91 



(e) no cheap or simple methods are known or, at 

 least, practised for the proper treatment or preservation 

 of the fish from taint. 



9. The results of this universal useof small boats are — 

 (a) the non-exploitation except in a small degree 



of any but inshore waters, i.e., waters within 5 miles of 

 land, with at the same time an undue loss of time in 

 going to and from the fishing grounds, and an undue 

 cost in labour ; 



(d) the use only of comparatively small and weak 

 catching apparatus, whether nets or lines ; 



(r) a considerable amount of actual taint or, at 

 best, several hours of progress towards that condition, 

 except where fish are caught in the shore seine or close 

 inshore. 



10. TusuffLcient exploitation of the fishing grounds, 

 etc, — The fishing grounds of the Madras Presidency 

 coast are yjeculiar ; on both coasts the sea-bed shelves 

 fairly gradually from the shore to about the loo-fathom 

 line which lies at from 10 to 70 miles from land ; from 

 about that line it falls very precipitously, viz., to 1,000 

 fathoms and more within a very few miles ; e.g., near 

 Madras the depths at 10, 20, 30 and 40 miles out are 

 about 25, TOO, 800 and 1,900 fathoms respectively; out- 

 side Cochin the depths at 10, 30. 35 and 50 miles are 15, 

 50, 120 and 1,000 respectively. Of the fish capacity of 

 the deep sea beyond 100 fathoms we know nothing, and 

 it may be neglected at present as a practical fishing 

 ground, though kept under observation as a source of 

 fish, till the waters within 100 fathoms, which I designate 

 as the fishing grounds, are properly exploited ; I use this 

 depth as a convenient limit since it is practically the 

 limit of trawling though by no means of drifting or lining. 



11. These fishing grounds, then, vary in width from 

 10 to 70 miles, the average on the East Coast being just 

 19 miles or half that of ttie West Coast where the belt 

 averages 38 miles ; roughly, the 1,200 miles of belt from 

 Puri to Cape Comorin embraces an area of about 23,000 

 square miles, and the belt of 450 miles from Cape 

 Comorin to Kundapur comprises about 17,000 square 

 miles ; altogether there are about 40,000 square nautical 

 miles of good fishing ground, nearly the whole of which 

 presents few obstacles to any class of fishing, whether 

 trawling, drifting, seining, or lining. The mere fact that 



