Report No. 3 (19/7). 



A STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF THE FISHING INDUSTRY 

 OF TUTICORIN (SOUTH INDIA). 



BY 



JAMES HORNELL, F.L.S., 



Government Marine Biologist, Madras. 



INTRODUCTORY. 



When I first engaged in fishery duty in the Madras Presidency 

 I found that no adequate data existed concerning the statistical 

 condition of the fishing industry- Tlie only figures available were 

 those contained in the census reports, and those existing in the 

 records of the fish-curing yards conducted by the Salt and Abkari 

 Department. The former were of little or no use as they dealt 

 only with the numbers of the population engaged in the industry, 

 while the latter took account only of fish brought to the yards for 

 curing — no notice was taken of the fresh-fish trade, which in 

 populous centres is usually the more important branch. 



Without a fairly accurate knowledge of the relative value and 

 quantities of the different kinds of fishes caught and of the relative 

 and absolute importance of the methods employed, I felt that no 

 real progress could be possible in initiating new fishing methods 

 or in introducing improvements in existing ones; in other words 

 an investigation upon scientific lines must precede any experi- 

 mental innovations conducted empirically. Unfortunately the 

 means at my disposal for such an enquiry were so scanty that I 

 had to confine it to a single port in the first instance. That port 

 had necessarily to be Tuticorin where alone I could improvise the 

 necessary organization for the purpose. The enquiry was com- 

 menced in October 191 1 and was carried on without interruption 

 throughout the ensuing four years. 



Those who are acquainted only with the methods employed in 



collecting fishery statistics in Great Britain can have little idea of 



the difficulty experienced in organizing and carrying through such 



an enquiry in India. A British fishery statistician would probably 



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