140 



Letter --{xQxVi Sir F. A. Nicholson, k.c.i.e., I.C.S., Honorary 



Director, Madras Fisheries, Madras 

 Dated — the 13th July 1908. 



I desire to make suggestions on the sardine trade 

 of the West Coast. From Coondapoor to Cochin, 

 especially in certain areas, the beach is frequently 

 covered between October and February with these fish 

 drying in the sun ; they are intended chiefly as manure 

 for which they are most valuable (see paragraphs 100 to 

 106 of my note on Japanese Agriculture) ; roughly the 

 " whole " fish contain 10 per cent, nitrogen and 4 to 5 

 per cent, phosphoric acid, besides other constituents. 



9. Putting mackerel out of consideration for the 

 present, though in the seven years ending 1906 the fish- 

 curing yards received on an average 369,100 Imperial 

 maunds of mackerel against 182,930 maunds (6,755 tons) 

 of sardine or exactly double, attention will be confined 

 to sardine, and that chiefly in the way of exports as 

 fertilizer. For it is to the loss to India both as food, 

 manure, money, and trade that I desire attention. So 

 far as the above 6,775 tons of cured sardine are con- 

 cerned I have obviously no complaint since the whole of 

 this is used as food and much of it in this country. So 

 also with regard to the comparatively few tons of ferti- 

 liser used on our tea and coffee estates, all of which 

 directly enrich the country. But the fertiliser trade is a 

 very grave loss to this Presidency. 



3. I am not as yet able to give exact figures for this 

 business ; I am gathering them from the statistics of the 

 seaports and can give minima, though the precise figures 

 are not of supreme importance since it is admitted that 

 the lowest figures are very large. For 1907-08 when 

 sardines were unusually abundant, the exports of fish 

 fertilizer from the Malabar district alone were 1 1,527 tons 

 to Ceylon and 3,302 tons to Japan or 14,829 tons ; these 

 two countries took all the foreign exports. In the pre- 

 vious year when sardines were ordinarily abundant the 

 exports to these two countries were 4,580 and 1,142 

 tons, respectively, or 5,722 in all. The above figures 

 are minima for Malabar district ; in reality the exports 

 were slightly greater, but are not distinguishable from 

 inter-coastal trade. The figures for South Canara will 



