for future detailed investigation as will also be the
possibility that the sardines may change their dietary at certain
seasons and feed freely upon what may be termed mixed plankton
instead of confining themselves to diatom scum.

71. This movement from shallow to deep water, from
depths of 2 to 6 fathoms close inshore to greater depths up to
perhaps the 30 or 35-fathom line, which we have reason to
believe occurs in normal years about March or April, may
be termed the minor or normal aimual sardine migration, in
contradistinction to that major occasional migration which takes
place at irregular intervals of several years, when after several
seasons of abundance, sardines forsake their inshore haunts for
several consecutive years to reappear suddenly in shoals of
immense size.

72. The occasional disappearance of sardines from inshore
fishing grounds for several years in succession is a fact that
greatly hinders and handicaps the development of several
important industries, to wit, canning and the manufacture of
sardine oil and fertilizer, as capital is shy of investing in a trade
where the supply of the raw material is uncertain and widely
variable in quantity as well as in price from year to year. To
discover where the shoals go in those years when they desert
the shallows during the usual fishery season and then, when
found, to determine how best they may be captured in quantity,
is a task so important, because of the enormous loss entailed
by bad seasons upon the fishing community and the industries
depending on the sardine fishery, that it may well be esteemed
the most urgent and most important problem calling for
sustained investigation and intensive study on the West Coast.

73. The present position is one of almost utter ignorance.
We have no exact data whatever that will help us except the
probability that this major cyclic migration is influenced by
causes related to but very much more powerful than those which
produce those minor periodic seasonal movements whereof we are
beginning to understand the significance. Judging by such

99

presumed analogy, it may be taken as probable that the virtual
disappearance of sardine shoals during one or several consecutive
years is due to a certain periodic combination of unfavourable
conditions in inshore waters entailing the non-production in
sufficient profusion of the diatomaceous growth which constitutes
the inshore attraction to these fishes. Possibly these adverse
conditions will be found to begin in or be largely influenced by
exceptional disturbances of the sea at critical junctures, by
exceptional long-shore currents abnormal in power or in direction,
or by changes produced in the density of the inshore water
either by lack or by superabundance of monsoon floods, more
especially at the end of the south-west monsoon when the inner
coastal zone ceases to be current-swept and settles into a stillness
lasting for several mouths. It is my strong personal opinion
that this last factor will be found to be of supreme importance ;
even now fishermen hold the belief that there exists a connection
between rainfall and the abundance or otherwise of fishes.
They express this conviction clearly in their saying " Poor
crops ashore, a big harvest at sea." Now on the Malabar
Coast an unfavourable season for the agriculturist comes, not
from a scarcity of rain but from a superabundance or from an
abnormal distribution, the former principally. Poor crops in
this district may generally be correlated with excessive rainfall
and this, in turn, by lowering the density of inshore water is
likely to stimulate diatom growth to increased activity so
producing greater food supplies both for the adult sardines
and for their fry, thus increasing greatly the attraction which
inshore waters have for sardines at certain seasons. It is a
natural ground-baiting of the shallows on an immense scale.
As a working hypothesis in the investigation of this sardine
problem this possibility will be useful ; a study of the density
of sea- water at different distances from shore at different
depths at selected points' on the sardine coast, should form an
integral section of the work to be undertaken, together with a
comparative study of the local rainfall to ascertain if there be
any correlation to be established. It will not be possible to
carry this on along the whole coast or even at several stations *
we shall probably have to be content with observations made at
one centrally situated station during the critical time from the
middle of August to the beginning of October, a period which
includes both that immediately preceding and that coincident
with, the advent of the shoals in shallow water. During this
period an intensive study of the environment and habits of
the sardine should be carried on, and of all the biological
and physical conditions in any way likely to influence its
movements.

100

74. Detailed analysis from particular view points should
also be made of the great mass of statistics entombed in
the records of the fish- curing yards ; among others I would
suggest that the weekly catches of sardines for all years
available be tabulated separately in the case of three or four of
the principal yards on the West Coast, that a comparative
(statement be made out showing the date of appearance in
quantity during normal seasons of the different species at the
selected centres both on the East and West Coasts, and that a
similar one be prepared showing the dates they leave the coast
on their minor migration to deeper water. Statistics of
the total catches of sardines on the West Coast must be
inclusive not only of the quantities used for food but also of the
very variable surplus turned into fertilizer and oil, without
which the figures do not exhibit sufficiently emphatically
the enormous fluctuations so frequently characteristic of this
fishery. In making out tables the official year beginning 1st
April will be most satisfactory as well as convenient, as the
sardine season ends about this date ; statistics based on calendar
years are much less useful in the casj of sardines, as large
catches are often made after the end of December, which,
under this system of tabulation, are wrongly credited to the
subsequent season tending to reduce the disparity shown when
an unsatisfactory season follows a highly successful one.
Pending the preparation of such statistics, I give below a table
showing the fluctuations in the catch of sardines (all species)
and also for mackerel for the years 1896 to 1907 as indicated
bv the quantities cured in Government fish vards. Unfor-
tunately it suffers from the defect alluded to above, being
made out for calendar years and not for fishing seasons ; neither
does it take account of the quantities manufactured into
fertilizers, defects which will be remedied in future tabulations.
As a consequence the sardine fluctuations are less clearly
depicted than they are in actuality. The statistics for mackerel
indicate annual fluctuations more precisely as it is rare for this
fish to be used otherwise than as food ; here again the
character of successive fisheries will possess more value if the
tabulation be concerned with fishing seasons and not calendar
years.

V

75. The enormous drop in catch from the huge totals of
] 896-1897, long remembered as the last of a series of abundant
seasons, is brought out clearly ; a long period of more or less
lean years succeeded, lasting till 1907 Avhen the shoals returned
once more in enormous abundance. It would be rash to endea-
vour to draw deductions from the curve shown pending the

Maunds

1896.

1897.

1898.

1899.

1900.

1901 .

1902.

1903.

1904.

1905.

1906.

1907.

840,000

♦

800,000

♦

*

♦

760,000

♦

♦

♦

720,000

♦

A

♦

680,000
640,000

♦

♦

1

4

♦

600,000

♦

1

+

♦

♦

560,000

♦

♦

♦

♦

♦

♦

520,000

♦

♦

♦

♦

♦

♦

480,000

♦

♦

♦

♦

♦

♦

440,000

♦

♦

♦

♦

♦

♦

400,000

♦

♦

♦

1 ♦

♦

o

♦

♦

♦

360,000

o

♦

♦

♦

o

♦

♦

♦

o

♦

♦

♦

320,000

o

♦

♦

♦

♦

o

♦

♦

♦

♦

<>

♦

♦

♦

♦

o

♦

1

♦

♦

♦

♦

280, OUU

o

♦

♦

♦

1 ♦

♦

i

I o

<>

♦

♦

♦

♦

♦

♦

<>

240,000

♦

I o

♦

♦

♦

♦

♦

♦

I ♦

♦

o

♦

1 ♦

♦

♦

♦

♦

♦

♦

<>

♦

♦

♦

♦

♦

♦

♦

♦

200,000

♦

o

♦

♦

♦

o

♦

♦

♦

♦

♦

o

♦ ♦

♦

o

♦

♦

♦

♦

♦

<>

♦ ♦

♦

o

<>

♦

♦

♦

160,000

♦

o

♦ ♦

♦

o

o

♦

♦

♦

♦

o

♦

♦

1 ♦

o

o

♦

1 ♦

♦

♦

<>

♦

♦

♦

o

<>

♦

♦

<>

♦

120,000

♦

o

♦

♦

o

o

o

o

o

o

♦

♦

o

♦

♦

o

o

o

o

o

o

♦

♦

o

♦

♦

o

o

<>

<>

<>

o

♦

80,000

♦

♦

♦

♦

o

o

o

o

o

o

♦

♦

♦

♦

♦

o

o

o

1 <>

o

<>

♦

♦

♦

♦

♦

o

o

<>

<>

<>

o

♦

40,000

♦

I ♦

♦

o

o

o

o

o

o

o

♦

♦

♦

♦

o

o

o

o

o

o

<>

♦

♦

♦

o

o

<>

<>

<>

<>

o

♦

♦

♦

♦

o

o

o

o

o

o

0

♦

♦

O — Sardines.

+ = Mackerel.

Diagram showing the fluctuations in the quantities of Sardines and
Mackerel cured on the West Coast from 1896 to 1907.

PLATE II.

- MfSOT!

■- -. - ■- .- -

wm

Fig?. 5 and (J. Dead sardines floating in the sea off Mangaloke.

101

recasting of the returns, but it is worthy of particular attention
that whenever a marked diminution occurs in the catch of
sardines, that of mackerel takes a great jump upwards, as in
1901 ; also that the enormously prolific sardine season of 1907
was preceded by the utter failure of the 1906 mackerel fishery,
a phenomenon which has its parallel in Cornish waters where a
good year for pilchards is generally followed by a poor herring
season. Tn any practical work that may be done in the future
in the endeavour to find and fish sardines when they appear to
have deserted any particular locality attention should be given
to the possibility of attracting sardines to the surface by means
of surface bait after the methods employed in the French
sardine fisheries.

76. During the period we were on the Malabar and South
Canara coasts^(October to December 1908), the sardine shoals
kept close inshore except during the first week we were there,
24th to 31st October, when they temporarily disappeared.
Usually the shoals were from f to 1 mile from shore, seldom did
we see them beyond this zone, and in no case did we see any
considerable shoals further than two miles from land. Por-
poises were particular1)7 numerous, often following the shoals
into quite shallow water ; on several occasions during the
second week of December, while the steamer lay in Cochin
harbour, sardines entered the backwater in large numbers and
on these occasions we invariably observed that they were
followed, possibly chased in, by numerous porpoises.

Remarkable mortality among sardines.

77. While steaming from Cannanore to Mangalore on 15th
November, when about six miles S.S.W. of the latter port and
within three miles of land, numbers of dead sardines were seen
floating on the surface. At first they were scattered somewhat
sparsely and the waler was not distinguishable in colour and
appearance from what we had steamed through for hours pre-
viously— inshore water greenish-grey and somewhat turbid with
suspended matter, chiefly plankton. Very soon a yellowish
tint was discernible and this increased, together with an
increasing quantity of dead fish till at last the water was a dark
yellow, reminding one of the yellow floods of the Yang-tse-
kiang ; where the water was darkest yellow dead sardines
appeared most numerous. Fully half an hour was taken in
getting clear of these dead fish, so that tliey must have covered
an area at least 2| miles in length from north to south.

102

78. The following day we went trawling northwards from
Mangalore. At 11-5 a.m. we shot the trawl in 5 fathoms one
mile west of the north boundary pillar of the port and hauled
at 1 -40 p.m. after having gone 2| miles northward, gradually
shoaling our water, bottom dark grey mud. At the end of the
haul we were in of fathoms half a mile from land. All the
way during this haul great quantities of the oil-sardine (C.
longiceps) were passed floating dead on the surface (figs. 5 and
6). Flocks of thousands of gulls whitened the sea all around,
gorging at leisure. During most of the time and where the dead
sardines were most numerous, the water was a dirty ochreous
yellow, dark and thick with suspended matter. Wherever the
sardines were most abundant they appeared to have died quite
recently ; the great majority were still in rigor the body bent
in a marked lateral curve. Besides those already dead, many
were seen in all stages of sickening, for this patch of dirty
yellow-brown sea was full of live sardines not in shoals but in
small groups of three and four individuals wandering aimlessly
about and in evident distress; every now and again one would
rise to the surface gasping, and often had to exert a special
effort to descend, others would turn sideways on the surface and
for a few moments appear unable to right themselves. Scarcely
any other fish were seen except a iew small garfish (Hemirai»-
pJius). Shore wards and southwards of the affected area shoals
of sardines were seen in quantity, apparently in normal
condition, with many fishing canoes among them, the men using
casting nets.

79. The ochreous water, which appeared to have such
deadly effect on the sardines, was very low in density, brackish
to the taste and registering a specific gravity of 1-021 at a
temperature of 83° F. ; an oily calm prevailed at the time and
no apparent current was noticeable.

80. On hauling the trawl we found it to be full of sardines,
size from 5 to 7 inches long ; the cod end was full and on
weighing the catch we found it to be just over 8| cwt. A
single Psettodes irumei (flat-fish) and a few odd fish were also
present. The flat-fish and the small miscellaneous fish were
alive, but all the sardines were dead. In the appearance of
the latter there was nothing apparently abnormal but lifting the
opercula, the gills were seen to be pale grey or else dirty brown
in colour. The stomachs and intestines showed nothing
abnormal to the naked eye and death was recent as uo smell of
decomposition was apparent and many were in rigor. The fact
that the other fish caught were healthy may be accounted for

103

by the probability that they were caught either before or after
v/e entered the area of foul water.

81. So far as we could judge the area affected was two
miles in length from north to south by about a mile in width,
its inner margin being about f mile from shore ; outside of this
area the character of the water improved rapidly and the quan-
tity of floating sardines decreased, bat the decrease was marked
by a change in the condition of the fish. The further we
receded from the foul brownish yellow patch the condition of
the fish became worse till at last they consisted largely of
headless trunks far gone in putrefaction and giving off a most
evil odour. Trawling in this locality disclosed no dead sardines
on the bottom.

The mortality must have been enormous and certainly had
been proceeding for several days past judging from the advanced
stage of decomposition of those on the margin of the area of
destruction. Considering that with one small trawl of 1 5 feet
beam we took 8-| cwt. at one haul, part of the time probably
not in the fouled area, hundreds of tons of fish must have been
destroyed.

82. A haul of plankton was made over the contaminated
area at the place where dead sardines were most plentiful.
Almost entirely it was found to consist of obscure organic and
unrecognizable debris, so fine that the meshes of the tow net
became clogged almost immediately, rendering it difficult to
collect a satisfactory sample. It had all the appearance of river
filth or sewage and contained scarcely any living organisms
except a few Eup ha una- like Schizopods and some fish eggs.

83. The following day, 20th November, we had to leave
for Malpe. We left Mangalore anchorage at 7-25 a.m.; at 8
a.m. when 1 J mile northwards of the river mouth and 1 J mile
from land we ran into a long stretch of water contaminated with
the putrefying remains of sardines. The water was thick in
appearance but of an ordinary olive-green turbidity quite dif-
ferent from the ochreous tint of the previous day's experience ;
apparently healthy fish were abundant, indeed shoals of healthy
sardines were about and casting- net fishermen were busy
inshore, while some distance northwards of the port boundary
pillar, a school of porpoises were pursuing sardines about f mile
from shore. The stench from off the sea was extremely
unpleasant. Specific gravity of the water normal 1026*5 at
82° F.

84. Proceeding north and keeping about the same distance
1J mile, as before from land, we ran at 9-15 a.m. into an area

104

where instead of small fragments at intervals, there were large
patches, sevreral square yards in extent, with thousands of fish
in one continuous sheet of putrefaction — a crust of bacterial
scum covering and connecting the bodies. It took 10 minutes
steaming at 5| knots per hour to get clear of this fearful-
smelling area, but 5 minutes later an unbearable stench, worse
than before, greeted us from still more extensive patches of
putrefaction which we passed at intervals for twenty minutes
before the worst was over. The largest continuous sheet, a
fragment of the Sahara in appearance, was from 60 to 70 yards
by some 20 yards wide. The stench was so bad that several of
those aboard were either sick or on the verge of being so Not
till 10 a.m. when we were off Mulki, two hours from the time of
seeing the first dead fish, did we get clear of putrid fragments.
They extended for a distance of between 10 and 11 miles
parallel with the coast on either side of the steamer which
passed up the coast at a distance of about 1J mile from land.
As on the previous day a dead oily calm prevailed, and the
water remained fairly wholesome in appearance all the way.

85. From the fact that we saw sardines freshly dead in
ochreous looking water to the southward of Mangalore on 15th
November, that the next day we saw sardines actually dying in
similar water to the northward of the port, and that the succeed-
ing day, 17th November, we passed through a gradation in
putrefaction, from freshly dead to putrescent bacterial scum, on
our way from Mangalore northwards to Mulki, it would appear
as though the source of the mortality lay to the south off the
mouth of the Mangalore river and was travelling very slowly
northwards with the inshore drift.

86. A somewhat similar strange mortality among fishes was
noticed from December 19th to 23rd, 1S99, by the officers of
the I. M.S. " Investigator " and recorded by Dr. Thurston in
" The Sea Fisheries of Malabar and South Canara " (Madras
1900;, page 127, as having affected all descriptions of fishes off
Kundapur over an area of several square miles. No mention
however of the colour of the water over the affected area
is made, neither is the specific gravity of the water recorded.

87. From a cursory examination of the plankton collected
on 16th November together with the fact of the yellowish tint
of the water and its abnormally low density, it seems to me
probable that the source of this foul water is to be sought for
within the estuaries of the rivers emptying into the sea between
Mangalore and Mount Dilli. How it beeame contaminated is
difficult to explain unless it be as Mr. Sherman, Assistant

105

Commissioner, Salt and Abkari Department, has suggested to
account for the death of fishes at Ellatur, near Calicut, that it
may arise from the contamination of the backwaters and rivers
by the steeping therein of conoanuts, a process carried on upon
the West Coast on an extensive scale. Whatever be the
cause it appears that under a condition of unusual quietude of
the sea near land it is possible for a large bod}r of water of
comparatively low density to remain compact and undissipated
for days together although surrounded by water of a considerably
higher density. Especially when fouled with a large proportion
of very fine and almost slimy organic matter in suspension,
possibly accompanied by extractive compounds as in the case
when cocoanuts are soaked long in stagnant water, such
brackish water can well be understood as likely to prove fatal
to fish which enter its mass and there lose their bearings.

Mackerel (Scomber microlepirfotus, Hupp.).

88. This, the aila of Malabar, oangadai of Canara and
Italian gkeUati of the Coromandel coast, ranks next in economic
importance after sardines on the West Coast ; in many respects
the mackerel and sardine fisheries follow parallel courses and
are usually synchronous.

The common Indian mackerel is considerably smaller than
the English species, running about 5 to the pound ; its greatest
circumference varies from 4f to 4 J inches. Its known range,
in abundance, on the Indian coasts is wider than that of
sardines, for not only is it taken in great quantities all along the
west coast of the Presidency and off" the shores of Tinnevelly
m the south and Vizagapatam and Granjam in the north on the
east side, but it is also common along that central coast line
between Madras and the Gddavari where sardines are never
caught in quantity.

89. Seasons. — The chief fishing season for mackerel on the
West Coast is from the end of October or the beginning of
November to the middle or end of January when the shoals
usually begin to break up and continue to decrease till the
beginning of April when they practically disappear. They are
however often found in small numbers during other months of
the year. On the east coast of Ceylon they appear in November,
but December is the month when fishing is at its height. Further
north at Madras, Pulinjerikuppam (Pulicat), and Dugarazpatnam5
I saw exceedingly large quantities caught towards the end oi
August 1908, but such great abundance was considered excep-
tional by the fishermen who said they had not seen them so
abundant for a generation and conjectured that they must have

14

106

deserted the Malabar coast for some reason. Such however was
not the case, for though 1908-1909 has not been an exceptionally
good year for mackerel on the West Coast, it has been up to the
average and some very heary catches are recorded, for example,
Malpe fish-curing yard was" full of this fish when we visited it
on 20th November, and we were informed that almost H,000
maunds or 110 tons had been taken into the yard the day
previously, all caught by the great shore seines or rampini nets
used there. Generally "the season on the Madras Coast is in
two sections, August and September, and again from the middle
of January to April.

90. On the West Coast, mackerel are found with fully
developed roe in June, July and August ; the bulk of spawning
occurs at the end of July and beginning of August. Dr. Day
mentions that he has seen this species at Madras with ripe roe
in March.

Present position of the Mackerel industry.

91. At present no effort is made or is possible to fish for
mackerel except in shallow inshore waters. The fishermen
invariably wait for the shoals to come inshore before making
any effort to begin the fishery. In no case during our visit to
the West Coast did we see mackerel fishing canoes two miles
from land ; usually they fished within the limits of from one to
one and a quarter mile from shore, while at Malpe where the
largest catches seen by us, were made, the principal engine
employed is a shore seine. On the East Coast, the industry is
in the same undeveloped condition.

92. On the West Coast, the nets in common use, are —

(a) the rampini balai, in the north portion of South
Canara,

(h) the odam or peru vala on the Malabar coast,

(c) the patti balai of South Canara which is the same as
the aila vala, aila ehala vala, or thathu vala of Malabar,

{d) casting nets.

93. The first two are forms of seines, the first a true shore
seine, the second a very elaborate and effective bag-net seine
requiring the services of two large canoes, and having points of
resemblance with the purse seine. The aila vala or patti balai
is a gilling net, the meshes exactly the size of those employed
in Scotch herring nets (2 to 2i inches). Sometimes it is used at
night as a drift net but more usually as an encircling seine to
the accompaniment of splashing and shouting to frighten the

107

fish and cause them to dash upon the net and become meshed ;
hence the name thathu vala.

This form of fishing is of comparatively recent origin and
has not been more than 15 years in use at such centres as
Tellicherry, Badagara, and Calicut, and is viewed with great
disfavour by the peru vala fishers. Its alleged demerits should
receive attention, and the effects of its employment in the
centres where most used carefully investigated.

94. Reference to the diagram facing page 100 shows graphi-
cally how variable is the catch of mackerel from year to year ;
how in some years there is absolute dearth and in others
enormous abundance. It is very noteworthy that mackerel and
sardines are scarcely ever abundant in the same year ; a good
year for the one is usually coincident with an unsuccessful
fishery for the other. What may be the factors at work we do
not know ; the food and feeding habits of the two when fully
known may afford the needed enlightenment. For the present
all we can say, from the examination of the stomach contents of
mackerel taken within \\ mile from shore is that this fish
during November on the Malabar coast, feeds almost wholly
upon those minute crustaceans which at that season constitute
so large a bulk of the surface plankton of inshore water. Frag-
ments of copepods and daphnise form the principal constituents
of the stomach contents with a fair number of dinoflagellates
( Oeratium chiefly) and diatoms. If we compare this with the food
of sardines in the same localities and at the same season, which
is characterized by an almost complete absence of small Crustacea
and is made up of diatoms and organic debris, we may infer
that whereas the sardine is largely a bottom. feeder, the mackerel
feeds some distance above the bottom following the shoals of
minute crustaceans according as they rise towards the surface or
sink some distance below. In this the ludian mackerel agrees
in habit with the English species which is considered so essen-
tially a surface swimmer that mackerel drift nets are made only
half the depth of herring nets. The sardine may be described
as phytoplanktonic, the mackerel as zooplanktonic in feeding.

95. The prospects of improving the mackerel fishery seem
decidedly good. The present method of prosecuting it is
limited to the netting of a very narrow zone of shallow water
and a waiting upon Providence to send the shoals close inshore.
No effort is made to seek the shoals although there is good
reason to believe both from analogy and observation that they
move up or down the coast at some seasons and at others migrate
towards deeper water. No effort is ever made to follow them
when they begin to move away from a particular locality ;

108

indeed wo may take it that so long as catamarans and canoes
are used exclusively in the mackerel fishery no further deve-
lopment is to be expected. With good boats and drift nets
running to one or two miles in length — not the pocket handker-
chiefs at present employed — there is every probability that
the length of the fishery season and the total of the catch mav
be very greatly increased. Take, for instance, our experience
on the 10th November ; on this date no mackerel were being
taken on the inshore fishing grounds at Cannanore and the
fishermen were lamenting that there was every probability of a
bad mackerel season. Yet the same dav when Ave went out
trawling off this very port, at 1-4 miles from land we saw a
school of porpoises in pursuii of a large shoal of this same fish,
the mackerel leaping out of the water in numbers whenever
the porpoises got in upon their phalanx. The same applies
to the fishing off Madras. There mackerel are present at two
seasons, but the nets used are of very small catching power
unless the fish come quite close inshore during perfectly fine
weather. If they stay a couple of miles out, or if the weather
be anything but calm, no catches of any value are made.
Seeing that this mackerel is of a very good size for many curing
purposes and highly esteemed among the mass of the people, it
would be of the greatest benefit to the consuming public, quite
apart from what profit would accrue to the fishing community,
that this fishery should be developed further by the employment
of larger boats and long fleets of drift nets to follow the
mackerel upon their migrations and, if need be, to use either
nets of special design or ground lines if the fish be found to go
to the bottom during certain months as they do in home waters
at the close of the autumn fishery.

D. — The distribution of plankton off Malabar and the

Laccadives.

96. This was one of the most important subjects for
investigation, but the great importance of the issues involved
in accurate analysis and tabulation of the results and the very
large amount of material collected require that it be made the
subject of a separate report and worked up in such detail as is
at present impossible on account of lack of time.

97. The collection consists of 80 samples taken on every
opportunity during the cruise ; it is illustrative not only of
the food resources of the inshore waters along the Malabar
and South Canara coasts but also of the deeper zones between
these coasts and the Laccadive islands, a large number of hauls
being also taken around and between these islands. One

109

result of the work Las been to show that the plankton of the
latter district is not only very interesting and varied as is
already known but is also great in quantity, abundant enough
to be attractive to shoaling fish and sometimes comparing
very favourably with the average of the shallow waters bathing
the mainland.

E. — The principal fishing methods pursued on the Malabar
and South Canara coasts.

98. This will be the subject of a separate report. A large
amount of material has been collected but as it will depend
largely upon drawings and diagrams for proper presentment,
the account has to be held over for the present.

F. — An enquiry as lo what West Coast ports are suitable as
fishing centres if a deep-sea fishery be developed.

99. The facts gleaned anent this enquiry have been in-
corporated in a separate and wider report dealing with the ports
of both coasts of the Madras Presidency. It is unnecessary
therefore to write further upon the subject in this place.

Q, — Notes on a cruise to the Laccadive Islands to investigate the
present condition there of fishing arid jUh-cuiing and the
potentialities of (heir marine resources.

100. In view of the fact that the Laccadive Islands possess
no export trade in cured fish worth mention, while the neigh-
bouring archipelago of the Maldives counts this their foremost
and most important industry, it was decided that as the former
islands are within the administrative districts of South Canara
and Malabar, it would be desirable to take advantage of the
" Margarita's " presence on the West Coast in November 1908
to pay a short visit to a few of the islands nearest the mainland
in order to make a preliminary investigation of the fishing
industry as at present carried on and to gauge the possibilities
of development.

101. We accordingly left Mangaiore on a seven days'
cruise at 11 a.m. on 25th November, the bunkers full and all
available space on deck piled with coal. At the start the wind
was westerly and the sea smooth ; when 35 miles out a swell
from the north was encountered and increased gradually till 9
p.m. when the ship was rolling heavily. This swell coincided
with a marked set to the southward which continued from 30
to 60 miles from land; thereafter the set was to the north-west
and west-north-west for the rest of the wTav to Kiltan, the
first island of call.

no

102. Soon after midday on 26th November we anchored
off the north end of this reef on rough coral bottom, going
ashore as soon as a pilot arrived to steer our gig through
the shallow passage leading into the lagoon. Kiltan is a well
defined atoll of oval form, the long axis roughlv north and
south ; the eastern arc, raised a few feet above sea-level, is
densely planted with coconut palms bearing weedy and rat-
eaten clusters of fruit and forms the "island", while the
long western are is a sea-level break-water of dead coral
protected on the seaward edge with a revetment of vigorous
living coral, thence dropping abruptly into 1,000 fathoms.
The lagoon is shallow, carrying about '6 feet of water over the
greater portion, at low water. The bottom is of white coral
sand with small and scraggy colonies of living coral, Pontes
and Madrvpora chiefly, here and there. Compared with the
rich lagoon of such a fringing reef as that at Point de Galle,
we miss the massive fungus-like fleshv alcvonarians, the rich
carpets of zoanthid anemones and the closely packed array of
varied corals in the deeper parts. In their place the sandy
bottom of the lagoon is littered with great numbers of
cylindrical sea cucumbers or holothurians, some of which when
dried constitute that valuable Chinese delicaev bechc-de-mer or
trepan g.

103. On a small scale and in a very primitive manner an
industry in beche-de-mer even now is being carried in Kiltan,
where it is known as Koka. We were told that the trade was
introduced to the attention of the islanders some three years
ago by a Cannanore Mappilla, who stayed in the island for
some time, the material being collected by his employees — the
boys of the island. Of the man} species in the lagoon three at
least are recognized as of suitable quality for curing, namely,
(a) Velia koka, mottled grey and dirty brown ; (b) Karrta koka,
black in colour ; (c) Soganna koka of reddish brown colour.
The animals are collected both by wading and by spearing from
a boat.

104. The process of curing practised is as follows :■— Each
holothurian is rirst cut open longitudinally and the viscera
removed ; the thick fleshy body-wall remaining is washed in
sea-water and subsequently boiled for not less than half an
hour. The time when boiling has proceeded far enough is said
to be judged by the character of the odour given out. After
removal from the boiling pot, the pieces are pinned open by
the insertion of short skewers in order to prevent curling, and
are next exposed to the full glare of the sun upon a cadjan
platform (fig. 7) for fully seven days to dry thoroughly before

PLATE III.

Fig. 7. Beche-de-mkr Drying Platform, Kiltan Island, Laccadives.

Fig. 10. A Lagoon Boat, Chetlat.

[Photo. J. HorneU.~\

PLATE IV.

Fig. 8.

\

O O

o

Si
m

-^

Fig. 9.

Lagoon.

K.V.

Shore.

Figs. 8 and 9. Diagrams showing the working ok a Kaxdalai Vala is the Lacca dives.

Fig. 8 shows the method of shooting the ola vala. while in Fife. 9, the ola vala (O.Y.) has been
partly dragged on shore, and the kandalai vala (K.V.) is being put round and outside
the ola vala. M. are fishermen following the ola vala to shore.

Ill

being packed. The price received for the cured product is
from Rs. 3 to Rs. 5 per tolam of 28 lb., sold through Mangalore
middlemen. None of those refinements are practised which by
ensuring good keeping qualities, a fine flavour and a tempting
appearance, tend so greatly to enhance prices and make the
industry profitable ; of this more will be said on a later page.

105. In the islands at the head of the Gulf of Mannar
beche-de-mer fishermen are aware of the value of oil in stilling
ripples on the surface of the water and so permitting of a clear
view of objects on the bottom ; when interrogated the Kiltan
men stated they never used oil for such a purpose in fishing
koka, but that they employ a somewhat similar device when
they wish to recover objects dropped overboard in the lagonu.
Their plan is to chew the kernel of a ripe coconut aud to spit
the juice on the surface of the water where it spreads as an
oily film stilling the ripples. In Kiltan the islanders pay little
attention to fishing ; their wants are few and their coconut
palms usually sufficient to supply llieni. The bulk of the
fishing done is by hook and line outside the reef on the small
submarine plateau where the steamer anchored. The bottom
over this area offers the greatest contrast to that of the lagoon
— great rounded masses of star and brain corals alternating
with huge madrepore bushes giving food aud shelter to a host
of fishes and crustaceans. The fishing line employed is of white
cotton cord, never tanned, and armed. with 2 hooks.

106. Within the lagoon, especially during the south-wrest
monsoon, when communication with the world without is sus-
pended, a certain amount of netting is done. Kandalai vala,
adi vala aud viclia vala are the three forms of nets employed.

107. The last named, a casting net of the simplest con-
struction, is not tanned and is used only from the shore, never
from boats as on the Malabar coast. It has no strings, is of
unbarked cotton and is furnished with elongated leads strung
at short intervals alon^ the margin.

108. The kandalai vala is the largest net used ; it is
employed not only in the home lagoon but also very extensively
when fishing expeditions are made to the large uninhabited
reefs laying far to the westward, e.g., Byramgore, Bitra, Cher-
baniani and Perumal Paars. It is a form of shore-seine made
of unbarked cotton with J^ inch meshes in the wings, decreas-
ing to £ inch in the bunt or centre. The float line is buoyed
at short intervals by cylindrical wooden floats threaded on.
Usually it is employed in conjunction with a scare line or ola
vala, a line to which are tied many narrow strips of coconut
leaf. The method of using them is for two skiffs (or two men)
carrying the ola vala to proceed side by side some distance

112

towards the reef ; when far enough from shore they separate
and return towards the beach, the ola line forming a long semi-
circle between them. A crowd of men follow close behind the
ola vala to lift it over projecting rocks and to contribute their
quota of noise to drive the fish shore wards. The two ends of
the ola vala are then taken ashore and drawn well up. When
by this means the space enclosed by the ola vala is considerably
reduced, two men carry the kandalai vala beyond and outside
the ola vala ; when half way round they diverge and return to
shore laying an enveloping semi-circle of net outside of the ola.
The latter is then dragged out and the net pulled to shore as an
ordinary seine.

109. The adi vala is another form of small seine used
sometimes alone, and sometimes along with the ola vala as above
described. It is usually worked in from 4 to i\ feet of water.
It is thinner and of smaller mesh than the kandalai vala. One
net measured was IS fathoms long by 5 feet deep at each end,
increasing to 0 feet in the middle. Wooden floats (of paratti
wood grown in the island) are put on longitudinally at short
intervals and small coral stones are attached along the bottom.
Float and ground ropes are of coir. The dead white colour of
the net exactly agrees with the hue of the coral sand. The
use of this net is almost entirely confined to the home lagoon.

110. Fish spearing is also practised here but the people
disclaimed any particular skill in fishing and strongly advised
us to visit Chetlat, an island lying to the north of Kiltan, where
fishing we were told was vigorously prosecuted. We left Kiltan
with considerable regret for the brevity of our visit, a regret
which grew the greater when subsequent comparison with other
islanders showed up the extreme courtesy and kindness of our
first friends.

111. Early on 27th November we hove anchor and pro-
ceeded for Chetlat after settling our score for pilotage and
other services by the division of half a bag of rice among our
creditors who preferred this mode of payment owing to a
scarcity of this commodity due to delay in arrival from the

1 ml ml

mainland of some expected supplies.

112. Chetlat, — On arriving off Chetlat we had some
difficulty in finding a suitable anchorage as the men from a
fishing boat who boarded us at the south end were undecided
and contradictory in the advice they tendered. Eventually
we anchored near the mouth of the northern of the two
passages through the reef and went ashore soon after 2 p.m.
in native boats, taking a water glass wherewith to view the
bottom. With the aid of this simple instrument I found the

PLATE V

r*

Fig. 11. A Fish-trap, Chetlat.

__^_____<

^^V-^Sfef

. 1

■

Fig. 12. A Crowd of Hermit-crabs in shells ok the Gfeen-snaij.,
(Turbo argyrostcma L.), Ciieti.at Island.

113

fauna of the lagoon to be much richer and more varied than
at Kiltan ; corals were more numerous and of larger proportions
while crustaceans and fishes were fairly abundant.

113. The island is almost a facsimile of Kiltan exct-pt that
the reef which hems in the lagoon on the western side has two
boat channels, both broader than the single passage through
Ihe Kiltan reef. As a consequence there is a freer run of tide
in and out of the lagoon and a greater abundauce of food for
lagoon-living animals. During the south-west monsoon this
free run of tide has its disadvantages as a heavy sea is then
felt even within the lagoon, rendering it difficult to use either
lines or nets. At that season therefore fishing is restricted to
the use of fish traps, of which a number were seen during our
visit. They are heart shaped in form with the inlet at the
wider end. The framework is of rough wicker, the crossings
secured with coir twine ; instead of weighting the trap with
stones placed within as is customary with such traps elsewhere,
the ends of the bottom ribs are allowed to project several inches
and on these are piled a quantity of coral blocks to keep the
trap in place (Fig. 11).

111. At Kiltan I had found several shells of two species
having commercial value in the mother-of-pearl button trade;
one was Turbo argyrostoma L., closely related to the Green-
snail of commerce {Turbo marmoratus) and the other the
Trocas or top-shell (Trochus niloticus). On landing 1 showed
these to the Chetlat people who at once professed their ability
to obtain plenty. To this end we crossed to the eastern side
where they were said to be plentiful ; none were obtained
alive, but broken shells of the Green-snail were common enough
among the beach drift. Our guides said the tide was not low
enough but still promised plenty. On further pressure they led
the way to a fringe of bushes behind the beach. I could not
understand this move till they turned over some large coral
boulders under the bushes, when lo ! dozens of hairy lobster-
red hermit-crabs, each occupying a Green-snail shell, began
scurrying away. Within a few minutes a bucketful was
obtained and we might have had a boat-load had we wished.
(Fig. 12,) No full-sized shells were found, however, possibly
because such would be dwellings too roomy for the comfort of
the hermits. Later in the day I found some good-sized mother-
of-pearl Trochus, all in damaged condition, at the north end of
the island, so it is abundantly clear that both shells live on
the reef. To determine whether their size and numbers are
sufficient to constitute a minor industry will require further
investigation ; the islanders both here and at Ameni said that
at the "pars" (Bitra, Cherbaniani, etc.) plenty are to be had.
15

114

115. The Chetlat palm groves are less prosperous than
those of Kiltan and this forces their owners to devote more
attention to fishing. As at Kiltan much of the fishing is
done with hook and line, but harpooning is still more in evi-
dence. By the latter means shark, sword-fish, seer and other
large fish are caught. As a iure a false bait is shaped from
wood in the rude representation of a flying-fish. This is a
spindle-shaped dummy, about 12 inches long, painted black
and white with a flat wooden projection on cither side to mimic
wings. The pattern most generally followed consists of narrow
white rings set widely apart on a black body. Occasionally
conventional eyes are added, and in one case a touch of realism
was attempted by substituting longitudinal white bands in
place of rings and by endowing the tail with a bilobed termi-
nation (Fig. 14«). The wood used is teak, the pigments, coal
tar for the ground colour, and a mixture of chunam (lime) and
resin for the white which is not simply painted on but used as
a white filling for deep pattern-grooves cut in the substance of
the poe-mm as it is called. The harpoon head is of iron,
single barbed, with a socket in the base fitting over an iron pin
at the end of a long wooden shaft to which it is attached by a
length of coir rope, so that when a fish is struck the barbed
head may not be carried away. The poe-mln (literally u false
fish ", Malayalam) after being furnished with a white rag to
its tail is played on the surface of the sea by means of a short
rod and line held in the left hand. In the right the harpoon
is poised ready to strike the instant a fish makes a rush for the
dummy bait. Sometimes, as we observed at Amcni later in the
cruise, a real flying-fish is used as the lure. During our visit
sword-fish appeared the principal fish caught by this mode
of fishing (see Pigs. 18 and 19).

116. Flying-fish are themselves taken in quantity by
means of a harpoon or rather by a form of
"grains" locally known as chellal, consisting
of a bundle of pointed hardwood sticks or prongs
arranged and somewhat splayed in two concentric
rows tied upon the end of a light pole. The inner
row of points are short, the outer long, admirably
arranged, and having sufficient play to enable
them to grip securely any object that may pass
between the prongs. A coir cord of length
equal to that of the shaft is tied at the near end,
the other end attached by a loop to the wrist of
the harponeer. By day, hook and line are used
to catch flying-fish; by night only are they

Fig. 20. speared, the fish being attracted within range

PLATE VI.

Fig. 15.

Fig. 13a. Fig. 14a.

Figs. 13 to 17. Types of ornamentation of Poe-min from Kiltan and Chetlat.
Figs. 13a and 14a are side views of the "tails" of Figs. 13 and 14 respectively.

PLATE VII.

4

* -

Fig. 18. A Demonstration at Andeoth of thk way a Pok-min is played.

Fig. is?. Playing a Poe-min at Chetlat. Note the single-barbed

HARPOON IN RIGHT HANK.

[Photo. J. TJorneU.

115

of the chellal by torch lights made by burning coconut leaves
bound into long bundles. As many as 100 to 150 may be
taken in a single night by one boat. The hooks used in day
fishing are baited in an ingenious maimer appealing jointly
to the senses of smell and sight. The abdomen of a small
land hermit-crab, a cenobite, pinched off the poor beast's
body is thrust on the hook and pushed well up the shank,
the remain ler of the hook being hidlen by four or five cubical
pieces of the snowy white flesh of a tender coconut (Fig. 20).

117. The same descriptions of nets are used in the Chetlat
lagoon as at Kiltan ; fishing in the home lagoon, except at
certain seasons, is not of much importance compared with that
at the great uninhabited reefs or pars already mentioned. To
these, especially to Perumal and Bitra pars, fishing trips are
frequently made from Chetlat during the fine weather season,
the boats remaining several weeks away at a time. There both
lining and netting are carried on, the latter b}T means of the
kandalai vala worked in conjunction with the ola vala. Sharks,
rays, sea-perches (Lutjanus spp.), bream [Lethrinus spp.) and
kora [Sciaena spp.) are among the chief fishes taken by lines
and nets at the pars. I was lucky enough to find a lsirge boat
or Ci Odam " just back from Perumal par the morning we left
Chetlat. The party had arrived during the night and had
entered the lagoon by moonlight. Partly dried fish lay every-
where ; on the bottom, in the rigging and on lines stretched
lengthwise from stem to stern. Among the rest I noted frag-
ments of several sharks and rays, notably some of that thorn-
backed ray par excellence^ Urogymnus asperrimus. and of a large
number of round bony fishes, principally of the genera Lethrinus,
Lutjanus, Serranus and Sciaena. Round fish were cut longitu-
dinally into connected pairs of narrow fillets, each scored
transversely and hung astride a rope or a spar to dry in the sun.
No salt is employed except- that contained in the sea- water in
which they are freely washed before being hung up.

As at Kiltan our stay was all too brief, and as soon as I
nad made the above hasty inventory I had to hasten aboard
the Margarita early on the morning of 28th November ior
the long run to Ameni.

118. On our way there we took several hauls of plankton
and coasted along the western side of the long island of Karda-
mat at which we had no time to halt, interesting as it
appeared to be. The lagoon is apparently quite narrow,
bounded as in Kiltan and Chetlat by a sea- washed reef on the
western side, by the island proper on the eastern. The reef is

116

a very broad one and a great extent of rock must dry at low
tide. This should be a fine collecting ground for green snail
and trocas, indeed the Ameni people subsequently stated so
definitely.

LI 9. Arriving off Ameni with some daylight to spare, we
dredged upon the large bank or submarine plateau from which
Ameni rises at the north-eastern extremity. The bottom in
8 to 10 fathoms was found to exhibit considerable diversity,
patches of sand alternating with dead coral boulders and masses
of live coral, Pontes, madrepores and astraeids chiefly. A
beautiful species of Spongodes is fairly common, dark red in
colour ornamented on the main axis with conspicuous snow-
white spicules ; both the coral and the spongodes were full of
commensals. Quantities of sedentary tunieates were also found,
together with several red algae and a great abundance of
crusting nullipore. In its main features this bank is very
similar in physical and faunistic features to the rocky banks
which the larger species of pearl oysters favour, and there is no
physical or other reason I kuow of why such may not be
found on this bank. A diving outfit and a trained diver will
however be necessary to test the question as the bottom is too
rough for dredging and the water too deep in most places for
naked divers. The nets of our dredges were repeatedly torn
and the frames bent, and what samples of the bottom we
obtained give but a superficial knowledge of the general fauna ;
molluscs such as oysters are well protected from the dredge
by the upstanding masses of live coral and the boulders of
that which is dead. Driven to give up dredging by the
roughness of the bottom, we proceeded to an anchorage on the
south side of Ameni.

120. The next morning we landed at an early hour and
found Ameni a thickly-populated island, with evidence every-
where of comparative comfort and prosperity. The houses are
substantial, built of squared coral blocks ; working goldsmiths
from Malabar were seen making gold jewellery, and the greater
part of the south coast was occupied by closely-set boat-sheds
reared on stone columns. Boat-building was much in evidence,
an industry the islanders should be proud of. Nowhere have
I ever seen greater skill, patience, and ingenuity in such work ;
the lines of the boats are of the utmost beauty and the work-
manship rather that of the cabinet-maker than of the ship-
wright. I doubt if the equal of these boats is to be met any-
where else in the fishing world. And these islanders do not
stop at giving fine lines, beautiful and sound proportions, and

PLATE VIll.

Fig. 21. A Mosque ix Ameki.

Fig. 22. Laccadive Boats, Anbroth Lagoox.

[Photo. J. Hornell.

PLATE IX.

Fig. 23. Laccadive Boats, Androth Lagoon.

Fig. 24. Inside the Lagoon, Chetlat.

[Photo. J. HorneU.~\

117

the best of workmanship to the hull ; they must needs ornament
it, which they do with equal success to that characterising the
rest of their work. Indeed there is a distinct and well marked
sense of the artistic developed in these islanders ; beautiful and
often most intricate geometrical patterns in black and white
adorn their boats and often their house doors, while their grave-
stones, made from a dense, fine grained coral sandstone quarried
on the beach, bear further witness, many being exquisitely
sculptured and bearing inscriptions in beautifully chiselled
Arabic lettering. The accompanying figure No. 22 show
some of the patterns used to decorate the poops of their boats.
1 should mention that these designs are drawn freehand and
are not stencils.

121. Fishing is not pursued vigorously, although all the
methods operated at Chetlat aad Kiltan are known and in use
here. Lining on the great bank to the south-west (on which
we dredged the day previously) is the chief source of their
fish-supply. Mainly this consists of ttdeost species characteris-
tic of hard bottom Lethrinus, Lutjanus, Serramts, etc., which
may appropriately be called " rock-fishes." Sharks and rays
are also taken on the bank. All these are taken by hook and
line during the day. At night lights are frequently used to
attract fish to the neighbourhood of the hooks ; harpooning is
also employed when the fish attracted are of large size.

Sword-fish, sharks, plough-fish (RJmiobatidcv), large rays,
turtle, large seer and bonito are all taken by harpoons during
the day. The chellal or "grains " is employed both to catch
flying-fish and ribbon-fish (Tnchiurus savala) at night, attracted
round the boats by the light of torches.

122. Sometimes fishing parties go to Bitra and the other
great parts, but as everybody is busy with the coconut harvest
and the preparation of copra for two to three months of the
fine weather season, it may be readily understood that in this
island where every yard of land is given over to the coconut,
the fishing resources of the sea around the island are largely
neglected ; indeed dried mackerel and sardines are actually
imported from Mangalore, as it • pays better, oris a less labo-
rious calling, to make copra than to catch fish. This seems
a great pity for fish are to be had in plenty round the island ;
we saw numbers when at anchor here and plenty of rock-fishes
(Lutjanus gibbus and others) and of file-fishes (Balisies) w7ere
taken by the crew by means of hook and line.

123. Bonito is said to be plentiful at times, audi extracted
an entire one, recently swallowed, from the stomach of a sword

16

118

fish that had been harpooned. The Ameni fishermen say,
however, that they don't catch many as the bonito, being a
surface fish, will not take the bait on the lines they use for
bottom fish and, save harpooning, they do not know any other
device for catching this fish !

124. The plankton collected off Ameni was particularly
abundant, ranging from 50 c.c. to 135 e.c. in volume for
a fifteen minutes haul on the surface. Shoals of schizopods,
copepods, and sagittae were characteristic and so abundant as
to make this locality an excellent feeding place for small fishes.
The quantity taken per haul was much greater than either at
Chetlat or Kiltan and is probably due to the large extent of
shallow water south-west of the island.

125. On SOth November we left for Androth at 5-30 a.m.
experiencing an adverse current running to the west-north-
west on the way, strength about f knot per hour ; it was 5 p.m.
before we anchored abreast the landing place which is near the
western end on the north side of the island. As soon as possible
we went ashore, and found that a deep channel had recently
been blasted through the fringing reef making this the easiest
and safest landing we had used ; vessels drawing 10 feet may
anchor close in. There is no true lagoon at Androth, the
fringing reef being uneven and much interrupted in places and
usually very close to shore. While we were ashore we were
fortunate enough to see some night-fishing boats prepare and
leave for the fishing grounds. The men were going lining
and harpooning, and we thus had an opportunity to make an
inventory of their gear. It consisted of —

(a) four white cotton lines each with one large hook
attached by two sections of wire,

(b) a harpoon of the usual form,

{c) twenty-five bundles of coconut leaves, each bound
round tightly at intervals to form a rude torch,

(d) a large number of small coral stones,

(e) a bundle of fine coconut leaf fibre.

The torches are used to make flares to attract fish round
the boat while the stones are intended to carry the hook
quickly to the bottom. Should large fish be attracted by the
light, then the harpoon is employed.

126. The next day the various descriptions of nets and
fishing devices used in the island were brought together for

119

my inspection by the headman of the island. These consist
of—

(a) the vicha vala or casting net,

(b) koru vala used in conjunction with scare lines or ola
vala,

(c) fish-traps of two sizes,

(d) harpoons and Poe-min for large fishes,

(e) the Chellal or " grains " for catching flying-fish,

(/) hooks and lines of different sizes, worked and fitted
after the fashion of the " paternosters " of home fishing.

127. The vicha vala used in Androth is made of two ply
cotton with large mesh (2£ inch) armed around the margin
with beautifully formed crescent- shaped lead sinkers threaded
in three places.

Fig. 25.

Lead sinker of vicha vala.

Actual size.

The net is 2 fathoms long (radius) when stretched out. It is
used only from the shore or from the reef ; on the evening of our
arrival we saw a number of men using it as they waded along
the inner margin of the reef. No closing cords are used.

128. The koru vala is a fine-meshed cotton net (f inch mesh)
almost square, being 2 fathoms long by the same deep. The
head rope carries 13 wooden floats strung on, while through
the meshes of each end a running cord is arranged with a loop
at each extremity. When being prepared for use the depth
of each end is reduced to half by means of the running cords,
the surplus length of cord being secured at the middle by a
temporary knot. Four men are required to operate it, one at
each end and two to swing in the two scare lines. Each of the
men holding the net slips the upper loop of the running cord
of his end over one wrist, with the other hand holding the
lower loop and one end of an ola scare-line. Two of these are
used, one man to each free end. As soon as the net is set these
latter men swing in from each side upon the net shaking the
olas the while to drive the fish into the net. The koru vala
appears to be a primitive form of the siru valai of Pulicat Lake.

17

120

129. Hooks and Lines. — Five principal sizes are used as
follows : —

(1) The largest hook is made of quarter
inch iron rod, the bend two inches across.
It has along shank, about 10 inches in length,
attached to a stout line by an iron rod joint of
equal length. This is employed chiefly for
sharks ; the bait used is an entire flying-fish.
No sinker is employed, and the depth to which
the bait is let down is given as from 10 to J 2
fathoms.

(2) The second largest fishing line has
a hook six inches long by 1| inch across the
bend, attached to a cotton line by two long
joints of twisted brass wire. The bait used
consists of fragments of flying-fish.

(3) The third-sized line is armed with
two hooks and a sinker arranged in a simple
paternoster rig. Fig. 25 depicts the method.
The sinker, a piece of coral stone, is tied on
between the hooks by a long thread drawn
from a young coconut leaf. The bait is a piece
of cuttlefish put on high up the hook followed
by pieces of flying-fish flesh. The stone sinker

His tied on in such a manner as to break away

—as soon as a fish is struck and the line begins

to be hauled up. Bock-fishes are the chief

Fig. 26. An Androth
" paternoster.'

"fish caught by this rig.

I

(4) The fourth sized line is rigged in a similar manner
with two hooks but in this case a stone sinker is
not. tied on; it is simply hitched on the lower
hook to carry it to the bottom and then shaken
off by a gentle jerk. As weathered coral stones
usually have pits and hollows in their surface it is
easy to select such as can be hitched lightly

Uupon hooks. (Fig. 26.)
(5) The smallest hook-line used is armed
with but one hook and is baited with the abdomen
of hermit crab and cubes of tender coconut flesh.
4th sized hook No sinker is attached as this gear is used only in
AtufauL. Ashing for flying-fish. (Fig. 20.)
130. The Androth men are greater fishers than those
of Ameni, probably because they are less well off by land.

121

Certainly they have developed lining pretty considerably. As a
consequence of this activity fish-curing is more in evidence here
(though that is little enough) than elsewhere. Shark, rays,
and other big fish are sometimes cured by being cut into
fillets, washed in salt water and strung up to dry in the sun.
Drying is complete in from four to five days. From the end
of J uly to the end of September this curing is said to go on as
this is the season when these fish approach the island.

131. Seer (Oybium spp.) is also caught at times in quantity
by harpooning, and it is most interesting to note that the And-
roth islanders cure seer very much in the way the Maldivians
and Japanese cure bonito, obtaining a product very similar to
that " Maldive fish " so highly esteemed by the Sinhalese.
The way in which seer is prepared in as follows : — After heading
and gutting, the flesh is cut into small pieces of about three
inches by one and half inch, washed in salt water, and 8 to
10 pieces strung on a cord. These are dipped into boiling
water for five minutes and then, after a short draining and
drying, are placed upon a leaf platform raised two feet from
the ground. Under this a fire of coconut husks or leaf stalks
is lit and kept going all night if the boiling took place in the
afternoon ; if the operations begin in the morning then they
complete the smoking in three to four hours. The smoked
product is next put in the sun upon cadjan mats and left to
dry thoroughly during three to four days. After this it will
keep for months in good condition. At present this product is
made only for private consumption, but in view of the excellence
of the product and the high esteem in which similarly cured
fish is held in Ceylon, Sumatra, and Japan, there is every
reason why the Laccadive Islaners should be encouraged to
extend and improve this cure in order that the product may
become an important article of export as mas-min is in the
Maldives. It is also a cure that might be introduced on the
mainland with great advantage wherever bonito and seer
are taken in quantity, for the product has many good qualities
and commands a high price when decently prepared. Very
probably the cure may with advantage be applied to other fish ;
indeed in Androth we were told that flying-fishes are cured
in the same general way, the chief difference being that after
they are headed and split they are dipped by the tail for a
short time in boiling water instead of being cut up and stringed
for boiling, and are smoked flesh side down at first. Kays
and Rhinobatis are also treated in the same wav as seer but are
said not to go through the smoking process. Smoked seer is
called kachcha win in the islands.

122

132. The flying-fish season was at its height during our
visit ; we saw over twenty boats which had been fishing with
hook and line return from fishing at 3 p.m. on the day we lay
on0 the island. The catches, however, were very poor, not
exceeding a dozen in any of the boats that came alongside the
steamer. I explained the Negapatam method of luring flying-
fish to the boat by a bunch of leaves set adrift at the end
of a 200-fathom rope ; none of the men had ever heard of
such a method of fishing and I fear they considered it to be a
{; traveller's tale," although they promised to make a trial
of it.

133. Harpooning for seer, shark, and sword-fish is carried
on in the usual island way, using a wrooden poe-min as the lure.
Those we saw were characteristically ringed with narrow white
bands and had eyes of conventional form on the under as well
as the upper side of the head. The usual white rag hung from
the tail. They showed signs of more frequent use than those
we saw in the other islands and on the whole the Androth
fishermen seemed more enterprising than those of the other
islands.

134. BSche-de-mer. — Considerable quantities are availa-
ble ill the shallows, but the elders of the island are strongly
opposed to any development of this industry from religious or
rather superstitious reasons. A venerated mullah now deceased
had fulminated against any traffic in such scaleless inhabitants
of the sea and banned with the threat of misfortune any who
should take it up, a prophecy which, we were told, came duly
true in several instances. Hence although the people admit
that the trade can be made to give a good return, they will
have nothing to do with it.

135. Dredging on Androth lank. — Northward of the island
a shallow submarine plafeau extends several miles ; to this
we devoted the morning of 1st December. The first haul was
in 16i fathoms, three miles north of Androth landing place.
The bottom was found to be very rich in coral of many
species ; as many as eleven different kinds were brought up at
one time. Tunicates, chiefly crimson Leptoclinids and a Styela,
were numerous, with a few small sponges, hydroids and polyzoa,
and a number of worm and crustacean messmates. Next we
tried several hauls in 11J fathoms one mile to the eastward ;
the bottom proved identical, strong growth of living corals
damaging the dredge every time it went down. From this
place we moved still further eastward gradually shallowing our
water till we came into 10 fathoms, north-north-east of the east

123

end of the island. For most of the way the bottom consisted of
coral-clothed ground as before, but when we came to 10 and
10|- fathoms extensive patches of white coral sand were en-
countered interspersed with patches of live corals. The scarcity
of algae other than nullipore was most marked, otherwise the
bank appeared excellent as a line-fishing ground as indeed the
islanders had already told us. Very probably pearl oysters
may also be found, and indeed we did catch some vague hints
in the island that such had been found ; nothing definite was
elicited however, and this question must await the employment
of trained divers before it can be determined. Our time limit
for the cruise had now all but expired, so at 4-15 p.m. on
1st December we reluctantly bade adieu to these islands of
peace and content and set out on our return to Calicut where we
arrived the next afternoon.

] 30. The conclusions at which I have arrived in regard to
the present condition of the fishing industry in the Laccadive
Archipelago and the possibilities of development may be
summed up briefly as follows : —

(a) Although there is ample evidence that valuable food
fishes abound in the Laccadive sea, the extent to which the
industries of sea-fishing and fish-curing are carried is extremely
limited ; no serious attempt has yet been made by the people
of any of the islands we visited to exploit adequately any section
of the resources of their waters or their reefs. To a great
extent this is a consequence of the extreme isolation in which
these people live ; they have few opportunities to profit by
the larger experience of the outside world and as a consequence
they are ignorant of many of the principal methods of sea-
fishing practised elsawhere. Long lining and drift netting are
wholly unknown to them, neither are they aware of the special
fishing devices employed on the neighbouring Indian coasts to
catch such species as the seer and the flying-fish. Thrown on
their own resources they have developed several fishing devices
which necessitate great individual skill but seldom give returns
adequate to the exertions put forth. Judging from the skill
displayed in this and in their boat building and by the excellent
sailors they make, the islanders should prove apt pupils were
new fishing and curing methods to be introduced to their notice
and the value of the innovations demonstrated. With fishing
carried on by more effective means the material benefit that
would result and the new interests aroused, would make greatly
for the prosperity of the inhabitants, wTho under present condi-
tions depend for their living almost entirely upon their coconut
crop and suffer considerable hardships whenever that harvest is

124

scanty. With increased catches of fish and the creation of an
export trade in the cured product, the well-being of the
islanders would improve materially and the stress of increasing
population would be met more easily.

137. (b) The lines upon which fishery investigation and
experiment are called for and appear most promising are as
under : —

(1) The thorough trial of such new fishing methods as
seem likely to be of special service under the local conditions
prevailing in the Laccadives, for example, drift nets for the
capture of sharks, rays, seer, bonito, etc., floating long lines or
trots for the same purpose, while for flying- fish the Negapatam
screw-pine lure should be tried. The creation of a bonito
fishery on similar lines to that so successfully carried on in
the neighbouring Maldives should receive special attention,
especially as the main reason why there is none at present
in the Laccadives is stated to be a scarcity of the bait necessary
rather than of the fish to be caught. The removal of this
impediment to the conduct of what in the Maldives is the
principal industry of the islanders is a subject meriting special
and prolonged investigation; if successful, and if we judge by
what holds good in the Maldives, the life of the islanders would
be revolutionized and their resources more than doubled.

(2) Improvement in the methods of fish-curing requires
attention the moment we contemplate an extension of the
catching power of the islanders. In the smoking of seer and
flying- iish as practised at Androth, we have fortunately a good
foundation to work upon ; in details the method may be consider-
ably improved at the cost of little trouble to the curers.
Tins cure has the great advantage that no market has to be
created for the product ; Ceylon and the Dutch Indies will
consume all that may become available, to say nothing of India
where a taste for Maldive fish (mas-min) is certainly spreading.
"Dried flying-fish should also become an export of considerable
value if this fishery be developed. When a coastalport like
Negapatam is able" to develop a deep-sea fishery, much more
should the Laccadives where the " black-water " actually washes
their shores.

Again, sound methods of salting aboard ship mnst be
taught the islanders, and provision made to supply the salt
requisite for the purpose, if the fishery resources of the great
" Jfars " are to be exploited properly, in view of the fact that
all fish caught there must be cured aboard the boats as no dry
land for a fishery camp is usually available on these fishing
grounds.

125

(3) Mother-of-pearl. — Apart from the possibility that
pearl oysters exist in paying quantities on the banks adjoining
And roth, Ameni and other islands and at the various " pars,"
Bitra, Cherbaniani, Perumal and Byramgore pars and Kardamat
reef should be thoroughly inspected to determine whether green
snail ( Turbo sp.) and troeas {Trochus sp.) exist there in quantities
worth being exploited commercially. As already mentioned
sea- worn specimens of these shells are not rare at Chetlat and
Iviltan, and we were repeatedly informed that larger shells were
procurable at the u pars." Both shells are well known in the
pearl button trade and formed the bulk of the shell being cut
up in a large Japanese factory which I visited in 1907. It is
worthy of note that considerable quantities of both shells are
exported annually from the Mergui Archipelago off the Burma
coast.

(4) The Be'che-de-mer industry already established in
Kiltan appears capable of considerable extension and improve-
ment. At present the methods of curing are the worst possible
and of a nature that reduces the value of the product to a
minimum. As it is now turned out, it is of the lowest grade
accepted by the Chinese. Improved methods must be intro-
duced and the curers advised how and where they may dispose
of their products to the best advantage. At present poor curing
and ignorance of the true value of that product result in the
curers parting with their goods at such low rates as provide in-
sufficient inducement to the islanders to prosecute the industry
with vigour. It is probable that Beche-de-mer exists in very-
great quantities at Cherbaniani and the other uninhabited
"pars " ; the extent of the available supply should be investi-
gated concurrently with instruction in improved methods of
curing and advice regarding disposal ; regulations should be
formulated to guard against depletion of supply. It should be
noted in this latter connection that Beche-de-mer, owing to its
sluggish habits and very circumscribed habitat in the case of
oceanic islands, will run great risk in the Laccadives of being
fished out if the industry be found profitable and if no
protective restrictions be imposed. Exactly what lines such
regulations should follow cannot satisfactorily be determined
without preliminary enquiries ; probably a minimum size would
be prescribed or a system of fishing the lagoons in rotation,
giving one or two years' rest to each in turn.

(5) Turtle breeding. — Turtles are fairly abundant at
certain seasons and might well be bred and fattened with profit
in the lagoons of the inhabited islands. Turtle-breeding has
been found to pay well in other countries and few places can

126

compete with the Laccadive lagoons in regard to the ease,
security and economy with which such an industry may there
be undertaken. A good market for the turtle thus reared
would probably be found in Bombay. The commercial feasi-
bility of this suggestion should be among the subjects for
investigation should it be determined to study further the
fishery potentialities of these interesting islands.

Madras,
Sih February 1909.

MBL/WHOI LIBRARY

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