MADRAS FISHERIES BUREAU. 



BULLETIN No. L 



EXTRACT FROM AN OFFICIAL NOTE OF 1 899 ON THE 



DESIRABILITY OF DEVELOPING THE 



AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT. * 



Fisheries. — No bureau of the proposed department will exceed 

 this in importance. The development of our fisheries is now 

 absolutely esi^eiitial in connection, whether direct or indirect, with 

 our food-supply : when we despair of food independent of climate for 

 a rapidly-increasing population, of industries for non-agriculturists, of 

 manure for deteriorating soils, we may thank God that we have yet 

 got the fisheries to develop. This all important subject has too long 

 been neglected ; the sea yields its harvests in enormous quantities 

 wholly irrespective of droughts and seasonal catastrophes, and the 

 food, being highly nitrogenous and concentrated, is of extreme value. 

 Hardly less important are the bye-products, viz., manure, oil, etc. 

 In most countries, e.g., Italy and Germany, this subject in its entirety 

 is confided to a bureau of the Agricultural Department : while, in 

 practically every country, that branch of it which deals with piscicul- 

 ture {aquicullure, to use a French term) is handled by this department, 

 as in France, Austria, etc. In this Presidency, where it has been 

 recognized by Government that it will primarily be treated not as a 

 source of revenue, but as a means of increasing the food-supply, the 

 manurial resources, and the petty industries of the country, it is 

 obviously the Agricultural Department which should deal with it. 



The subject is so vast and so important that it will require years 

 of absolutely continuous study, experiment, stimulus, and assistance 

 before it can be set on a sound basis, but general lines of work may 

 be indicated. It may, however, first be pointed out how this subject 

 emphasizes the necessity for a department which shall make such 

 matters, whether agriculture or ar^uiculture, its sole and continuous 

 business ; nowhere is the uselessness of individual or spasmodic effort, 

 the waste of time, brains, knowledge and labour better exemplified than 

 by this subject. From before 1870 and almost continuously after it, 

 Mr. H. S. Thomas with Dr. Day ceased not to urge the importance 

 of the fisheries of India, mainly in connection with the food-supply f ; 

 the works and scattered papers of these officers are conclusive and 



*■ This extract has been cut down and slightly corrected from the original, 

 t See Mr. Thomas' Memorandum to the Famine Commission of 1878 — 8c on 

 Fisheries in connection with food-supiily. 



