136 MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN VOL. XI, 



The variations in the values placed by the Ceylon exporters 

 upon their produce are remarkable and appear to indicate that the 

 rates given bear in some years little or no relation to the real 

 market value of the produce. 



The tables given are compiled from statistics kindly supplied 

 by the Registrars of Imports and Exports of Singapore and Penang 

 to whom I am greatly indebted for this courtesy. 



THE PROSPECTS OF THE INDUSTRY IN INDIA. 



We have already seen that the Chinese market will absorb all we 

 can possibly produce, and that the only limitations are those of the 

 natural supply in our littoral waters. 



I have not as yet been able to examine that part of the northern 

 half of Palk Bay and Strait which from its depth and probable 

 faunistic conditions is likely to be productive of the only valu- 

 able species at present available, but so far as the southern half is 

 concerned I have located the chief beds. These lie principally in 

 the south-west angle, where large areas of sandy bottom are found, 

 extending from Tirupalakudi in the north to Pillaimadam and 

 Mandapam in the south-east. This appears to be the richest 

 ground as on several occasions over 10,000 of these animals have 

 been collected in a single day by a small diving force varying 

 between 23 and 31 men. 



Another centre is Pamban where a good deal of white attai is 

 obtained by diving and by wading over the sand-flats at low tide. 

 Rameswaram Bay has also yielded sufficient to keep a small 

 factory busy in former years but at present the divers report a 

 scarcity of material there. White attai is also met with, but 

 generally in small quantities, in depths of I to 3 fathoms in the 

 inner passage between the mainland and the Ramnad and 

 Tinnevelly Islands as far south as Tuticorin. 



At present the Government factory at Tirupalakudi is the only 

 one in operation. The small private concern at Pamban closed 

 down last year, and this locality may be worth attention when the 

 Krusadai Island Station be built, as a curing station could then be 

 supervised with a minimum of trouble and expense. In the mean- 

 while the most likely situation for a second station is Vedalai, 

 where is located a small community of divers already working in 

 the Government Chank Fishery. It has to be borne in mind that 

 under present conditions the beche-de-mer fishery is not sufficiently 



