Then again, if these areas can be made fully produc- 

 tive an enormous amount of food can be easily grown 

 and easily harvested by men of any class. For such 

 harvesting no dangerous work and exposure, as in deep 

 sea fishing, are necessary, and both cultivation and harvest 

 can proceed in all weathers and seasons, while men of the 

 ordinary Sembadavan class can engage readily in such 

 work. If, for instance, only 16,000 acres out of 116,000 

 of Pulicat lake alone were under fish-farming, and pro- 

 duced only at the Arcachon rate of 2J cwt. per acre, 

 2,000 tons would be annually produced by this fraction 

 of the lake, and there are many areas better suited for 

 farming than Pulicat, though not so extensive, e.^., 

 Dugarazapattanam, and probably Covelong ; this would 

 be almost an assured annual harvest, obtained with the 

 minimum of trouble and risk. 



This rate of produce, however, may be largely 

 increased by culture and additional food, especially 

 considering the rapid growth in tropical waters, parti- 

 cularly when food, naturally considerable, is artificially 

 increased and where precautions are taken to prevent 

 either cannibalism by the fish under cultivation, or the 

 attacks of predaceous foes. There is no reason to 

 suppose that marine fish, confined in conditions suitable 

 to their nature, will grow less rapidly than fresh-water 

 fish, and the recorded accounts of their growth, as 

 mentioned in paragraphs 196 to 198 of my " Note on 

 Japanese P^isheries " are astonishing and suggestive. 

 With these figures may be compared the phenomenal 

 rate of growth of the edible oyster as ascertained by our 

 Ennore and Pulicat experiments of the last three seasons, 

 viz., full maturity and fitness for market in 18 months 

 from spat fall. Hence a few acres of properly farmed 

 and protected backwater should provide a good income 

 even though fish be priced at but one anna per pound. 

 Since these areas are mostly owned by the State it will 

 eventually be possible to draw from them a revenue 

 which will maintain the department without recourse to 

 the general purse. Hence there is every reason for taking 

 up marine fish-farming as a most important Government 

 experiment, in order to ascertain its methods and its 

 possibilities, and to provide examples for imitation. 



9. That fish-farming, if possible, is worth while, has 

 been argued. That it x'?, possible \^ practically certain ; if 



