13 



The 

 large 



not come, whereas they may merely be out a little further. 

 The steamer in which I returned from Mangalore passed, 

 said the Captain, just north of that port and at lo or 12 

 miles from land, throuo-h shoals which extended "as far 

 as the eye could see," and I personally saw smaller 

 shoals at 5 or 6 miles out ; yet none came inshore or 

 were taken by the fisherman at that time. With large 

 boats able to keep the sea, it would be possible to re- 

 connoitre for shoals, to follow them when found, and 

 either to salt them on board (see paragraph 15) and take 

 them to shore at intervals, or to send them in daily by 

 carrier boats (paragraph 14), or to keep the larger fish 

 alive in wells (paragraph 13). 



9. The large boat question is intimately bound up 

 with the future of the industry on 



"boatr"'' '"' modern _ and _ necessary lines : by 



" large " boat is here meant a good- 

 sized boat of a few tons, decked if possible, and able to 

 keep the sea for some days together ; it is not intended to 

 suggest necessarily the big smacks of from 30 to 50 tons 

 found in England and elsewhere, but rather those found 

 in the Adriatic and Mediterranean, or boats of or improv- 

 ed from the Ratnagiri pattern which latter are common 

 in South Canara in the cold weather and some of which 

 keep the sea for some da.ys when fishing, while all have, 

 necessarily, to make the 300-mile voyage from Ratnagiri 

 and those parts. It is only with such boats that a crew 

 can do proper work ; it is absurd to see seven men crowd- 

 ed in a small, crank canoe working a small net (or rather a 

 pair of canoes with fourteen men) when the same seven 

 men could work a big smack and thus use the mechanical 

 aids and employ the powerful nets which are demanded 

 for the proper exploitation of the sea : it is only such boats 

 that can stay at sea for several days together, or in which 

 it is possible to use live wells, salt, or preservative 

 processes. 



10. Now the reasons advanced aQainst buildine such 



1 ^ . . o 



boats are not many ; it is not custom- 

 Reasons advanced for tU c u „ ^ i , 



not building larger boats, ^ly ; the fishermen are not used to 



stay at sea ; such boats are costly ; 

 the fish cannot be kept from putrefaction. These are 

 the only reasons advanced : there is no fear of the sea or 

 of sudden storms ; it is one great advantage of our coasts 

 that we have regular, known, and predictable weather 



