FOREWORD. 
It may not be out of place to put briefly on record the 
various stages in the development of the Cej'lon Fisheries. 
Until about a decade ago the interest shown by the Ceylon 
Government in fishery questions was restricted to the Pearl 
Fisheries. These famous fisheries are of considerable historic 
interest, and, moreover, rank high amongst the Pearl Fisheries 
of the world. Priorto the year 1902 they had been prosecuted 
without any regard to the marine biological problems involved. 
In that year Professor (now Sir William) Herdman, F.R.S., 
made a thorough examination of the Pearl Banks, and an 
exhaustive series of reports was published dealing with the 
bionomics of the pearl 03'ster and the biological conditions of 
the Pearl Banks. As a direct outcome of Professor Herdman's 
work, a Marine Biologist was appointed to deal solelj^with the 
biological problems of the Pearl Banks. This officer was trans- 
ferred to the Cej^lon Company of Pearl Fishers, when that 
Company took over thelease of the Banks in 1906. In 1912, 
when the Company ceased its operations, the Pearl Banks 
reverted to the Ceylon Government, and the Director of the 
Colombo Museum was placed in charge of the scientific opera- 
tions connected with the Pearl Banks. At an earlier date — 1 907 
— the Director, Colombo Museum, had been made Marine Bio- 
logist in addition to his other duties, in order to carry out 
investigations on the food fisheries, but little was done in this 
direction, mainlyowingtothe apathetic attitude of the Govern- 
ment. Since 1912 the present writer has made successive 
attempts to induce the Ceylon Government to take a practical 
interest in the food fisheries of the Island. These efforts, in 
spite of the set-back caused by the war, have achieved some 
success. In 1919 the Government sanctioned a Marine 
Biological Surve}^ of the littoral waters of Ceylon, with a view 
to increasing our knowledge of the bionomics of the food 
fishes of Ceylon. This w^ork is still in progress, and the 
valuable results achieved are being placed on record as 
quickly as the limitations of a small staff will allow. 
On more than one occasion in recent years recommendations 
have been made urging the establishment of a fully equipped 
Fisheries Department, and in Ceylon Sessional Paper I. of 
6(13)22 2 
