105 



Commissioner, Salt and Abkari Department, has suggested to 

 account for the death of fishes at Ellatur, near Calicut, that it 

 may arise from the contamination of the backwaters and rivers 

 by the steeping therein of conoanuts, a process carried on upon 

 the West Coast on an extensive scale. Whatever be the 

 cause it appears that under a condition of unusual quietude of 

 the sea near land it is possible for a large bod} r of water of 

 comparatively low density to remain compact and undissipated 

 for days together although surrounded by water of a considerably 

 higher density. Especially when fouled with a large proportion 

 of very fine and almost slimy organic matter in suspension, 

 possibly accompanied by extractive compounds as in the case 

 when cocoanuts are soaked long in stagnant water, such 

 brackish water can well be understood as likely to prove fatal 

 to fish which enter its mass and there lose their bearings. 



Mackerel (Scomber microlepirfotus, Hupp.). 



88. This, the aila of Malabar, oangadai of Canara and 

 Italian gkeUati of the Coromandel coast, ranks next in economic 

 importance after sardines on the West Coast ; in many respects 

 the mackerel and sardine fisheries follow parallel courses and 

 are usually synchronous. 



The common Indian mackerel is considerably smaller than 

 the English species, running about 5 to the pound ; its greatest 

 circumference varies from 4f to 4 J inches. Its known range, 

 in abundance, on the Indian coasts is wider than that of 

 sardines, for not only is it taken in great quantities all along the 

 west coast of the Presidency and off" the shores of Tinnevelly 

 m the south and Vizagapatam and Granjam in the north on the 

 east side, but it is also common along that central coast line 

 between Madras and the Gddavari where sardines are never 

 caught in quantity. 



89. Seasons. — The chief fishing season for mackerel on the 

 West Coast is from the end of October or the beginning of 

 November to the middle or end of January when the shoals 

 usually begin to break up and continue to decrease till the 

 beginning of April when they practically disappear. They are 

 however often found in small numbers during other months of 

 the year. On the east coast of Ceylon they appear in November, 

 but December is the month when fishing is at its height. Further 

 north at Madras, Pulinjerikuppam (Pulicat), and Dugarazpatnam 5 

 I saw exceedingly large quantities caught towards the end oi 

 August 1908, but such great abundance was considered excep- 

 tional by the fishermen who said they had not seen them so 

 abundant for a generation and conjectured that they must have 



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