190 MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN VOL. XIII, 



85. The next following paragraphs are from the writer's 

 bulletin (Fisheries Department) on agriculture in Japan : — 



(100) Fish feriilizer. — Consideration of this manure is necessary 

 not only because of its intrinsic value and the importance rightly attached 

 to it by the Japanese, but because this Agricultural note is complementary 

 to the primary object of report, viz., the proper development and use of 

 the fisheries of India as supplies of food and manure. The following 

 extracts from Japanese papers bear directly both on this object and on the 

 importance of fisheries to farmers : — • 



" The only source of fertilizers other than those produced by the 

 soil from which Japan has drawn during her long seclusion and still draws 

 a constant supply, is the sea with its enormous wealth in animals and 

 weeds. Yet the sea yields at present only a small portion of what it 

 might be made to cc-ntribute to the fertility of the land directly by a 

 supply of manures, indirectly by a supply of human food. Fishing, though 

 the occupation of many people, is carried on as yet on rather a small scale 

 and only in the proximity of the shores, and might be much extended 

 by the application of modern methods " (Agricultural College Bulletin). 

 This was written about 20 years ago, since which time the Japanese 

 authorities, recognizing both tbe enormous sources of food, manure, and 

 wealth in the sea and the weakness of its exploitation compared with its 

 possibilities notwithstanding the vast quantity actually drawn from it by 

 multitudes of fishermen, have most wisely laboured (see Report on 

 P'isheries) so to organize the industry and trade that the deep sea and 

 distant waters shall yield up their harvest for the sustenance and 

 enrichment of the nation. 



(loi) But it is easier to organize and develop on land the demand 

 for fish food and manure by 5 million farming householders working on 

 5 million farms, than to develop the supply of fish from the sea by a 

 couple of million fishermen whose boats and gear require immense 

 modification before they can cope with the increased demand, and who 

 must, in any case, face new and great dangers in attempting to cope 

 with it. 



For this reason and because, while there is an increased demand 

 for fish fertilizer, there is a still greater demand for fresh fish owing to 

 pressure of population, to concentration of wealth in large and industrial 

 cities, and to improvement of communications, the price of fish fertilizer 

 has steadily gone up to above twice that of a few years ago and tbe 

 supply on the market has diminished by about one-tenth. The following 

 table gives prices in pounds per rupee for several years, the rise having 



