117 



possible of backwaters near Madras it is clear that 

 oyster spat abounds ; oysters can be dredged up any- 

 where, and bricks, etc., from the bottom or edges are 

 covered with young oysters otten several generations 

 deep. Pulicat, Erinore and Covelong lie close to Madras, 

 and with Ennore as the site of the experimental station 

 cultural operations can easily be supervised ; we have 

 shallow water easily demarcated and protected, clutched, 

 sown, conserved ; the first operations may be at Ennore, 

 for though the oysters might not be desirable for food 

 owing to contamination from the Madras section of the 

 canal, the character and method of operations can be 

 supervised and studied for future guidance. I propose 

 then presently to start an oyster laying ground close to 

 the proposed station at Ennore. 



43. Inspection boat. — The provision of a boat for 

 inspection, experiment, and research is necessary, if we 

 are to learn anything about deep-sea conditions and the 

 habits of fish, especially migratory, and be able, there- 

 fore, to indicate probable developments in catching. 

 For instance ; on the West Coast the inshore fishermen 

 are troubled and the development of the canning, the 

 fish fertilizer and fish oil industries hampered, by the 

 eccentricities of fish movements inshore ; sardines and 

 mackerel appear, disappear, or fail to appear in the most 

 bewildering manner ; in 1906 the mackerel catches 

 reported by the fish-curing yards were only trifling as 

 against a huge average for the previous 8 years ; this 

 year again there is said to be a failure ; the same 

 happens with sardines ; in a year or two there will 

 probably be overwhelming catches. Yet in cveiy year it 

 is believed — as is probable — that the fish are there but 

 not inshore ; I have myself seen a large sardine shoal 7 

 or 8 miles out but not a fishino" boat in sio;ht and not a 

 sardine caught in that locality at that period ; captains of 

 steamers report vast shoals " as far as the eye can see " 

 10 miles out, when the inshore fishermen arc starving 

 for want of catches. Hence an inspection boat is 

 necessary to live on the sea at shoaling time, and to 

 ascertain the existence, movements, etc., of shoals, so as 

 to direct and stimulate deep-sea work. Again, these 

 fish are caught in shoals in the extreme south of the 

 East Coast, and in the coasts north of Masulipatam ; 

 they never visit the central coast line. Presumably the 



