142 MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN [VOL. XVI, 



inadequate proportion of the crop. Can we justly characterize the 

 Indian banks as being poor and unsatisfactory when one bank 

 brings such a multitude to maturity in one year ? Is it not 

 more reasonable to lay the blame on antiquated methods and lack 

 of foresight and method in organization ? The average price 

 obtained per thousand in 1889 was Rs. 22-8-6 ; therefore if the 

 organization of the fishery had ensured, as it ought to have done, 

 the lifting, we will not say of the whole 309,000,000 of Captain 

 Phipp's estimate, but merely of a modest 50,000,000 oysters, then, 

 instead of taking but Rs. 1,89,986 in 1889, Government would 

 have had a revenue of Rs. 7,50,000 — a preventable loss occurred 

 of over 5 lakhs of rupees. 



The actual take was, however, as I have stated, but 4 per cent 

 of the estimated crop ; 96 per cent was literally thrown away for 

 want of the means to gather it in. 



To overcome the labour difficulty created by the preference 

 shown by the divers for Ceylon when fisheries coincide in the 

 same year on each side of the Gulf of Mannar, it was recommended 

 by the Board of Revenue in August 1890 that efforts should be 

 made to arrive at some arrangement with the Ceylon Government, 

 the basis of arrangement to be either a division of the fishing 

 season in point of time or a limitation of the number of boats 

 employed upon the Ceylon side. 



Subsequently an agreement was actually arrived at"" upon the 

 former basis whereby when fisheries on the two sides of the Gulf 

 should occur in the same season in any future year, it was agreed 

 that the Ceylon fishery should begin in February and close at the 

 end of March, leaving April and May for the prosecution of the 

 Tuticorin fishery. 



From the experience I have had of actual fishing conditions, I 

 am of opinion that in practice this agreement will be found unwork- 

 able. The beginning of February is too early in the season to start 

 fishing on the Ceylon coast. Divers will not attend till weather 

 conditions become settled, till the intermonsoon lull begins, charac- 

 terized by alternating land and sea breezes and by clear limpid 

 water free from suspended particles of mud and sand. 



No dependence can be placed upon the oncome of this period 

 prior to the first week in March, and I cannot see how the Ceylon 



* In February 1892, according to information supplied from the Colonial Secretary's 

 office, Colombo. 



