92 



this comparatively regular and easily-fished belt lies for 

 the whole distance absolutely alongside of the coast, so 

 that its outside verge may be reached in a few hours from 

 any point on the coast, and that this whole coast line is 

 studded with fishing villages, itself shows that steam 

 catchers which usually connote distant fishing grounds, 

 stormy seas, and the need of powerful apparatus, are 

 generally unnecessary and that sailers are primarily 

 indicated. Yet this narrow accessible belt of equable 

 sea is but slightly exploited ; the cubical contents of the 

 regularly fished 5-mile belt, having an ordinary maximum 

 depth of 10 fathoms and an average depth all over of 5 

 fathoms, when compared with the cubical contents of the 

 lOO-fathom belt, are probably not 1/40 on the East Coast 

 and 1/70 on the West Coast. 



12. Now it is true that the whole belt is probably 

 not so prolific in fish life as the inshore 5 miles, into 

 which the fish come in shoals whether for spawning or 

 feeding or driven by the shoals of predaceous fish ; it is 

 known that the inshore waters absolutely teem with 

 immature fish wiiich are daily caught by millions in the 

 inshore seines. Yet there is evidence enough to show 

 that the outer parts of the belt abound in fish life ; the 

 boats that go out more than 5 or 6 miles, whether the 

 Ratnagiri boats off Mangalore, the Bombay boats which 

 I have met 40 miles outside of Bombay, the results of 

 occasional excursions up to 10 or 12 miles by catamarans, 

 the evidence of steamer captains and others, including 

 myself, that on the West Coast vast shoals of sardine 

 and mackerel are frequently seen 10 and more miles out 

 at sea when the inshore fishermen are lamenting 

 the total absence of fish, show that lish are probably 

 abundant anywhere up to the lOO-fathom limit. But the 

 catamaran and canoe cannot go out to seek such fish or 

 remain out to follow them, and for this reason therefore 

 larger boats are absolutely necessary if fishing is to be 

 developed, and if the inshore waters are to be less 

 destructively exploited than at present. 



13. Owing moreover, to the sniallness of the boats 

 and their poor sailing capacity a vast amount of time is 

 spent in the incessant voyages to and from the grounds ; 

 I have seen men on the West Coast labouring 'with the 

 oars for several hours to get home, or hoisting their own 

 cloths on oars as sails to their mastless boats, while the 



