1922] MADRAS PEARL FISHERIES 139 



A concrete instance of the imperfection of present inspection 

 methods on the Tuticorin banks is afforded by the fishery held in 

 1900. The bed to be fished was the Teradi Puli Piditta Par off 

 Trichendur; fishing went on there for three days, but, on the 

 fourth, some of the boats, owinji to a strong head wind, were not 

 able to fetch the proper bank and anchored three miles away on the 

 Tundu Par, where to the surprise of everyone — officials included 

 — they found quantities of oysters larger and apparently older than 

 those on the advertised bank*. The inspection records for the 

 preceding four years, if the examination had been efficiently 

 carried out should have indicated the presence of oysters each year 

 at this locality. The actual record is, however, as follows! : — 



" l8cK 1 



« R £ f ••• Bare of oysters. 



"1897 ... Not examined. 



" 1898 ... Oysters plentiful, 35 to a dive, 2 inches in 



size, healthy in appearance. 



"1899 ... Nothing of value." (sicl) 



The inefficiency of present inspection methods is palpable. 

 The oysters fished in 1900 were estimated by Captain James as 

 four years old {loc. cit.), so that by the Inspector's own showing 

 this particular bed was missed on two occasions out of the three 

 that it was examined. Oysters do not and cannot migrate, and if 

 the oysters seen in 1898 and fished in 1900, were missed in 1896 and 

 1899, we cannot do otherwise than condemn the character of 

 the methods employed in inspection. 



Who can say how many similar oversights there have been? 

 Careful scrutiny of the inspection records discloses many suspicious 

 entries. Take the Karai Karuval Par, one of the most produc- 

 tive banks in this region. The records for 1897— 1902 show that 

 oysters were found during the first three years, but in 1900 when 

 they should have been ready to fish, no inspection was made and 

 in 1901 the bank was reported bare of oysters. 



Can we doubt that a fishery was missed in 1900? 



The records of the Velangu Karuval Par and Trichendur Pun- 

 tottam Par are identical. 



On the Odakarai Par in 1899 there were "oysters, 20 to a dive 

 2Y2 inches in size, healthy. A very small quantity of dead shells 



* " Madra Board of Revenue Proceedings, " No. 208, dated October 1900, page 4. 

 t Copied from the Inspection Registers in the office of the Superintendent of Pearl 

 Fisheries, Tuticorin. 



