78 MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN VOL. XI, 



to 2}/i feet. They carry one small mast furnished with the usual 

 squarish lug-sail. 



This inshore lining is prosecuted with greatest success from 

 November to March inclusive, i.e., during the period of the north- 

 east monsoon when the water of Tuticorin bay is always more or 

 less turbid. Another and probably more potent factor making for 

 good catches during the north-east monsoon period is that this 

 season and particularly the months from November to February 

 inclusive, coincides with the rains ; the great bulk of flood water 

 from the Tambraparni River and the local streams is then emptied 

 into the sea. This land drainage causes a notable increase of 

 organic matter in the inshore water, which, too, is banked up into 

 the Tinnevelly bays and coast indentations by the off-sea winds 

 then prevailing. As a direct consequence the neritic or inshore 

 plankton increases enormously ; firstly, filamentous algse, diatoms, 

 peridinians, and other protista, and then, feeding upon them, a 

 whole host of the smaller crustaceans — copepods, schizopods and 

 prawns. These small fry are the normal food of the small fishes 

 caught by the inshore liners, and the increase and local concen- 

 tration of these are the direct consequences of this superabundance 

 of foodstuff in shallow water. From the following table it will be 

 seen however that a fairly good second fishing season occurs in 

 June and July. The cause for this is more than a little obscure, but 

 lam inclined to think it is due in part to freshets that then come 

 down the Tambraparni from the Travancore hills and provide a 

 second though smaller supply of organic matter for the sustenance 

 and increase of the neritic plankton and the consequent attraction 

 of small fish. 



Quantity and value of small fishes caught month by month by 



inshore lining based on statistics for the four years 



1911 -15- 



,, ., VVeiirht in Value in 



Month. -^ J 



pounds. rupees. 



October ... ... ... i>953 127 



November ... ... 14,760 955 



December ... ... i5,4^\> 1,046 



January ... ... ... 25,772 1.766 



February ... ... ... 15.876 970 



March ... ... ... 10,515 695 



April ... ... ... 984 77 



May 339 24 



