63 



status and with an office not sufficient even for clerical 

 work. Japan began internal work with a strong Com- 

 mission simply for local enquiry ; this went on for some 

 years till the necessity for a department became apparent 

 if (^nly to take up the Commission's work systematically ; 

 it is so in Madras. The mere survey of our coastal seas 

 and estuaries is a huge task ; I do not mean the mere 

 gaining of a general knowledge of fisheries and their 

 conditions, though this is vast enough, since the charac- 

 ter of the sea, the class of men occupied, the conditions 

 under which they work, differ every few miles ; I mean 

 rather the accurate examination of the seas and shores, 

 the suitability of areas such as the Pulicat lake and 

 other backwaters for special cultures such as oysters and 

 other shell fish, the character of comparatively enclosed 

 seas such as Palk Straits which are believed to be a 

 great fish nursery (Herdmann), the quantitative testing 

 of the waters to, say, the lOO fathom limit, by methods 

 such as trawling (part of the work of experimental 

 station), etc. The survey of inland waters in view to the 

 possible development of fisheries is a labour of the 

 greatest difficulty owing to their too temporary charac- 

 ter and to the vested interests under which they are 

 already utilized. 



6. I need hardly point out that in several other direc- 

 tions a department is essential both for action and 

 guidance ; administratively to deal ^AMth the problems that 

 emerge from practice, especially as it develops, such as 

 the study of the eftect of developed fishing on the fish 

 and fisheries especially in almost closed areas like Palk's 

 Straits, and such protective or other action as might 

 become advisable ; the regulation, if necessary, of classes 

 of nets and meshes or of fishino- methods or of fishino- 

 seasons ; the protection and advancement of the fishing 

 classes as by stimulating co-operative effort alongside of 

 company enterprise, by establishing financial assistance, 

 by providing instruction in the use of improved methods 

 and plant, by deciding or allaying fishery disputes, by 

 the inspection of food and manure stuffs in view to the 

 supply of wholesome and warrantable goods ; the push- 

 ing ol trade interests as by stimulating the exhibition of 

 the best goods in exhibitions in India and abroad, by 

 the award of prizes for new or improved methods and 

 goods or apparatus, by the collection and distribution of 



