l66 MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN VOL. XV, No. 6 ( 1922) 



The population of Madras City according to the latest census is 

 526,911, of whom Hindus number 427,722, Muhammadans 53,163, 

 Christians 44,136 and Jains 1,057. The fish-eating population con- 

 sists of Muhammadans, Christians and a majority of Hindus. The 

 Jains touch no sort of animal food and among the Hindus the 

 Brahmans who form about 6 per cent and the orthodox Saivites 

 generally do not eat flesh, or fish. Taking into consideration the 

 many days when fish food is tabooed to Hindus, the minimum 

 proportion of fish-eating Hindus may be fixed at 50 per cent. 

 Thus the total number of fish-eaters in Madras, who would eat 

 fish if it can be procured, is about 300,000. The total quantity of 

 fish consumed in Madras during the statistical year is 4,054,900 

 lb. Thus if all who would eat fish in Madras were supplied with 

 fish, the quantity allotted per head would be 13% lb- in one year! 



This means that the supply is insufficient. Nearly fifty years 

 ago when an enquiry into fish supply and demand was conducted 

 in the Tinnevelly and Madura districts, the result was the same, 

 that demand exceeded the supply and a correspondent to the 

 Madras Mail said in August 1873 that fish-eaters there, finding the 

 supply of fish insufficient, supplemented it by indenting on frogs, 

 four edible species of which are common in the Madras Presidency ! 

 Thanks to the activities of the Madras Fisheries Department, 

 trawling experiments and the inshore fishing experiments have 

 revealed the existence of untapped sources of fish supply which 

 can be harvested when better financial conditions prevail. Import- 

 ant problems of life histories, etc., of fishes are being tackled, 

 to enable the Department to devise well-founded schemes for 

 increasing the fish supplies. 



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