-[viii] CEYLON PEARL OYSTER REPORT. 



Ceylon Government has in the pearl banks, but it must be remembered that this 

 series of three very profitable fisheries followed on an interval of eleven years during 

 which there were no returns, and that the average yield for the last three years is far 

 above that of the last hundred or so the period for which we have any accurate 

 record. 



It may be of interest to quote here the results of the chief fisheries of that 

 century : 



(1.) 1905 yielded 81,580,716 oysters. Kevenue = 2,510,727 Rs. 



= 1,065,751 

 = 1,051,876 

 = 963,748 

 = 842,577 

 = 829,548 

 = 804,247 



* Particulars as to number of oysters fished not available previous to 1835. 



After that the revenue rapidly drops to seven, five, four, three, and two hundred- 

 thousand rupees, and there are a number of fisheries on the list with between one and 

 two hundred-thousand. As an example of a very poor fishery, we may take the one 

 held in 1884 off Chilaw, yielding only 636,000 oysters and a revenue of 17,153 rupees. 

 Many single days in the recent fishery far exceed the entire proceeds of certain 

 previous fisheries. 



The Report of Mr. G. P. Lewis, Government Agent, writing as Superintendent of 

 the fishery, puts in this way " the extraordinary achievements of this fishery by 

 comparison with the chief fisheries of former years, the fisheries of 1808 and 1903 

 were beaten in ten days, that of 1891 in eleven, and those of 1904 and 1814, which 

 had hitherto occupied the first and second places respectively, in twelve." The fishery 

 lasted for 35 days after that. Mr. Hornell,, in his Report, puts it another way, and 

 says that the total number fished " all but equals the combined totals of the two 

 great fisheries of 1903 and 1904, and is not far from double the highest number 

 taken in any other fishery concerning which we have authentic information, namely, 

 44,311,441 in 1891 " ('Ceylon Sessional Papers,' 1905, p. 36). 



Enough has been said to show the exceptional nature of the recent fishery, but it 

 is quite a pertinent question whether this phenomenal success has not been attained, 

 to some extent at least, at the expense of the next few years. It will be remembered 

 that in the section of this Report entitled ' Present Condition of the Pearl Banks ' 

 (Part ILL, p. 37), written a year ago as the result of Mr. Hornell's inspection in 

 November, 1904, certain reasons were given for fishing in 1905 the two Modragams 

 and the sections of the Cheval defined as south-west, mid-east, and south-central 

 (see fig. 1), leaving for 1906 the sixty-odd million oysters upon the South and South- 



