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Letter — from Sir F. A. Nicholson, k.c.i.e., I.C.S., Honorary 



Director, Madras Fisheries. 

 Dated — the 20th April 191 2. 



Referring to G.O. No. 2537, Revenue, dated the 21st 

 August 191 1, desiring detailed plans and estimates for a 

 marine fish farm as suggested by Mr. Hornell in his 

 report on " Marine Fish Farming for India " (Fisheries 

 Bulletin No. 6), I have the honour to submit copy of a 

 letter from Mr. Hornell giving particulars and proposals. 



2. After receipt of the above Government Order I 

 requested Mr. Hornell to visit several parts of the coast 

 in view to a general survey of fishery practices and possi- 

 bilities and with the special object of selecting a conve- 

 nient site. Mr. Hornell reports that many such sites 

 are available, and in Ganjam a village officer has come 

 forward to lease a lagoon area admirably suited for the 

 purpose but too far from our general head-quarters to be 

 departmentally worked. Finally Mr. Hornell pitched 

 upon a site which though not perhaps ideal in all its 

 conditions as a fish farm, is excellently situated for a 

 first experiment which demands continual observation, 

 experiment and control, viz., a lagoon area of perhaps 150 

 acres close to the chank godowns about a mile out of 

 Tutlcorin, perfectly unused, and communicating with the 

 sea by a narrow inlet. His proposals to utilize this are 

 mentioned in his letter and will be readily understood by 

 the sketch. The Revenue and Marine authorities have 

 stated in writing that they have no objection to the use 

 of the area, and the Executive Engineer has prepared the 

 estimate. Beino- close to the chank o-odowns the farm 

 will be incessantly under supervision by the chank staff 

 as well as by Mr. Hornell during his lengthy stay at 

 Tuticorin in the pearl and chank season. 



3. Since Mr. Hornell's letter was written he has 

 suggested to me that the farm may be used not merely for 

 food-fish farming but for the cultivation of ( i ) the window- 

 pane oyster {^Placuna placenta), (2) the ordinary oyster, 

 in a position where it will be daily under observation in 

 quiet and enclosed waters. The first named is not unim- 

 portant ; the fish is not unknown in Madras waters and 

 is also found largely in Ceylon ; its former industrial use 

 is well-known, and though such use had apparently died 

 out it is now reviving where a subdued light is required, 

 a notable instance being in the new and up-to-date 



