FISHERIES INVESTIGATION REPORT FOR THE QUARTER 

 ENDING THE 31ST DECEMBER I905. 



The first few days of October were spent in arranging 

 papers, information, etc., and on the 19th idem I left 

 for a tour on the West Coast, which lasted till Decem- 

 ber 14th ; my Assistant, after the close of the Special 

 Tests examination at which he appeared in compliance 

 with Government orders, investigated the fisheries at 

 and near Madras. This report will deal almost solely 

 ,with the West Coast, since the East Coast will be taken 

 up from January. 



2. The places visited were Calicut, Badagara, 

 „, . . , Tellicherry, Cannanore, Hosdruo", 



r ln.ces vtsitecl. -' *^ 



Kasaragod, Manjeshwar, Mangalore, 

 Cochin, and Tanur. A mass of information has been 

 obtained reo-ardins; fishino" and curinor methods, 

 apparatus, customs, the relation of labour to capital, of 

 fishermen to curers and of curers to the trade, the fish- 

 curing yards, the character of the ports and harbours ; 

 regarding, in short, the economic and industrial sides of 

 the industry : enquiries have also been begun on the 

 seasons of fishing for various fish, the best general 

 conditions (wind, current, etc.) for fishing, the spawning 

 periods, the appearance or absence of shoals, the 

 maturity or otherwise of fish caught, and so forth. The 

 whole information is now being ledgered under the 

 proper heads from my note-books. A series of detailed 

 questions (copy appended), based partly on the 

 experience of this and previous tours, has also been 

 printed for distribution to persons likely to be interested 

 or to aid in making similar enquiries : the questions are 

 intended as general guides and not as hard and fast 

 questions. 



3. The obtaining of correct information is neither 



easy nor speedy ; the language 

 inrSi'.io"!"'"'""- difficulty itself is great, since not only 



are the fishermen's dialect and 

 technical vocabulary hard to follow even by one who 

 knows the language well, but it may be on the West 

 Coast either Malayalam, Canarese, Tulu, or Mahratti, 

 while translators are not always either accurate or 

 intelligent. The fishermen, moreover, though willing 



