CEYLON PEARL OYSTER REPORT. 



and although it takes 4 or 5 years of oyster growth to produce a fishery, still it must 

 not be supposed that the whole of the ground was almost continuously occupied by 

 these successive broods of oysters. The area is so large and varied, and so small a 

 space covered with spat is sufficient to produce later on a fishery, which itself may 

 occupy only a small portion of the paar (see fig. 3), that there must often have, been 

 wide extents of ground uncovered. There is room on the Cheval Paar for many beds 

 of oysters of several different ages to flourish simultaneously. It is probably a very 

 rare occurrence for the whole region to be naturally covered by oysters young or old, 

 and it is this that affords a valuable opportunity for artificial operations. If young 

 oysters can be obtained from other less reliable paars, the rearing ground of the 

 Cheval ought never in the future to be left unoccupied. As 

 soon as possible after an area has been cleared by a fishery, it 

 ought to be re-stocked by young oysters transplanted from 

 the Periya or other outlying paars, so as to keep up, if 

 possible, a constant series of broods coming to maturity in 

 succession. 



In the following table the fisheries, since the beginning of 

 the nineteenth century, have been assigned to then respective 

 subdivisions of the Cheval, and it must be remembered that 

 each of these is an area of at most perhaps a couple of square 

 miles, capable of containing many millions of oysters and of 

 yielding a profitable fishery. Yet several, if not most of these 

 subdivisions, have lain either wholly or in part vacant in most 

 years, and therefore, profitable as the Cheval Paar has been, 

 there can be little doubt but that by such a system of 

 cultivation as was outlined in Part I. of this Report, and will be elaborated in detail 

 in the Final Recommendations, it could be rendered more profitable still. The 

 diagram (fig. 2), planned by Mr. Hornell, shows the relative positions and names 

 of the subdivisions referred to. These we would propose as culture areas, nearly all 

 of which might be extended and improved by 



(1) Dredging up and removing injurious and competing organisms, and 



(2) Laying down suitable clean hard materials such as broken tiles and stone, 



dead coral and shells as culch, to give a foothold to the oysters. 



Fig. 2. Proposed culture 

 areas recommended for 

 the Cheval Paar and 

 Periya Paar Kerrai. 



