33 



men they are full of ripe roe and milt in those months, 

 are found empty in succeeding" months, and have grown 

 fat by the lime the shcals appear in November. Hence, 

 so far as man is concerned, fish and their young are but 

 slightly disturbed during several very important months. 



35, But the great enemies of fish in these seas are 



not man but the variety and enormous 

 prfcTaS-us ^L'^""^^'^' number of predaceous fish ; to take 



but one instance, the number of sharks 

 of all sizes from 18 inches up to a recently recorded 

 monster of 28 feet is incredible and their appetite insati- 

 able ; with them breeding seems continuous, and with 

 from 4 to 8 at a birth the breed is necessarily vasrly 

 numerous ; few catches are devoid of sharks of small size, 

 and larger ones are commonly taken. The predatory 

 efforts of man are at present puny besides the ravages of 

 this tribe alone ; fortunately they are of considerable 

 food and industrial value as the flesh is largely dried 

 and eaten, while the dried fins are exported to the 

 Straits and China in large quantities, the value being in 

 the case of the best " white " fins as much as Rs. 30 to 

 40 per maund of 30 lbs. It may be found necessary to 

 wage special war against these predatory tribes just as 

 in the West it is now being found necessary to wage 

 war ao-ainst the destructive door-fishes of those waters. 



36. It is curious that while the hilsa {^Clupea ilisha) 

 Possibility of trans- ^^ found abundantly on the East Coast 



planting the hilsa to from Tanjore to Calcutta and con- 

 west Coast waters. ^j^^^^ to attempt the asccnt of the 



Madras rivers notwithstanding the barriers of the anicuts, 

 it is not even known on the West Coast where there 

 are numerous rivers absolutely open to their ascent and 

 probably better supplied with water ; on the other hand, 

 the sardines [Clupea longiceps and Chipca fiinbriata) 

 though so abundant on the West Coast do not seem to 

 shoal so largely on the East Coast though they appear 

 in some quantity and seasonal regularity on the coasts 

 of Vizagapatam and Ganjam districts. It will be an 

 interesting problem in pisciculture whether the hilsa can 

 be successfully transplanted to the West Coast,* as the 

 shad {Clitpea sapidissima) and the bass were transferred 



* One attempt has been made with slight success by Mr H. C. Wilson, Fiscicul- 

 turai expert in the Fisheries Depa,rtment ; other attempts will shortly follow. 



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