1922] MADRAS PEARL FISHERIES 14I 



and I agree cordially with Mr. Sullivan Thomas in his remark "as 

 regards fisherfolk knowledge— it is marvellously good and should 

 never be neglected, but at the same time always tested." In other 

 words the ideas of the local fishermen and divers may often furnish 

 a valuable working hypothesis. 



(b) Numerical Deficiency of Divers attending 



the Fisheries. 



Apart from any question of the fertility of the banks, the 

 inadequate supply of divers attending the Tuticorin fisheries 

 has frequently entailed disastrous financial consequences, notably 

 in 1889 and 1890. In those years large fisheries took place 

 concurrently off the Ceylon coast, and as the Ceylon fisheries 

 are believed by the divers to yield them better results than those on 

 the Indian coast, it was with considerable difficulty that any men 

 were prevailed upon to attend the latter. This state of affairs was 

 well known among the native merchants and all the more wealthy 

 resorted accordingly to Ceylon as the market possessed of the 

 greater attractions. Their abstention further influenced the results 

 adversely. 



Take the fishery of 1889 for example. In that year the Tola- 

 yiram Par was densely stocked with fine oysters nearly six years 

 old. Captain Phipps, the then Superintendent of Pearl Fisheries, 

 calculated that there were 309,760,000 oysters upon the bank; 

 but for want of sufficient boats and divers the gross take, 12,600,000 

 oysters, barely reached 4 per cent of the estimated total available. 

 The average number of boats out per day was 35 ; the largest 

 on any one occasion was but 48. 



The next year, when the oysters were dying off, an even worse 

 state of affairs prevailed; the average number of boats employed 

 per day fell to 21 and the total take of oysters was a miserable 

 million and three-quarters (1,806,762), bringing in a paltry profit of 

 Rs. 7,803 to the Government. 



The ensuing year, as was to be expected from the age limit 

 being exceeded, no oysters were found on the banks. 



The combined takes of 1889 and 1890 were under 14,500,000 

 oysters, so that if we accept Captain Phipps' estimate of over 

 309,000,000 on the bank in 1889, the Government harvested a wholly 



* Loc. cii., page 25. 



