8? 



South Canara coast line ; along this coast there is no 

 possibility of oyster culture in the open sea ; there are no 

 land-locked bays with permanent and wide seaward en- 

 trances ; in their place are numerous wide river-estuaries 

 connected with more or less extensive systems of back- 

 waters ; at present I know of none within British limits 

 suitable for oyster culture. All suffer from the disability 

 of being subject to the action of long-continued torrents 

 of fresh-water Hoods during the rainy season. These 

 floods last so long that oysters have no chance of surviving 

 through the rainv season in those reaches where culture 

 alone would pay. Apart from Cochin, the oysters now 

 supplied for table use on the Malabar coast come almost 

 entirely from small rocky patches near the shore or just 

 within the entrances of estuaries. 



On the East Coast the conditions for oyster culture 

 are more favourable. The annual rainfall is light and an 

 ever increasing network of irrigation channels, with their 

 complement of tanks and anicuts, intercepts in large 

 measure the rush of flood water to the sea when the rains 

 are on and by this limiting and moderating influence 

 counteracts to a very large degree the injurious effect 

 which long continued floods have upon estuarine oyster 

 beds. No culture can be successful if the specific 

 gravity of the water bathing the beds falls appreciably 

 lower than 1*015 for any considerable period. We have 

 seen that at Arcachon the very moderate floods which 

 an abnormally rainy season induces entail heavy loss 

 through disease and death although the basin receives 

 a vast volume of tidal water twice a day. 



It is among the estuaries and backwaters of the 

 East Coast that we must search for the most suitable 

 localities to develop oyster fisheries. I have already 

 in Bulletin No. 4 indicated Pulicat Lake as well adapted 

 for this purpose ; its proximity to Madras would facilitate 

 the supervision of operations. It already possesses 

 several extensive patches of vigorous oysters to supply 

 the needful spat; to the east of the Pulicat Islands 

 extends a large shallow water area with sufficiently 



