33 



clean (gutted) fish, whereas in 1909, they fished for 

 about 20 days for a local merchant and 43 days for the 

 station, catching during the latter 43 days, 38,000 lb. of 

 round fish (besides their food and other fish) or nearly 

 33,000 lb. of clean fish of which the prime portion was 

 larger than in the present year, and the total value of 

 the catches was Rs. 1,600. The total amount paid this 

 year for 22,307 lb. clean fish was Rs. 866 which works 

 out at about 7*4 pies per lb. or practically 6*5 pies per 

 lb. for round (ungutted) fish, allowing about 15 per cent 

 for gutting. Only 55 per cent was prime fish (seer, 

 medium and small seer and pomfret) and the rest was 

 coarse fish including catfish and small shark. The 

 boats also retained enough of their catches for their own 

 consumption and some — a little — for carrying home at 

 the end of the season. The largest catch in one day by 

 the two boats was 2,101 lb. of gutted fish valued at 

 Rs. 71. 



7. Pickling. — Pickling, i.e., salting in barrels for sale 

 as wet fish, is a method new to this country ; it was not 

 fully carried out owing to the impossibility of obtaining 

 proper barrels, absurd prices being asked for unsuitable 

 articles. The matter will again be taken up. But a 

 quantity of varian, pomfret, and mackerel were placed in 

 open, roughly lidded boxes and tubs, in one to three salt 

 (1 lb. salt to 3 lb. offish) as in western countries, and are 

 perfectly good at the time of writing (June) though laid 

 down in January and February ; some of the surface fish 

 had become slightly pink, but the fish are all good and 

 are available for sale, and are being used successfully 

 for freshening and smoking, etc., during the monsoon 

 when dried fish is hardly procurable. 



8. Light or mild cured fish. — This highly important 

 experiment was developed,; the object is to place on the 

 inland market an article so lightly cured as to be a sub- 

 stitute for fresh fish which is, at present, unattainable 

 except in a few places where a high-price demand is so 

 considerable {e.g., Ootacamund, Bangalore, etc.) that it 

 pays to ice fish ; the light cured article is for general 

 consumption. By a new method wholly free from the 

 use of preservatives, fish can be sufficiently cured to be 

 a fair substitute for fresh fish, only slightly saline, and 

 good for a week ; if smoked the fish is an excellent sub- 

 stitute for smoked haddock, Parcels of such fish both 



