68 MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN VOL. XI, 



appoint, in the case of a small port, an agent from the ranks of the 

 fish-trading community of the place, who, for a small fee, would 

 collect daily from the fish salesmen of the port accounts of the fish 

 they had handled, together with such other details as could be 

 obtained readily from the owners of the local fishing fleet and 

 from the carrying companies serving the port. 



In an Indian port like Tuticorin anything like this is impossible. 

 There is no wholesale fish market except the beach, there are no 

 companies or large owners controlling each a number of boats, 

 and while there are certainly some fish salesmen and traders, these 

 men seldom or never keep any accounts, and if they did would 

 probably refuse to acknowledge the fact or else would falsify them 

 lest a demand for income-tax should ensue. Worse still, the fish 

 are seldom sold by weight, measure or number. The catch is 

 usually thrown in a heap on the beach and the ' lot ' as it lies is 

 sold by auction — the buyers must appraise its value by the eye, 

 and make their bids accordingly. Accordingly the only way to 

 obtain fairly reliable statistics at Tuticorin was to depute two men 

 to attend respectively at the two main fish landing places and to 

 ascertain as best they could the catch of each fishing boat as it 

 was landed and sold. To arrive at an approximately correct idea 

 of the weight in the case of larger fishes, these were counted and 

 average individuals weighed by means of a spring balance; in the 

 case of small ones, the number of standard basketsful were ascer- 

 tained as best might be, and by reference to the weight capacity 

 of these standard baskets, the weight of the fish was estimated. 

 I cannot pretend that the results are absolutely accurate, but I 

 believe they are fully as reliable as the generality of British 

 fishery statistics. To prevent errors due to the personal equation, 

 the same enumerators were employed throughout, thereby eliminat- 

 ing one very fruitful source of error In such an enquiry. Constant 

 supervision was also employed and wherever possible any 

 exceptional catches were specially tested and verified. The only 

 figures of which I have any reasonable doubt concerning their 

 accuracy are those collected during the first three months; the 

 enumerators were then gaining experience and probably were not 

 so expert in estimating quantities and separating species as they 

 eventually became. Still I see no adequate reason to exclude these 

 particular statistics and I believe that the tables and summaries 

 given below are sufficiently accurate for all practical purposes and 



