66 



Letter — from Sir F. A. Nicholson, k.c.i e., Honorary Direc- 

 tor of Fisheries. 

 Dated— \li\\ July 1913- 



1. I have the honour to submit my annual report for 



1912-13. 



2. The principal operations in hand were — 



(i) the West Coast experimental station for ex- 

 perimental curing, canning, and the production of fish 

 oil and guano ; 



(2) the oyster farm at Pulicat ; 



(3) the Suhkesula fresh-water farm ; 



(4) the stocking of certain tanks ; 



('5) the preparation of important piscicultural pro- 

 jects including the Tuticorin marine fish-farm, the 

 Nellore carp and murrel farm, the Colair lake hilsa 

 hatchery and murrel farm, the acclimatisation of tench 

 on the plains, etc. ; 



(6) the usual pearl and chank fishery ; 



(7) experiments by Mr. Wilson on a large scale at 

 Sunkesula in the destruction of mosquito larvae by 

 certain fishes ; followed by a practical paper and demon- 

 strations ; 



(8) the conservation of the upper waters of the 

 Bhavani and Moyar on the lower slopes of the Nilgiris ; 



(9') the conservation and development of the trout 

 in the upper Nilgiris ; 



(10) miscellaneous, which includes minor enquiries, 

 operations, correspondence, etc., too numerous to detail, 

 including, however, the investigations made in Europe 

 by myself and Personal Assistant. 



3. Expeidmental Station i7t Malabar. — This is located 

 at Tanur and Calicut ; the former is an area of 8 acres of 

 recent sandy accretion from the sea, and all ordinary 

 curing, oil and guano work is carried on there ; the latter 

 is the newly established cannery which however is only 

 temporarily placed in a rented work-shed belonging to 

 the ice factory. Tanur has been wire-fenced and planted 

 with 500 cocoanuts, all flourishing ; these should in a 

 few years pay the working expenses of the yard, apart 

 from profits due to operations. The yard contains two 

 large store sheds, a good iron shed for oil and guano 

 operations, two curing sheds, besides dryers, smoking 

 boxes, a fly-] roof shed for hanging lightly cured fish, 

 various other curing plant, and manure pits for oftal. 



