114 



or 5,360 tons; if only one-fourth were annually fished, 1,340 tons would be 

 the harvest. It is certain then that at a low estimate 1,200 tons of fish 

 could annually he taken from that lake. 



Now the whole of this fish, taken daily in moderate quantities, could he 

 brought aliye or but just dead, to the curing house, so that the preserving 

 process could be begun before any trace of taint had appeared ; hence a 

 product of the first quality and good keeping power could be ensured 

 especially in a climate of such great dryness as that of the neighbour- 

 hood where the annual rainfall averages from 12 inches (Hiriyur) to 18 

 inches at the lake. Allowing a loss in weight of 25 per cent, by the 

 removal of heads and guts, and of 40 per cent, of the remainder by dryage, 

 the product in prime dried fish, almost the whole of which would be edible, 

 would be 45 per cent, of the abov^e weight or 540 tons, worth at two annas 

 per pound, Rs. 280 per ton ; at only Rs. 225 or 10 lb. per rupee the annual 

 value would be Rs. 1-2 lakhs plus the value of about 150 tons of by-products 

 for manure on the irrigated area. 



These figures could certainly be greatly increased by proper manipula- 

 tion of the lake as for instance by fencing in some of the shallow parts and 

 using them as stock ponds, and so forth ; it must also be remembered that 

 if Mr. Thomas's figures are taken, even with large deductions, as a basis of 

 fish growth, the natural outturn should be far larger ; if 1^ cwt. per acre 

 yield 1,500 tons or even 1,000 tons on the average area, then 1,000 lb. per 

 acre such as Mr. Thomas obtained from the Yallam pond, mean nearly six 

 times that quantity, while even the Bavarian rate of nearly 2h cwt. per acre 

 would mean something like 2,400 tons. Since even 1,000 tons of fish mean 

 76 lb. offish annually for 30,000 people, the importance of the utilization 

 of this lake as a food supply is evident while it would provide an important 

 local industry. 



Of course this lake is merely cited as an example ; as shown in the text 

 there are large areas of other permanent waters, actual or potential, whicli 

 may be utilized in similar fashion, while of non-permanent waters there is a 

 notable area. 



