86 



varying from throe to seven days according to the success 

 obtained or the character of the weather. The fish caught 

 during the voyage are gutted and split by the crew and sprinkled 

 with a most inadequate amount of salt supplied to the men bv the 

 contractors to whom they hire their boat and their services. 



16. Successful as are the two Ratnagiri drift fisheries there 

 is room for improvements in several directions in regard to 

 each ; the care and the preparatiou of the catch require more 

 careful attention ; especially is the use of more salt absolutely 

 necessary in the case of the deep-sea industry ; special recep- 

 tacles should be designed and introduced for the proper stowage 

 of the fish ; if partially or, better still, wholly decked, the 

 boats would be able to extend their working radius and 

 exploit new grounds, and if this were done, mechanical means 

 in the form of a small capstan might be introduced to reduce the 

 labour involved in hauling great lengths of net, an improvement 

 which would be of further benefit by enabling the men to use 

 larger iieets of nets than at present possible ; with decking and 

 possibly some enlargement of the boat herself, fleets of several 

 different nets may be carried for use when shoals of smaller fish 

 be met, the vavuryala mesh being too large to capture seer and 

 bonito; finally if motor power were installed and the working 

 cost kept low, greatly increased catches would result in the 

 course of a season as the boats would be independent of the 

 calms and light and adverse breezes which so often hamper 

 them as sailing craft, and the condition of the catches when 

 landed would be benefited correspondingly. 



47. The extension of the fishing radius is perhaps the most 

 important advantage to be gained by increasing the sea-going 

 and sea-keeping qualities of these boats. During the cruise 

 among the Laccadive Islands made subsequent to our visit to 

 Mangalore, extensive grounds, which are undoubtedly very rich 

 in fishes of all sizes — sharks, sword-fish, rock-fishes, bonito and 

 flying-fishes — were seen in several localities ; the great bank, 

 carrying depths of 8 to 25 fathoms, south of Ameni, and that 

 north of Androth appeared particularly attractive but are as 

 nothing in comparison with the enormous bank called indif- 

 ferently Bassas de Pedro, Munyal Par, or Padua bank, which 

 extends for a distance of 70 miles north and south, has an 

 average breadth of quite 12 miles, with hard bottom of sand, 

 shells, and coral at a depth of 22 to 28 fathoms, conditions 

 particularly well suited to make it the resort of a great 

 abundance of fishes. As it lies off bangalore at a distance of 

 fully 100 miles only well-found sea-going boats will be able to 

 fish there. Should this Government acquire a Fisheries 

 Inspection vessel auswering this description, a working 



