No. I (1917) 



EDIBLE MOLLUSCS 



37 



Two methods of fishing are employed, the one a wholesale 

 netting in which thousands are caught at a haul ; the other, where 

 the skill of the fishermen is exercised in catching the Squid singly 

 by means of a jigger. 



Fig. 22. — The Common Simud. x \. 



The first method is largely practised in Rameswaram Bay 

 during the early part of the south-west monsoon ; a seine is used 

 having a large close-meshed bag in the centre, with long wings and 

 with wing ropes closely set with strips of palm leaf (olai) to serve 

 as scare lines, and so to herd the Squid into the bunt of the net. In 

 the season there are usually four sets of these Squid seines — called 

 olai-valai locally — in daily use at Rameswaram. When shoals are 

 about catches may occasionally range up to 5,000 a haul. The bulk 

 of the Squid caught are sold to fish runners who come from Pamban 



