I09 



their great delicacy of beche-de-mer or trepang have been found, in 

 the course of the prosecution of the Rilmnad Chank Fishery, to be 

 abundant in Palk Ray ; it appears that they can be fished profitably 

 together with chanks and I am now preparing a proposal whereby this 

 department may take up the working of this industry, in order, by 

 experiment, to ascertain the best methods of preparation and thereby 

 to set this industry, which has potential value, upon a stable footing. 

 By working this industry in conjunction with the chank industry, the 

 divers will be able to make better wages and so be rendered more 

 content and more active in tiie prosecution of the chank fishery. 

 The divers have difticulty in finding any market whatever for beche- 

 de-mer and the industry is practically dead at the present moment, 

 hence this is a favourable time to begin operations ; such action 

 would be welcomed with gratitude by the divers." 



Pearl and Chank Fishery Work. 



24. As usual this branch will be reported on in 

 detail separately. In this matter Mr. Hornell writes 

 briefly for the present report as follows : — 



" A pearl fishery was held at Tondi in August and September 

 1914 after prolonged inspection of the pearl banks off Tondi and 

 Karangadu, discovered in the preceding April. This fishery is epoch- 

 making in that it is the first ever held in Palk Bay. Full details are 

 given in G.O. No. 633, dated loth March 1915. The net profit made 

 amounts to Rs. 3,496-11-9 inclusive of the amount to be paid this 

 year by the lessee of the right to fish the oysters left unfished. 



" The life history of the pearl oyster received much attention. 

 Large larvae already assuming the adult form were taken in the tow- 

 net in April and it has been thus shown that the dispersal period 

 may be much more prolonged than we know. The Palk Bay beds 

 appear to constitute the natural breeding stock whence the Ceylon 

 and Tuticorin beds are periodically replenished, Palk Bay may be 

 considered the motherland of the Gulf of Mannar pearl oysters. A 

 new potential pearl-inducing parasite was found and has been described 

 in a paper upon the Tondi Pearl Fishery read before the 2nd Indian 

 Science Congress held at Madras in January 1915. 



" No inspection of pearl-, banks in the Gulf of Mannar was 

 possible last season owing to the Inspection Schooner " Lady 

 Nicholson " having been requisitioned by the Port authorities at 

 Madras. So far as can be ascertained, no spat-fall has occurred on 

 the Tinnevelly banks during the past year. 



'''' Fearl-inducemenl. — In anticipation of the early construction 

 of the Pearl Laboratory at Pamban, a senior operator has been 

 appointed and is now undergoing preliminary training in technical 

 methods. The opportunity of a pearl fishery in Palk Bay in 1914, 

 enabled a number of new experiments in pearl-inducement to be com- 

 menced; the requisitioning of the inspection schooner for war service 

 at Madras brought these to an untimely end and for the present they 

 are necessarily in abeyance." 



