120 MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN VOL. XV, 



number had reached the amazing total of 563. The estimate of 

 their production for the same season was 24,000 tons of fish-guano 

 valued at Rs. 100 per ton, the value of the oil manufactured being 

 about Rs. 3,75,000 — the two together amounting to 27% lakhs — a 

 wonderful result, which apart from any other success achieved by 

 the department, would alone justify its existence. A further 

 advance has again been made during the past two years 

 whereby it appears likely that much of the material now used as 

 fertilizer will eventually be utilized more profitably as a feeding 

 stuff for domestic animals. Success has already been obtained in 

 producing high class fish-meals from all the common fishes found 

 plentiful on the West Coast, particularly mackerel and sardines. 

 Those who have tried these meals for cattle, pigs, dogs, and 

 poultry speak highly of them when employed in proper proportions 

 with a greater bulk of starchy foods. It now remains to produce 

 them in larger quantities and to introduce them widely to the 

 notice the Indian public. In Europe and America the high 

 nutritive value of these meals is recognized and the fish-meal 

 trade there is assuming large and important proportions. 



Soap making. — This industry has now passed from the control 

 of this department but the credit for its successful inception belongs 

 to "Fisheries." The story is worth repeating. In 1913 an oil 

 expert, Mr. A. K. Menon, trained in England under a Government 

 scholarship, was appointed to this department to investigate under 

 the direction of Sir F. A. Nicholson, the character and uses of 

 sardine oil and fish stearine. His work at the Tanur Experimental 

 Station resulted in the production of a fish-oil soap that is now in 

 great demand by tea, coffee and mango planters as a cheap and 

 efficient insecticide. This success naturally led to the manufac- 

 ture of other soaps from vegetable oils and other fats. When the 

 industry was thoroughly established, the latter branch of the work 

 so overshadowed the former, that it became an anomaly to carry on 

 the work under the Fisheries Department and so it was transferred 

 to the Department of Industries. 



Bcche-de-mer. — This minor industry, which consists of the 

 curing of the thick body wall of a species of sea-cucumber (Holo- 

 thurian), had virtually died out some years ago when this depart- 

 ment's attention was drawn to its decay. An investigation was 

 made and experiments carried out as detailed in Report No. 4 of 

 Fisheries Bulletin, Volume XL It now constitutes an integral section 



