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REPORT ON THE PEARL OYSTER FISHERIES 

 OF THE GULF OF MANAAR -PART 1Y. 



THE GREAT PEARL FISHERY OF 1905. 



(Drawn up from the Government Official Keports and Mr. Hornell's Letters, 



with Additions and Remarks.) 



The Pearl Fishery which was held at Ceylon in the spring of 1905 may well be called 

 "the great fishery." The temporary "fishery-town" erected at Marichchukaddi was 

 larger than it is known to have ever been before, the inhabitants congregated there 

 were at least 10,000 more than in the previous "record" fishery of 1904, the numbers 

 of divers (4991) and their attendant manducks (4894) and the fleet of boats (318) 

 were much greater, and the totals of oysters fished and of rupees obtained for the 

 Government were far beyond all previous records. There were forty-seven fishing 

 days as against thirty-three in 1904. The number of oysters collected (upwards of 

 eighty-one and a half millions) is nearly double that obtained at any previous fishery, 

 and the revenue derived from the Government share alone was nearly two and a half 

 million rupees, which beats all other known fisheries with nearly 15 lacs of rupees 

 to spare. 



This is the last of a series of three highly successful fisheries in consecutive years, 

 and it does not seem likely to be rivalled by any prospective fishery of the oysters 

 now in sight upon the grounds. The fishery of 1903 yielded 41,180,137 oysters and 

 the Government share of the revenue was about 55,303; in 1904 the oysters totalled 

 41,039,085 and the Government revenue ,71,050; in 1905 the number of oysters was 

 81,580,716 and the revenue over 167,381. From these fisheries, taken together, the 

 Government of Ceylon has derived fully 293,735, without taking into account the 

 revenue derived from postal returns (which at these three fisheries were considerable), 

 and other receipts indirectly connected with, but consequent upon, the industry. 



These figures look magnificent, and they show what a valuable possession the 



