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Museum of Comparative Zoology

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FISHEKIES OfARlSANDSCitHCF.S

IN japa:n.

. ) BY

SIR fT At'NICHOLSON, K.C.I.E., I.C.S. (retired)
On Deputation, Madras Fisheries Investigation.

MADRAS:
PRINTED BY THE SUPERINTENDENT, GOVERNMENT PRESS.

[Price, 1 rupee 2 annas.] 19 7. [1 shillinri 9 pence.]

CONTENTS.

Prkkack ...

iNTRUDUCTtJRY —

The lessons of Japanese action in the matter of iislieiies ...
Gkneral —

Statistics — Conditions and Characteristics — History— Points
for consideraton in this Note ...

TiiK Gathering ok Inkor.mation from abroad —

despatch of delegates to exhibitions, of students for train-
ing, and of experts for observation and study — Hiring of
foreign exiserts ...

Creation of a Depaktaient and of Fishery Societies —

Character ot the Department — Establishment of the Fish-
eries Society of Japan — Its membership, and various works
— Its independence of Government ...

Examination and PiEgistkation of Local Conditions and
Facts —

Exhibitions — Commissions of enquiry — Conferences — Hlxi^eri-
mental stations ...

EXI'ERl. MENTAL STATIONS

Origin — Character — Maintenance — Duties Experiments —

Instruction to fishermen — Departmental instructions for
the guidance of stations — Suggestions of a Council of
Directors — Notes cf inspections regarding boats, fish can-
ning, pisciculture, schools, etc. — Marine Biological Labo-
ratory

Fishery Schools —

Classes of school — Imperial Fisheries Institute, Tokyo, full
description — Fishery Institute at Sapporo-~Schools under
the Educational department, (a) regular, (b) supple-
mentary — Schools under the Department of Agriculture
(a) regular, {h) sessional schools or practical courses

Encouragement and Protection — -

Bounties for deep-sea vessels — Hebates of excise and cus-
toms duties — Establishment of close limes and ])laces, etc.
— Encouragement of relief aud thrift — Pecuniary encour-
agement ...

Fishery Associations —

History — Three classes: (1) Associations of fishermen
(Gyogyo-kumiai) under sections 18-21 of the Fishery Law
of 1902, their character and objects, statistics, articles,
delimitations, etc., with specimen cases — (2) Chambers of
Fishery (Suisan-kumiai) or Trade Associations under
section 22 of the Fishery Law, their character aud objects,
articles, operations, etc. — (3) Societies such as the
" Fisheries Society of Jai)an "

PAG E.-4

V — vii
1—3

3—8

8—10

10—13

14

15—26

2- 11

13-11

19—22

23—48

26—40 49—89

40—47 90— J 03

47—56 lOi— 123

It

CONTENTS.

Utilization of Exhibitions —
Narrative and results

FisiiKRY Taxation —

Nature and incidence

Economic Position of the Fisher folk —

Description— Capital per household -The money lei\der and
capitalist v. the fisherman — The loan-work of associations
in Hokkaido — Suggestions of Japanese experts

Fishery Plant, Methods, etc. —

Boats — Nets — Lines and hooks — Other methods of catching
— Live chests or cages for preserving fish alive

Preparation of Aquatic Products —

Shark-flesh paste — Dried and smoked bonito and tunny —
Dried yellow-tail — Fish boiled in soy — Fish in vinegar,
etc. — Canning— Fish oils — Fish manure — Shell fish — Sea
weeds, kombu, ncri, agar-agar, tnnori — Iodine — Coral —
Pearl shell — Prices

Pisciculture —

Gold fish — Salmon and trout — Edible oyster — Pearl oyster —
Culture pearls — Other shell fish — Snapping turtle — Carp,
eels, and grey mullet — Carp grown in paddy fields

Suggestions. Government Assistance —

The provision of experts in view to establishing a Depart-
ment — Students for training in Japan- — An earh' experi-
mental Station — Its first objects, viz., better boats, new
nets, better treatment of fish, more rapid ti-ansport to
shore, better and more diverse curing, canning, and observ-
ation — Pisciculture — Prospects — Waters available, viz.,
tanks, canals, ponds, wells, paddy fields — Pi'oposals for
hatcheries — Minor proposals ...

Private Enterprise —

The oi)portunities and direction of private enterprise — The
Madras City fresh fish trade — The fish manure and oil
trade — The canned fish trade inland and for export — New
methods of curing — The need for thoi'ough study wore
Japonic^ of the business — The hiring of foreign experts
— Pisciculture, scope for private "petite culture'^ — Indian
students for the Imperial fisheries Institute at Tokyo- —
The opportunities offered by the trade compared with
those of other trade — A " Fislicries Society "

pages parab.

56—57 7 24— 125

57—59 120—128

59-61 129—131

61—67 132-144.

67—78 145—165

78 -t,7 166—181-

87—106 185-224

1U7-112 225—236

Appendix I —

The Marikanav6 Lake

Appendix II —

The Fisheiy Law of Japan, 1901

Appendix III —

List of translations made for this Nuto

... 113—114
... 1J5-117
... 118—119

PREFACE.

The folio win2: note is the result of a ten weeks' tour in Janan
in 1906, during which I paid various visits of inspection to
experimental stations, schools, fishing villages, etc., consulted
various local authorities, and obtained a variety of informa-
tion, largely through special translations, which has been
partly embodied in the I^Jote. Now that the Note has been
written, many lacuna? and imperfections are obvious to myself,
imperfections which I hope to correct in a later visit, but
which at present must remain. The difficulties of the lan-
guage, the scarcity of interpreters, the paucity of reports in
European languages, the difficulty of ascertaining the existence
or nature of laws, reports, and so forth, the impossibility of
reading a single word for myself in Japanese, the strangeness
of the country, and the shortness of my visit, must be my
apologies for many of the imperfections and for, possibly,
erroneous statements or inferences. But certain unavoidable
errors apart — and I trust they are of a minor character — the
broad facts are undoubted, and it is to these that I would
direct attention ; errors in detail matter little, since it is not a
history or technical description of Japanese fisheries at which
I have aimed, but a presentation of the broad outlines of
fishery work and modern methods of development especially by
Government institutions.

The difficulties adverted to were greatly smoothed by the
invariable courtesy extended to me from the highest official
to the simplest fisherman ; Japanese courtesy is proverbial,
but it must be sorely tried by the now frequent foreigner
whose business is the asking of questions, the demanding of
information, the pursuit of the Japanese " how " and " why " ;
to those whose patience may have been tried by cross-
questioning or whose time was occupied by interviews I tender

VI P U E f A C B .

not my apologies, but my sincere thanks for their invariable
kindness through which alone my visit could be made profit-
able. 1 would especially tender my thanks to His Exeelleucy
the Marquis Saionji, Prime Minister, His Excellency Mr.
Makino, Minister for Education, Professor Mano, Director of
Public Instruction, Dr. Mitsukuri, Ph.D., Professor of Zoology
in the Univei-sity of Tokyo, Professor S. Matsubara, Priucipal
of the Imperial Fisheries Institute, Dr. T. Fujita^ Professor
of Zoology in the same, Mr. Maki, Head of the Fisheries
Bureau, for kind introductions, Dr. Kishinouiye of the
Fisheries Department who devoted much time and thought to
helping me, to the officials of the several Fishery Schools
and Experimental Stations who made my visits profitable, to
Mr. Kondo, Mr. Maruoka and other merchants who gave me
interviews and practical suggestions, and to Mr. S. Fujita of
the Zoological Department in the College of Science, Tokyo
University, who gave many days of his s^mre time to act as
my assistant in tours, and as translator of numerous laws,
regulations, and reports.

1 desire also to express my obligations to His Excellency
Sir Claude Maedonald, k.c.b., British j^mbassador, to other
members of the Embassy, to Mr. T. Harrington, Yiee-Consnl in
Yokohama, and to the Consul-General of the United States, for
kind introductions and other assistance.

In the way of books and papers I am indebted for assistance
to various publications mostly official or the work of officials
or experts ; such as " Japan in the 20th Century " prepared
for the St. Louis Exposition of 1904, various catalogues and
brochures prepared for other exhibitions, two pamphlets by
Dr. Hugh M. Smith of the Fisheries De])artment, U.S.A., a
learned lecture delivered in America by Dr. Mitsukuri on the
culture of aquatic fauna, a note by Dr. Kishinouiye on
Fisheries in Japan, a report by Mr. T. Kitahara on the coral
fisheries, three official reports descriptive of some of the fishes,
and several minor brochures and articles in various languages ;
annuals issued by the Japanese Government have provided

PREFACE. vii

the most receut statistics. But the bulk of the Note where
not original and based on personal observation and enquiry,
is derived from special translations of the laws and regula-
tions affecting fisheries and fislior folk, of reports of various
societies, and of other papers; most, if not all, of these have
never before been translated, and some relate not merely to
fisheries bnt to indnstries in general and to their development,
as also to education ; this will be seen in my fortlicoming Note
on Japanese agriculture.

A list of the translations made for this Note will be found
in Appendix III : a copy of any such translations will be sent
to any one who may require it for business purposes,

Madras,
28^/i Feh'uanj 1907. F. A. Nicholson.

InTOTE

om

FISHERIES IN JAPAN.

INTRODUCTORY.

A CDnsideration of the JajDaiiese Fisheries as studied on the spot
and in reports, regulations, etc., induces me to attribute their present
condition and their growing success to the following reasons, and it is
believed that after a perusal of this note they will be accepted by its
readers, although the necessarily imperfect presentation of the facts
seen, heard, and read, may render them less immediately apparent to
those who have had no opportunity of personal observation. The
relation of population to subsistence and to the cultivable area, and
the absence of other animal food, are of course the basic reasons for
the existence of this industry in its already large proportions, and the
rapidly increasing pressure of population on the food supply (see note
on Agriculture) is a main cause of the necessity for immediate deve-
lopment ; this note merely attempts to bring out the methods by which
the Japanese Government and nation are meeting this necessity and
the reasons which appear to be leading to pronounced success. They
may be summarized as follows : —

(1) The co-operation of Government and people; the Govern-
ment statesmanlike, resolute in progress on lines systematically thought
out and determined, imbued with the scientific spirit, liberal in neces-
sary expenditure ; the people responsive, enterprising, alert to utilize
opportunity and to follow example, and willing to accept taxation
needful to meet special expenditure.

(2) The perception of the necessity (a^ for a general and simul-
taneous enquiry into local conditions and facts and into the facts,
methods, and implements^ etc., of foreign countries both as to the
capture, preservation, and culture of aquatic products, and as to the
methods of business and trade ; (6) for detailed enquiry by means of
vs^ide and continuous experiment.

(3) The acceptance of the necessity, in the condition of the
fisher folk generally, for the initiative being taken by Government in
matters needing experimental enquiry, in radically new departures, and
generally in measures involving continuous enquiry and effort, certain
expense, and profit probable but not imraediatelj demonstrable,

(4) The consequent establishment of a directive department
wliicli combines science with practice, a full knowledge of local condi-
tions and facts with a large knowledge of the fishery industry, trade,
and needs of the world, and is therefore, able to direct enquiries «nd
experiments in proper directions, to co-ordinate work and collate
information, to utilize the results by demonstration and publication,
and to push successful products by means of exhibitions and other
advertisement.

(5) The consequent adoption, by necessity, of numerons (29)
experimental stations, and the success of such stations in ascertaining
aud introducing new or improved implements (boats, etc.), methods,
and processes.

(6) The recognition of the importance of education (a) genera/,
by which the children of fishermen compulsorily receive in common
with all other children, a sound primary education, (6) special or indus-
trial, as in supplementary (continuation) schools, fishery schools
proper including the great Imperial Fisheries Institute at" Tokyo,,
sessional schools or classes such as those worked from Kxperimental
Stations, and displays of implements, processes, products, etc..
whether temporary as exhibitions, or permanent as museums, at
various centres or experimental stations.

(7) The readiness of cultivated intelligence in various ranks and
social classes to take up the industry practically, and for that purpose,
whether as Government delegates, students or raerchtmts, to explore
the world for knowledge and for trade openings and to invest capital
individually or associated in various fishery enterprises. The applica-
tion of scientific knowledge to practical developments is well exempli-
fied in the culture-pearl industry.

(8) The ready and general formation of associations ; [a] asso-
ciations of fishermen for the carrying out of combined work through
the union of joint funds aud labour, and for the prevention of dis-
putes ; (6) trade associations or Fishery Chambers for the general
development of the industry atid trade by the improvement and
standardizing cf products, by the pushing of business, and by the
provision of trade information ; (c) fishery societies for the general
furtherance of public interest, knowledge, and progress in fishery
matters.

(9) The utilization of opportunities such as those for pushing the
industry into other waters, and their products into other countries.

(10) 1 he utilization of every aquatic product that may be turned
to account industrially or dietetically.

(11) The habit of not merely accepting marine produce which
may come to hand, but of going out and searching for it and of
following it up even at great risk and with frail boats in seas notori-
ously stormy, and on foreign aud inclement shores; of expressly

cultivating various aquatic products in novel and highly successful
ways, and of scientifically using such products in manufactures.

The conclusions are necessarily of the highest importance in India.
For, in Japan — and it was for this reason that it has been studied — we
see a very aucient and gcucral industi-y of paiamount importance to
the h'fe ot the pcoplOj but pui-sued till the Restoration of 1867 only in
primitive and customary methods ; subsequent to that date we can
watch tlie ap})lioation to that industry of scientific foresight, the doH-
berate grafting thereon by far-sighted authority and by keen-minded
business men, of all that western knowledge and experience could
teach, together with large additions suited to or needed by the condi-
tions of the people and of the industry, such as experimental stations,
fishery schools, associations, etc., which are not required or are not
general in Europe or the United States of America, where private
enterprise and capital, the advanced condition of the correlated fishing
industries, the habit of forming private syndicates or companies,
render Government initiative useless, and intervention unwelcome,
save in exceptional cases. In India we have an industry equally
primitive with that of the Japanese before 18G7, a fishing population
less numerous, less hardy, less adventurous, less adaptive, and more
readily content with that which is ; infinitely suspicious of Govern-
ment interference yet almost incapable of initiative or of serious new
departures without such intervention. Hitherto little has been done
save in the grant of cheap salt in the fish-curing yards and in a
general improvement o£ communications ; Can Japan give us hints as
to the wisest methods of further progress ? The present note is a first
attempt to answer this question-

The note is in no way intended as a history or as a description ;
it discusses solely such points as seem of importance in dealing
with the final object of enquiry, viz., the development of Madras
fisheries ; only so much of a general nature is eritered as is necessary
for a proper understanding of the subject.

GimERAL.

2. Statistics. — The nutriment of the Japanese is practically con-
fined to vegetable food and fish, since meat and dairy products are
in general unknown ; hence the necessary complement of agriculture
is the fish supply, and the fishing industry has been universally prac-
tised from time immemorial on the 13,O00 or 11,000 miles which,
including estuaries and other indentations, but excluding Formosa
and many minor islands, form the coast line of 116 main and connected
islands. The fisher folk in 1904 numbered 907,132 households with
a population of about 5 million, of whom 939,893 were fishermen —
including boys actually at work — whose solo business is fishing, while
about 1*4 million combine fisJiiug with some other business such as

fanning; in other words sligLtly over 10 per cent, of the population
are directly connected with the fisheries^ mostly marine. These men
owned 426,287 boats and about 1,200,000 nets ; the average value of
the former is not clear, but the 36,642 boats built in 1904 were
valued at nearly Rs. 72 each on the average ; nets average Rs. 18
apiece. Boats are very cheaply built, chiefly of pine wood, and last
only 10 or 12 years; hence the low average value; most of them
moreover are very small and frail with an average cost of only Rs. 51.
The weight of the annual catch is doubtful; in 1905 Dr. Hugh M.
Smith, U.S.A. Fisheries Commissioner, stated it at 3,000,000 tons or
about three times the total catch of Great Britain and Ireland or of
the United States, but this seems doubtful since the official statistics
for the main islands for 1904 give just 975 million kwam or 360,000
tons as the weight recorded for all fish of importance including shell
fish, "plus about one-third more— judging by values — for unclassified
fish, making a total of 480,000 tons ; other years are not very dis-
similar. To this must be added the catch for Hokkaido, the weight
of which is unknown, but judging by the value which is about one-
third of the recorded value for the main islands, another third should
be added on this account making a grand total of 640,000 tons ; in 1900
the weight actually given (" Japan in the 20th Century ") was about
610,000 tons. The value of the catches of 480,000 tons in 1904
exclusive of Hokkaido, was about Rs. 630 lakhs (42 million yen or
£4,280,000) or about Rs. 130 per ton or 11 pies per pound, which
seems high for Japan ; the total value in 1900 for 610,000 tons was
Rs. 850 lakhs (£5,700,000) or nearly Rs. 140 per ton or exactly one
anna per pound. This estimate nearly agrees with Dr. Smith's
valuation of 30 million dollars or £6,000.000.

3. To this value must be added the increment obtained by
manufacture; the value of " marine products " which in the statistical
returns represents such portion of the total "catches" as has been
dried and salted or turned into manure, etc., is about Rs. 450 lakhs
(30 million yen). Hence the gross value of the fisheries, including
the whole of Japan except Formosa, the whole of the products (fish,
shell fish, seaweed, manure, etc.) and the whole pi us- value obtained
by manufacture, averages annually above Rs. 1,300 lakhs (850 + 450)
or £8,750,000. The above figures should be understood to be
approximations from official statistics and nothing more.

4. Dividing the weight and value of the catches by the number of
fishing households the average catch per liouse is 0"68 ton and the
value about Rs. 90, but it will be remembered that more than half the
fishermen have other small occupations including farming. It must
also be remembered that though fish abound, it is considered that the
nearer or inshore waters except in Hokkaido and the north, are
largely depleted, as shown by the distances to which boats must go

for their larger catches ; hence the moderate catch per house and per
boat. It is certain on the other hand that the statistics are only
minima; e.g., considering that the fishermen aic taxed it is possible
that they understate their catches; it seems impossible that statistics
can already be correctly gathered from so vast a length of coast and
so many individuals — notwithstanding the statistical value of associa-
tions — and it is certain that there are lacuuio in the tables which;
moreover, give very different and much losver figures than the state-
ments of persons who enquire into particular yields, as for instance
Dr. Smith's and Prof. Mitsukuri's figures for carp and horiculture
round Tokyo.

5. Statistics apart it is clear that the industry is of vast
importance ; even 640,000 tons means about 30 Ih. per head of a
population of 48,000,000 ; in Madras the catch probably does not
exceed one-fifth of this yield for a population just one-fifth less, or
say 7^ lb. per head. Moreover an immense subsidiary business is
carried on in the subsequent manufacturing processes applied to vast
quantities of produce and to its packing and transport.

6. The case for the Japanese fisheries is put by Dr. Smith in a
too brief paper of 1905; he says, "The fisheries of Japan are less
valuable than those of several other countries, but they take first rank
over those of all other nations (1) in the actual number of people
making a livelihood ; (2) in the relative number of persons engaged
in and dependent on the industry ; (3) in the quantity of products
taken annually from the water; (4) in the relative importance of
fishery products in the domestic economy ; (5) in the ingenuity and
skill shown by the people in devising and using fishing appliances
and preparing the catch for use ; (6) in the extent to which all kinds
of water products are utilized; (7) in the extent to which the
fisheries of foreign countries have been studied and the best methods
adapted to home conditions ; (8) in the extent to which aquiculture
has been carried ; (9) in the zeal and intelligence displayed by the
government in promoting the development of the fisheries and the
welfare of the fishing population.'^

Items (1) to (4) have been sufficiently dealt with above though,
as will be seen, statistics do not seem to bear out item (3), since the
fishery outturns of Great Britain and of America are considerably larger
than that of Japan as recorded ; item (8) may also be open to doubt.
With the others I fully concur, and propositions (5) to (9) will be
demonstrated in the following notes.

7. The conditions and characteristics of fishing and fishermen. —
Perhaps the qualities most patently noticeable in Japanese fishermen
are their skill, hardihood, and self-reliance, these characteristics being
obviously the product of their climate and seas. For Japanese seas

6

do not present the regular, unl^roken seasons with the steady winds
and rare storms almost confined to well-known seasons and to well-
defined zones of the Madras waters; the winds shift indeed to certain
quarters at certain seasons but they are liable at any moment to grave
disturbances and tempests, due possibly in part to the mountainous
character of the country from which storms seem to swoop down on
the home waters, while the typhoons of summer and the storms of
winter are notorious. Consequently the seas are not only rough for
a considerable part of the year but dangerous, and boats are too often
bIo\Tn out to aea and swamped; the average annual number recorded
is about 1,300, and in a storm a few weeks ago 132 boats and 800
men were destroyed in a single locality. The climate, too, for a large
part of the year, especially in the north where the herring, cod, etc.,
fisheries are so prolific, is severe, the bitterest cold weather with
abundance of ice and snow prevailing for many montlis in the great
fishing centre of Hokkaido and the northern districts. Consequently
the Japanese fishermen have become a liardj, venturesome race who
habitually go many miles out to sea in frail pinewood boats mostly of
no structural strength, small, wholly undecked, and without shelter,
save that of mats, for the crew, and of very defective sailing powers.
The work of the Japanese navy in the late war, largely manned as it
was by men drawn from this class, is intelligible enough, especially
when hardihood is coupled with that facility for grasping new methods
which the fishermen are already showing in their ordinary industry.

8. A.S will be shown later on, the fisher folk are very poor and
usually indebted for working funds to capitalists, but their groups of
neat wooden cottages are a contrast to the fishing hamlets (kuppams)
of the Madras Coasts, while the neighbouring foreshores, which in
this Presidency are often filthy with nuisances, may be walked on with
perfect safet}'. Under the law which mtikes education universal, they
are educated like the rest of the community and aie thus able to under-
stand and to accept intelligently the new teachings prescribed to them
in the Fishery schools, in the universal associations (see infra), and by
the Experimental Stations.

9. Hislori/. — Up to the time of the Restoration (1807) the fisheries
remained in thoir primitive condition ; population was moderate and
increased but slowly ; Japan was isolated from the outer world, and
beyond a small trade, chiefly with China and Korea in foreign ships,
there was little external movement in marine products ; by a strange
law of the 17th century direct foreign trade and emigration were
wholly prevented by a stringent limitation of the size and rig of all
Japanese vessels (only one mast was allowed) and by a death penalty
for the crime of going abroad. Hence Japanese fisheries could not
profit by foreign experience and the stimulus both of foreign trade
and of a rapidly increasing home population was also wanting. Up

to tlie date in question, raoroovor, tlio country was split up into about
270 feudal estates larf^ely independent of central authority and governed
by local chieftains (Daimios) ; interconnnunication was difficult and
fisheries were rcuulatLMl by local usages and taxed according to local
necessities or fancies. The resources of the sea were little attended
to by the local authorities and though there were rules for the protec-
tion of fish, these were, at least partly, dictated by religious ideas
regarding the sanctity of animal life. Merchants and capitalists,
however, appear to have put capital into the business, owning large nets
and financing the fishing population, usunlly on the sharing principle,
and assisting them in bad times ; lience on the one hand a certain
amount of control of the fishermen by capital, and on the other the
advantage that capital was accustomed to the business and ready to
undertake developments when the Restoration provided the opportunity.
Moreover, owing to disputes between the farmers who owned or claimed
rights over the foreshore, and the inshore fishermen, rules and customs
had sprung up by which the rights and limitations of local fisheries
were defined and certain close times and other jirotective usages had
sprung up, while these very disputes and the necessity for working
large fisheries in common, had accustomed tlie fishermen to associate in
groups, a matter of importance in considering the success of the fishery
associations established by recent law. Everything however was j^rimi-
tive and confined within moderate sea limits and hereditary methods ;
Professor Matsubara, present Head of the Imperial Fisheries Training
Institute, describes it as the period of chaos, but this can only be taken
in the sense that the methods in use and the business in general were
unorganized, without central direction, protection, or stimulus.

10. But with the Restoration (18G7) came an immediate change;
the regime had hardly begun when the proper control and develop-
ment of the fisheries were seen both by the authorities and by the
more intelligent of the people, to be an absolute necessity. 'I'he first
overt steps were taken by Government who, on behalf of the Sovereign,
resumed by edict the control of the whole foreshore nnd of the inshore
waters, but declared that the rights of the fishermen and others should
continue to be governed by local usage. This contained the germ
of that deliberate, far-sighted, organized pi-omotion of fisheries, by
Government and people alike, which seem to me the central lesson
of my Japanese fishery studies. For when Government assumed
administrative rights over fisheries it equally accepted, as in agri-
culture and other industries, correlative duties such as the protection
and development of the State^s public assets in its fisheries, the
increase of the food and manure supply for the general population,
the promotion of the arts of obtaining, preserving and cultivating
its aquatic products, the development cf a foreign trade in improved
fflariue products, the welfare of the fisher population economically,

8

educationally and industrially, the proper ascertainment and delimi-
tation of local rights and privileges, and so forth. In dealing with
these duties the State was assisted by the public to no small degree.
Indeed, it is difficult to say how the first impulse of improvement was
given ; whether the people in the persons of its leading men, fishery
merchants, and others, first initiated new methods and enterprises, or
whether Government gave the primary impulse. It will be seen
presently that, as in agriculture and industries, honours are divided :
Grovernment and the people have gone hand in hand in progress, each
acting and reacting on the other.

11. The points to be considered are as follows : — (1) the gathering
of information and suggestions from other countries ; (2) the creation
by Government of a department to deal with the industry, and by
private persons of fisheries societies ; (3) the examination and regis-
tration of local conditions and facts ; (4) the carrying out of research
and the formation of practical experimental stations; (5) the estab-
lishment of educational institutions ; (6) encouragement and protec-
tion ; (7) the organisation of the fisher folk and of those concerned
with the industry into associations of various nature ; (8) the utili-
sation of exhibitions ; (9) taxation and expenditure ; (10) the
position of the fisher classes.

After discussing these points, a brief description of Japanese
methods and implements useful to Madras will be given under the
heads of boats, nets and gear, the preparation of certain products,
the use and preparation of various marine products other than fish
such as sea weed, shells, etc., and finally certain methods of aqui-
culture. Suggestions for Madras will conclude the Note.

THE GATHERING OF INFORMATION.

12. One of the canons of action laid down by Government at the
Restoration, 1867, was as follows :— " Knowledge and learning shall
be sought after throughout the whole world in order that the status
of the Empire may be raised higher and higher.^' Perhaps this is
one of the most noteworthy of visible advances. Prior to 1868,
visits to foreign countries were punishable with death in Japan ; from
1868 the emissaries of progress went or were sent from Japan through-
out the world ; before the Restoration foreigners were practically
excluded from Japan ; after that event experts of all nations were
brought in, in order that they might teach the Japanese all that they
knew of western knowledge, science, arts, and industries. So far as
fisheries were concerned one of the first Japanese efforts was the
despatch of delegates with exhibits to various exhibitions such as
those of Vienna in 1871 and Philadelphia in 1876, and these shows
taught the Japanese something of the advance made by western

9

nations in fishery matters ; it was however the special fisheries exhi-
bitions of Berlin, 1880, and London, 1883, that fully enlightened the
nation. In 1880 one of the delegates to Berlin was Professor Mat-
subdra, the present learned and experienced Principal of the Imperial
Fisheries Training Institution, and the knowledge he gained was
instrumental to progress in a high degree, as will presently be seen.
It was at these exhibitions and through the studies which accompanied
them, that Japauese delegates becaine acquainted with modern
processes in preserving and canning fish, in artificial fertilisation and
hatching, and with classes of boats and gear to which they had
hitherto been strangers; this knowledge they brought to Japan and,
sometimes with and sometimes without the aid of Government, they
put this knowledge into practice. Since that time Japan has regularly
taken part both as exhibitor and student in the various exhibitions,
ending with the present international Exposition at Milan. The
emissaries and students however are always everywhere ; students and
others were sent to America, and of course elsewhere, for practical
training in the various branches of the industry and brought back
either complete plans of all necessary buildings and plant or the plant
itself; ^-.c/., about 20 years ago the salmon rivers of Hokkaido were
being depleted by over-fishing, whereupon a Government official was
sent to the United States to learn their methods of salmon hatching
with the result that on his report a hatchery was established in 1888
which is now only one of 18 salmon hatcheries in the empire, most of
them being private property but receiving grants in-aid ; the first
canning plant was bought by Government delegates at the exhibition
of 1880 and was utilised and copied at home. In the register of
graduates from the Imperial Fisheries Institution it is recorded that
many of the graduates since 1893 are studying abroad either as
private students, or as the agents of associations, or with Government
scholarships. In a single number of the Journal of the Japan Fisheries
Society, I note that Professor Matsubdra, a councillor of the society
and Mr. K. Ito, a fishery expert, had just returned from the Interna-
tional Fisheries exhibitions in St. Petersburg, 1902, whither they had
been sent by Government, that Mr. 0. Kajikawa was just starting on
a Government mission to inspect the fisheries in French India (Cochin-
China ?) and China, and that the Honorai-y Secretary of the Society
had just returned from a visit in a warship to an island 1,000 miles from
Tokyo Bay, which it was considered might be a convenient basis for
Japanese fisheries on the high seas. At this moment a Government
fisheries officer is engaged in a complete investigation of European
fisheries, having spent 1906 in the British Isles while 1907 is to be
spent in Europe ; at Yarmouth I found a Japanese expert who had
been working for two years at every branch of the fisheries there, and
these are but individual instances that happen to be known to myself,

10

of the thorough and assiduous interpretation of the oanon above
mentioned ; the Japanese students, private, despatched bj the associa-
tions or industrial companies, or by Government, are everywhere
seeking knowledge in the most practical ways and reporting to their
principals for necessary action at home. Not only so but foreign
experts have been brought in to teach trade methods ; in Hokkaido
Americans were imported to teach the best method of preserving the
fish for which that islaud is so famous ; at Nagasaki a French expert
was employed by a private person to teach him the art of canning
sardines in oil, with the result that the local factory is a success at
this day. This is one of the ways in which Japan works ; the search
after foreign knowledge has been and is being most thoroughly
carried out not by Government representatives merely but largely by
students and by agents of private associations and capitalists, while
Japanese fishermen and capitalists are ready at once to take advan-
tage of the knowledge brought to them either by adopting the methods
at home or by going out to places where such knowledge can be
utilised. The action of Government, of the University, of the College
of Agriculture, and of private persons in the matter of the stud}' of
foreign agriculture, may be compared ; see my note on Japanese
Agriculture.

CREATION OF A DEPARTMENT AND OF A NATIONAL
FISH BURIES SOCIETY.

13. One immediate result of these enquiries abroad was the estab-
lishment by Government in 1885 of a bureau within the Department
of Agriculture and Commerce, to deal with marine products. This
bureau underwent several changes of form and scope but in 1897 its
duties had so developed that it was separated from Agriculture and
erected into a distinct department under the Minister for Agriculture
and Commerce. Considering Japanese methods and thoroughness it
need hardly be said that the department is thoroughly equipped for
all purposes with the best experts and specialists in biology, economic
and industrial fisheries, fish culture, and fishery law ; its best descrip-
tion will be found in the narrative of the work done as will be seen
'pasfiim below.

14. But this development was simultaneously attended and even
preceded, by private effort as a matter both oi public interest and of
industrial profit ; the " Fisheries Society of Japan '\ a private associa-
tion of wide and practical scope, was founded in 1881 and has now
attained a large membership and great usefulness. In 1880 Profes-
sor Matsubdra and Mr. Murata attended the Berlin International
Fisheries Exhibition as Government delegates and the lessons they

ii

learned regarding Western methods compelled them to recognise the
necessity for public co-operative work by all persons interested in the
fishing industry, if progress was to be made. The Fisheries Society
of Japan was accordingly started by their efforts in 1882 under the
presidency of a Prince of the Imperial family, since which time it has
done splendid work which will now be detailed; figures, etc., are
mostly up to 1900 only. In the first place it is a society which com-
bines science with practice ; it is a working and not a talking society ;
there are lectures, discussions, and conferences but they are by prac-
tical men for definite practical objects, and the outcome is practical
work by its member? and staff ; its lectures are on practical subjects
intended for public industrial enlightenment. The members are
mainly men connected with or interested in the industry such as
fishery proprietors, fishermen, manufacturers of marine products,
students, scientists and experts, with only a sprinkling of oflScials.
The membership (subscription Rs. 3} in the first year was 471 but
steadily rose to 2,144 in 1893, to 4,826 in 190O, and it has now well
over 5.000 members. It has the usual officials (honorary), besides
experts and specialists who are presumably paid; in 18 years up to
1900 there had been 18 general meetings, 124 regular meetings when
lectures were given by experts and discussions held on fishing subjects,
the audiences numbering from 140 to 2,500 ; other lectures were also
occasionally given. In 1886 the society began a series of public
exhibitions of which there were 10 in various places up to 1900 ; these
were extremely useful in conveying a knowledge of new methods and
implements and in the interchange of knowledge between various
fishing districts ; especially was this the case in the matter of better
boats and nets. The Society also opened a museum and library which
was destroyed by fire and has not been replaced, an omission much to
be regretted. In 1888 the Society started one of its most useful works,
viz., a Fishery school for the education of selected young men in modern
fishery methods both catching, preserving and cuituring, and in the
correlated sciences ; this was immediately successful ; from 1893 it
was developed by grants from the Minister of Agriculture, and in
1897 it was finally transformed into the Government Training Insti-
tution described in detail later on. During the nine years of its
existence as an institution of the Society it turned out 395 graduates
nearly all of whom are now directly connected with the industry and
are leading spirits in its development.

15. The Society issues a regular monthly journal in Japanese,
now close on its 300th number. The character and objects of the
Society may be gauged from the title page of an issue taken at ran-
dom ; there are four leading articles (1) on certain islands and stations
for high sea fisheries, (2) on the encouragement of sardine canning,
(3) on the fishery law, (4) on the utilisation of the sea ; there are

12

" technical jottings " on foreign fisheries^ historical notes on the
industry, miscellaneous notes as to oyster fisherieSj etc., current
fishery news, very useful articles on foreign methods such as the
manufacture of boneless cod, Experimental Stations in America, etc.,
commercial notes containing current price lists, supplements contain-
ing local fishing regulations, and so forth. Besides this periodical,
many occasional publications on fishing matters have been issued.

16. Then the iSociety sends commissioners to examine the condi-
tion of fisheries at various places both within and without the Empire,
and during such tours improvements and new methods are explained
to local fishermen ; the chief Director, Mr. Murata, alone made 18
such tours in five years ; while its members and experts are continually
being sent on special tours, either hy Government or by the Society,
such as those mentioned above in paragraph 12. The direct instruc-
tion of fishermen by ambulant instructors is also a special feature of
the Society's work; the present Principal of tlie Im],erial Fisheries
Training Institution, Professor Matsubara, was one of such instruct-
ors. Then the Society undertakes investigations confided to it by
the Fisheries Department ; for instance in 189::! it sent commissioners
on a steamer along the Pacific Coast to observe the depth, etc., of the
sea, the character, seasons, and condition of migratory fishes, the abund-
ance or otherwise of seaweed, the best method of using new nets,
etc. Another set of experiments was in the matter of improving the
fishing boats intended for deep sea work, especially in connection
with safety and convenience in use in rough seas. Experiments were
also made in the preservation of fish by refrigeration and desiccation ;
these were conducted at 'the Fisheries school. During the Japan-
China war, the Society suggested to Government the use of canned
fish as army rations ; at the request of the department, the Society
established canneries and suppilied above 20,000 tins of fish to the
commissariat.

17. A most useful conference was summoned by the Society at
the instance of Government in 1897; members of the conference —
apparently not necessarily members of the Society — were taken from
those actually engaged in the various branches of the industry, as well
as general experts ; they reported upon certain questions submitted
to the conference by Government, such as the establishment of salmon
hatcheries, the institution of local experimental fishing stations at
various centres, the exploration of fishing grounds, statistical enqui-
ries, a law regarding fishing aosociations, the establishment of
harbours erected at State expense or by grants-in-aid, the amendment
of the law for the encouragement of high sea fisheries, the creation
of a special bank to supply capital to the fishing industries or the
widening at/ hoc of the scope of existing local mortgage banks, the

13

t
improvement and cheapening of fish transport by rail, the provision
of storm warnings along- the coast at State expenso, etc.

Besidss the above duties, the Society assisted distressed fishermen
and widows and orphans of those overtaken by calamity, and in 1898
it wae solely entrusted by the Government with the duty not only of
preparing the exhibits for tlie International Fisheries Exhibition in
Norway in that year but of sending its officers to that country tor the
management of the exhibits.

The Society has also done a great deal in the matter of culture
but it is believed that this has been abandoned except in one locality
which I inspected (see " pisciculture '^ below); pisciculture has so
developed as an industry that the Society no longer needs to work at
it. There are, it is said, six branch societies of which T was not able
to gather particulars.

Several other societies interested in the fishing industry and in
studying matters of importance in connection therewith are also said
to exist, but the one described is the oldest and most important.

18. It will be seen that this Society has done and is doing splen-
did work both scientific, practical, and educational (in a wide sense),
but while it arose out of the delegation by Government of its founders
to a foreign exhibition, it is itself purely the outcome of private ini-
tiative and public spirit, and thougb it works band in glove with the
Government in does so as an independent body. The readiness with
which the suggestions of its founders were accepted and the rapid
and practical development of the society have lessons peculiarly for
Madras ; it is for this reason that the work of the society has been
detailed with some fulness.*

* It is indeed but a platitade — yet one that is often lost sight of Ly thobe who think
imitation of Japan easy — that the progress of the nation is due to its spirit and genius ;
a far-sighted and statesmanlike Goveimnent have done much, but in many items and
methods of progress they were anticipated by the people themselves and have shown
their statesmanship by developing aud assisting the nascent ideas or methods. For
instance, though Government sent delegates to an exhibition it was not only the action
of the delegates thereafter as private persons that led to the formation of the Fisheries
Society, but the ready response of the public to the call of those delegates ; Government,
again, noting this and similar instances (see Agricultural note) and observing the power
and possibilities of cc-operative association in western countries, further developed the
idea of association and made the practice universal by law ; the people, again, responsive
to wise suggestion, and prepared to tome extent by long-standing custom, accepted the
Government regulations, and, both in agriculture, industry, trade, and risheries, have
formed innumerable and practical associations throughout the country. It is this re-
sponsiveness to suggestion, this popular search for new knowledge and new openings, this
national eagerness to seize oppoitnnities, 1his readiness to wander over the world and
endure all manner of toil andhardship in the pursuit of practical knowledge and industrial
development, this absorption of the spirit and meaning of Western methods, this
readiness not merely to adopt but to adapt, assimilate, and even improve theuo. to Japanese
needs, that are among the char£,cteristics whicli, almost in a geneiation, have taken Japan
to her present position and which so strongly differentiate her from the people of the
middle and tropical East, History, climate, temperament will not be denied,

14

THE EXAMINATION AND REGISTRATION OF LOCAL
CONDITIONS AND FACTS.

19. This duty was carried out bj Government in various ways, e.g.^
by exhibitions, by commissions formed for the purpose, by confer-
ences, and by ambulant instructors, who not only taught Vjut observed
and reported. The first National Fisheries Exhibition was held in
1885 and served to show the primitive and unorganised character of the
industry rather than its advance; for instance, owing to poor inter-
communication whether materially (as in the matter of roads),
educationally, or commercially, practices in one part of a district were
quite unknown in another part of the same district, and excellent
nets, long lines, etc., used in one area were unknown close by ; this
has similarly been found on Madras coasts. This e.xhibition was
followed by others both by the Government and the Fisheries Society,
and served largely to increase the knowledge C)f the authorities, and
to distribute information; the prizes offered also stimulated the
invention and exhibition of iujprovements especially in boats.

20. The second method was by direct commissions of enquiry ; the
first, created by Government in 1888 or earlier, travelled over the
country and reported in detail in 1891 ; this enquiry was again followed
up, and in 1893 a commission for a more extensive and scientific
enquiry into marine products was formed, the special objects of which
were (1) to extend the fishing industry, (2) the fabrication of marine
products, e.g., dried, salted, and canned fish, pearls, seaweed products,
salt, etc., (3) pisciculture. In 1898 this particular committee was
abolished but its duties were entrusted to the department which
continued the enquiries more completely and systematically including
researches in hydrography, plankton, and other matters of general
importance. For many years there has been a Marine Biological
school solely devoted to the study of marine life, but this belongs to
the University and is largely attended.

21. A third method was by means of conferences ; this subject is
not quite clear; that of 1897 has been mentioned, s.v., " Fisheries
Society," but in 1890 a standing committee seems to have been formed,
consisting of men of competence and experience in the several fishing
industries, and this committee was consulted by Governmentin matters
of importance ; this appears to resemble the standing committees of
experts so much in evidence in Italy in agricultural, industrial, and
trade matters,

22. A fourth and the most important method of enquiry is by
experimental stations; these, however, will be treated by themselves
being of supreme importance and large scope.

15

THE CARRYING OUT OF HESEARCH AND THE
FORMATION OF EXPELilMENTAL STATIONS.

23. A chief instrument of resojuvh and of progress is experiment;
the Japanese authorities did not long delay its use, and numerous
experimental stations have been started. But enquiry Ly experiment
is only preliminary to instruction, and these stations fulfil this double
duty. In fact, instruction seems to have preceded systematized
experiment, for a large number of itinerating teachers were employed
by the prefects, under the orders of the Minister, to give instruction by
lecture and example to the public ; in several places there were also
established schools intended to be of a practical character.

24. But— prubably for the reason that practical knowledge was
insufficient for sound and acceptable teaching — it was rightly decided
to start experimental stations, and as these increased, the itinerating
teachers were reduced and the practical schools mostly beoamfi stations,
so that there are now 29 stations, 4 schools, and only (1902) twenty-
four itinerant teachers. The reason given in a report on the progress
of the stations for the substitution of stations for schools, is that in
the latter instructiim tended to become theoretical only, which seems
to be due to the fact that instruction had not been sufficiently preceded
by experiment. The experimental stations are extremely practical
and are places not so much of scientific as of practical enquiry and
experiment as in the use of new nets, the building and trial of new
boats and the training of fishermen in their use, the art of preserving
fish by canning or otherwise, and so forth. At present in one place
a school coexists with the station ; in some stations instruction is
not given directly ; in others short practical courses only are given.
But instruction in the wider sense, viz., in training fishermen in new
methods, seems to be the work of all.

25. As usual in Japan these experimental stations, schools, etc.,
are initiated, maintained, and paid for from prefectural (local) funds*
receiving only a moderate grant-in-aid from the Imperial Treasury
(c/. "Agriculture "). The suggestion, possibly amounting to order,
apparently emanated from the Minister in charge, and the prefects
with their expert advisers and thoroughly aware of the importance of
the industry and of its development, have vied with one another in
establishing and supporting the stations and in supplying them with
the best men and the necessary means. The first experimental station
was founded in 189 J- at Shinojima in the Aichi District (see below for

* See note on Japanese Agriculture for explanation as to Prefectural (District)
administration and funds.

16

description) ; this was apparently selected because sardines are abund-
ant there, and the canning of sardines was a primary object of
experiment. The second station was in Hiroshima, a district famous
for its oysters and oyster culture was therefore a principal object of
station experiment. Similarly each station is devoted to experiment
in the particular industries or methods of the locality, which is
selected on a consideration of its importance, and experiment is
directed to the discovery and counteraction of defects and to the
instruction by practical teaching of new methods or implements ; iu
other words, the objects were : (1) the conduct of experiments in
improvements, (2) the dissemination of such improvements.

26. The following branches of the industry are especially dealt
with : (I) Capture of fish, etc.; e.g., the use of new or the improving of
old nets of various kinds and for various classes of fish, especially the
purse seine for sardines, of the long line, of liand lines for sharks, of
trawl nets, of implements for securing algte, etc. ; improvements of
boats and gear especially in the matter of safety for deep-sea boats ;
the preservation and transport of fish in a fresh condition ; the
preservation and use of bait ; the examination of fishing grounds and
oceanography in general including plankton (fish food) researches ;
observation as to breeding and shoaling seasons ; meteorology ;
investigation of the Korean waters, etc.

(2) Preservation of fish, e.g., the pickling (wet salting processes)
and smoking various classes of fish (these processes were not much in
use originally except the smoking of bonito, fish being chiefly light
salted and dried), canning, refrigeration and desiccation, new modes
of drying fish of various classes, including shell fish ; the manufacture
of fish oils, vegetable isinglass, iodine, salt, and fertiliser ; the
investigation of the trade in these articles, and so forth.

(8) Culture, e.g., salmon hatching and the bionomics of
salmon ; the hatching of various fish; the culture to maturity of carp,
mullet, eel, snapping turtle, pearl oyster, oyster, b^che-de-mjr, clams,
and other molluscs and seaweed ; the culture of carp for distribution
to paddy fields (see below) : enquiring into the breeding seasons of
marine aninials ; the distribution to fishermen of fry and spat especially
of new and approved species and so forth.

(4) General, such as the encouragement of fishery associations,
education especially practical, the encouragement of thrift and the
status of the fisher folk, etc.

It will be seen that the subjects enquired into at these stations are
in the highest degree practical, and it will jiresently be shown that the
methods of experiment and instruction are equally practical.

27. Statistics for 1 902 show the classes of experiments carried out
in that year, as follows ; —

17

Head.

Nature of
experiment.

CM

,

"""S

fl

0) § W)

S-2 o

ir-°s

3 O

^ « o

Eq

Remarks.

r

Capture
fish.

1
1

I

r

Preserva-
tion .

<!

L

■-

Cn'ture

1

Improved boats
Improved nets

Impvoved lines
Preservation and

transport of fresh

fish.

I'iokling and smok-
ing.

Canning and bottl-
ing.

Drying fish . .
Various methods of

preparing algfe,

isinglass, etc.

Salmon

Carp

Oyster

Pearl oyster

Clam

Bgche-de-mcr

Eel

Mullet

Other shell fish

Alg:e

G

4

38 («)

20

21

7

1

1

5

19

2(*)

23

4

16

3

6

6

10

10

13

4

4

3

3

2

2

2

5

4

6

1

5

4

7

3

(a) Several kinds of
nets were tried at
various stations ;
hence the number
is larger than the
number of sta-
tions.

{b) The small num-
ber successful is
probably due to
the totally novel
nature of many
experiments, as
in canning crus-
taceans and mol-
luscs, for ordi-
nary fish canning
has long passed
the experimental
stage in Japan.
Do.

28. By " successful " is meaut experiments which yielded the
results hoped for and which have, in most instances, been promptly
followed in the industry ; at this day many profitable changes in
method or new operations nre in full practice such as the adoption of
the purse seine, the various canning and preserving processes, the
hatching and culture of various fish, etc. For instance, the purse
seine is a successful American variant of the ordinary seine, used
especially for the catching of menhaden and sardine ; for full descrip-
tion see infra, S.V., ''Fishery plant". This new net was introduced
into two districts and was at once copied by other stations who

18

employed instructors from those districts to teach the use of the new
net ; the experiments were successful and many fishermen are now
using them, e.g., in Hyogo there were onlj 2 in 1898 and 43 in 1903 ;
in Aichi the net, borrowed from the Fishery department, was intro-
duced in 1896, and being successful, Rs. 600 were advanced next
year to five fishermen for making similar nets ; by 1903 there were 87
such nets, and now they are almost exclusively used for catching
sardine. The net was not however always accepted by the fishermen.

29. Similarly the boat and long line used for catching shark and
tunny in some prefectures was successfully introduced by the stations
of other districts ; many advances were giveu to the fishermen as soon
as the new venture was shown to be locally successful, and good
business has actually resulted. In two districts an expert in shark
catching was introduced by the st:ition fi'om other districts and under
his instruction, improved shark boats are being built by the aid of
advances to the fishermen who now successfully use them for shark
and tunny fishing even in distant waters.

30. The introduction and wide dissemination of the method of
canning fish are largely due to the experimental stations, and for this
the note on Aichi station (Shinojima) maybe read ; other preservative
methods, such as the smoking of salmon, the pickling of herring, are
also matters of experiment. At the various exhibitions of modern
times, especially that of St. Louis in 1904, these stations have shown
a large vai-iety of excellent and low priced exhibits including not only
all sorts of canned goods prepared at the stations, such as sardines in
oil, bottled anchovies, pickled sardines and mackerel in barrels, eels
pickled in jelly, fish in vinegar, and so forth, but models of improved
boats and other fishing implements and products.

31. So also the artificial hatching of salmon in the northern districts
has been successfully introduced and the cultivation of oysters, carp,
etc., has been also developed.

32. The instruction of the fishermen by these stations is variously
carried out : it is a general rule that (except at regular schools under
the Educational department) only the adult sous of persons actually
engaged in the industry shall be taught, and by means of practical
work ; the course is given at various places in the district ; e.g.,
in Chiba district courses on canning and bonito curing were given
in 5 places during fifteen months and 59 students successfully went
through the examination : in another, 95 pupils were taught, in 7
localities, various methods of pickling and preservings in another 117
completed in two places courses lasting 304 days, and so forth ; alto-
gether 902 went through these highly practical courses of from a few
days to several months in 1902. It is hardl}' necessary to add that
whatever the subject of instruction— catching, the use of new boats or
nets, ])reservation, cultuie, etc.— the students or apprentices learn ly

19

doing ; they are taken out in tlie boats and made to handle and sail
them, thoy make the cans in every detail from the flat tin sheets,
handle and treat the fish in every stage^ close and process the cans,
and so forth ; at Sbinojima the newest deep-sea boat had gone to
Korea with a selected crew of local fishermen under instruction in its
handling.

33. The following matters have been laid down by the department
for the guidance of experimental work at these stations. First as
to t^atcJiing ; the inshore waters are becoming exhausted, while the
demands for home consumption and for export are daily growing ;
moreover, it is found that the fish of the autumn and winter catches
are more suitable for export than those caught at other times (prob-
ably because they are brought to shore in better condition in the
winter) ; hence encouragement is necessary for the fisheries of these
seasons, for which purpose special attention must be paid to the
invention and provision of good safe boats able to face the stormy seas
of those periods, and to the instruction of the fishermen in the use of
the nets, and to other (financial ?) assistance to them. So also the use
of improved nets as found in Europe, etc., is to be encouraged and
attention should specially be given to several points ; viz. better
material for nets and the use of machinery (capstans, windlasses, etc.,
either manual or power) instead of mere manual handling, the mani-
pulation of nets, the selection of boats suitable to each locality and
class of fishing, the employment of trained fishermen (as instructors
apparently), a close investigation of the fishing grounds and seasons,
and the introduction of long lines where not now in use, or for
different classes of fishes. Finally, the proper treatment and trans-
portation of fish from catch to sale ; this is considered of great
importance, and the use of carriers for the conveyance of fish from the
fishing smack to shore and of bait from shore to smack, is suggested
(c/. my West Coast report).

34. Second! u, as regards i^reserving. Special attention is to be
given to the preservation of certain classes of fish, e.^., sardine^
mackerel, cod, etc., for export to Europe and America, and of salt
herring, shark fins, beche-de-mer, dried cuttle-fish, ear-shell, prawns,
etc., for China, and of various classes for homo consumption. It will
be noticed not only that the Japanese strongly des^ire to foster the
export trade, but that they are fully aware of the classes of fish
required in each country. The methods of packing are also to be
improved, and the use of ice inculcated for keeping the fish fresh.

35. Thirdly, as regards culture. Experiments in certain classes
such as salmon hatching, transplantation ot shell-fish, alg^, etc., may
well be undertaken by public bodies (experimental stations, etc.), while
the minor and easier branches, such as the growth of carp, eel, mullet,
snapping turtle, nori (an alga) may be left to private persons,

20

Oyster and nori culture form most important branches of experiment
as there are immense areas along the coast suitable for their growth
but at present unutilized. It is usual for Grovernment to assign special
experiments to certain stations ; such as the improvement of boats,
the development of the preserving industry as regards particular fish
or methods, and so forth, while certain classes of experiment, chiefly
culture, are carried out by all stations.

36. The stations are also reminded that there are three aspects of
their work ; (1) industrial experiment which must be shown to be
profitable, (2) the instruction of the public in industrial methods
found beneficial, (3) scientific investigation, e.g., into the fauna and
flora of the waters and into bionomics in general. Another duty is
the distribution of ova. spat, fry, etc., to the public.

37. At a recent council of the Directors of the several stations,
Fishery School officers, and other Fishery officials — in all seventy-nine
persons — the following matters were discussed and suggestions made
to Government : — -

(1) Since very little advantage has been taken of the law for
encouraging (by bounties) distant deep-sea fishing (36 boats in 1905),
it was suggested («) to send round officers of the department to
explain in the various fishing centres the advantages of the law ; {h)
to educate leading fishermen (in navigation ?) and to enlist young
men for special training at the stations in the handling of large boats
and deep-sea methods (the law provides for this) ; (c) that new boats
should only be built by experts who have built similar boats ; {d) that
the duty of experimenting in deep-sea fishing and the treatment of
fishes caught far out at sea should be specially entrusted to particular
stations; {e) that the training of students should be undertaken after
consulting the Department; and (/) that when deep-sea fishing has
been found successful, prefects should specially investigate the condi-
tions of such fisheries (presumably to ascertain the causes of success).

■'2) In investigating with a view to pisciculture, the most careful
preliminary enquiries as to methods, locality, suitable products, cost,
markets, etc., are to be ascertained.

(3) The encouragement of thrift among the fishermen was set
forth as a matter of the first importance ; by such means as the
promotion of credit associations (interest charged by capitalists is
very high in Japan) and indigenous societies (" Tanomoshiko '') for
furnishing capital for members for boats, nets, gear, harbours and
wharfs, etc., instruction in a proper account system, the introduc-
tion of regulations favouring savings deposits, co-operative savings
banks, etc.

(4) Improvements in transportation, namely by cheapening ice
for fish refrigeration, spreading information as to the proper use of ice

21

aud the profits gained by the botter j price obtainable for fish thus
preserved, the use and price of the best preservative substances
(presamably boric acid) with comparative statistics of price for fish so
preserved, the best method of packin^^ fresh fish for transportation,
the structure of railway fish cars, etc.

(5) Promotion of co-operative factories for curing- fish, e.g., by
encourag'ino' associations, establishing- experimental factories, and
utilising them for common service, by procuring and publishing plans
and estimates for such factories, by collec^ng and exhibiting articles
properly prepared and packed for export, by ascertaining and making
known the kind of product for which such factories will be adapted.

(6) The establishment of a standard for each class of product,
e.g., in the case of ear-shell, beche-de-mer, etc., the amount ot shrink-
age or loss in drying, percentage of water allowable in the dried
article ; for dried cuttle-fish, a minimum size and degree of dryage,
and so forth. In the description, infra, of the Chambers of Fishery,
it will be seen that one important duty with them is the standardising
of products prepared by their members for export beyond the limits
of the associations, e.g., dried squid, smoked bonito, etc., and that
this standardising is maintained by the employment of inspectors,
and by insisting, under penalty, that the products shall be inspected
and marked before being exported. So it is elsewhere reported that
the important product called '* Kanten " , (agar- agar or vegetable
isinglass prepared from a seaweed, Laminaria) showed signs of be-
coming inferior, so that Government has intervened and requires all
Kanten to be inspected and the quality branded before export. The
council evidently desires that this practice shall be made exact and
stringent. As may be seen, the export trade and its demands are
always kept well in view.

(7) The simultaneous conduct of enquiries into particular
subjects in several localities at once.

(8) The proper enforcement of the regulation for the due pro-
tection of animals and plants, as by close times where necessary, the
prohibition of certain modes, instruments of capture, etc.

(9) The better organisation of Fishery A.ssociations and Cham-
bers of Fishery.

38. Inspections. — Visits of inspection were paid to several of the
experimental stations and the following notes may be of interest.
The first was at Shinojima, in Aichi district, situated on an island a
few miles from the mainland, in a good locality for fishing especially
sardines. It is, of course, a prefectural institution paid for from
district funds which merely receive a small Imperial grant-in-aid ;
it was started in 1894 as the first of all stations, and, by the advice
of Professor Mitsulcuri, of the University College of Science, while

22

attcndiag to various item-: in the several brauches of the iudastry,
viz., catching, preserving and cultivating, it vvas specially charged
with improving deep-sea fishing, canning sardines, and, at a branch
station, in growing carp both for the market and for distribation to
the paddy fields.

39. As regards deep-sea fishing ; the locality, while abounding in
sardines at the proper season, is said to have been largely depleted of
other fish, so that it is necessary to go far out to sea for profitable
catches, and though the boats even now go many miles, it is at great
risk and with many losses of the frail open boats. Hence the build-
ing of good boats was a primary object ; one of the staff is an expert
in boat building having taken a special course beyond the usual ship
building course at the Tokyo Fishery Institute, where, like the others
of the staff, he was trained. For some years the station has built a
new boat each year, and on the experience of the year at sea, has
improved that of the next year; the latest is called a 10-tonner,
45 feet long by 10 feet wide and 5 feet deep, fully decked, with
cabin aft for the men and net hold ; forehold for gear, provisions,
etc. ; live chests amidships for bait ; low bulwarks, wing boards or
sponson decks on both sides to assist stability ; keel and centre board
(Japanese boats are all keoUess and flat bottomed), lugger rigged:
cost with masts and siils about Rs. 1,200, and with all nets and gear
about Rs. 3,3()0. The station originally brought trained fishermen
from other localities to teach the use of the new boats and nets at sea.

This boat of which only a model was on view, had gone to Korea
to fish with a selected crew of fishermen under training by the export
who is not only skilled in building but in handling fishing boats ; two
or three other boats had been hired out to fishermen who had also gone
to Korea. The best local boats could not venture on such distant
voyages over waters often stormy, as they are at best only partly
decked and much smaller, costing about Rs. 400, without nets and
gear. The station is now contemplating a motor boat with kerosine
engine, which would, it is considered, be invaluable in following up
fish, in bringing them rapidly to the shore, and in enabling men to
make for refuge in case of storms.

40. As regards fish 'preservimj : the station is in the midst of one
of the best sardine grounds, where the annual catch is counted by tens
of millions of pounds and is capable of unknown extension ; owing to
want of facilities for sale they are largely turned into manure, and the
object was not only to catch more but to render them more available
as food ; hence a very cotnplete canning plant was established and
other new methods, e.g., salting in barrels, have also been successfully
tried and the products put on the market. The plant comprises all
machines necessary for can making and closing, baths for the preli-
minary^ boiling, and cookers for " processing " underpressure at about

23

240° F. The chief products are sardines in oil, boiled sardines, and
sardines salted in barrels ; the station was the first to can the fish in
oil. Tlie metliods will be fully discribed hereafter ; briefly, for
sardines in oil the fisli are beheaded with scissors, partly split and
gutted, washed and placed in strong brine for twenty minutes ;
placed in wire baskets to drain and then dried in the open air for an
hour or two; then suspended for a few minutes in boiling oil con
tained in pans over furnaces or in steam heated troughs ; next they
are packed in boxes with a given measure of oil and left to soak all
night; in the morning the}' are examined soldered up and "pro-
cessed " in the cookers at about 6 lbs. pressure, slightly below 240° F.
The tins are put into a hot closet kept at about blood heat and left for
several days to test the soundness of the process, since unsound cans
will by then be bulged with gas. Boiled sardines are large fat fish ;
these, treated at first like the others, are not dipped in boiling oil after
the brine bath nor are the tins filled with oil, but are closed, boiled,
pin. holed and reclosed, and then processed ; the fat suflSces for them
and is found as a cake on the surface when opened. For drying the
fish in wet weather, there is a good drier or warm closet kept at about
75° F. through which air, warmed by passing around steam pipes, is
driven by a fan ; the object is not to desiccate but to dry, though, as
will be hereafter shown, similar but more powerful driers are used
elsewhere for actual desiccation and may be useful in Madras, since
plenty of warm dry air is far better for drying fish for preserving
purposes than a torrid roasting sun which toasts the outside to a hard
crust and leaves the inside a moist and incubative nidus for prolific
bacteria. For other matters of interest seen at this station see *' fixed
trap nets," "live chests," " boats," etc.

41. The practical benefits arising from this station have been
partly shown above in the matter of boat building and the training of
fishermen, but a main benefit is from the canning experiments.
Canning in oil first shown here, is now common in Japan, and con-
siderable local manufacture is the direct result of the example and
teaching of the station. On the mainland at the port opposite the
station is an excellent private canning factory started on the model
of the station factory ; this and others are run by a company in Nagoya,
the district capital, and can turn out 2,000,OOU tins per annum ; the
business manager of the company is the late principal of the Experi-
mental Station who was originally trained at the Imperial Fisheries
Institute, became the canning expert at the station and has now
transferred his services to the company. Hence, the building of sea-
going boats, the training of fishermen in the handling of them and of
the nets which have become available by their use, the consequent
ability to go many hundreds of miles (to Korea, etc.) and fish in
heavily stocked unexhausted waters for valuable animals such as

24

whales, fui' seals, sharks, etc., as well as for the more ordinarv fish^
the ability to catch more fish locally and to utilise them as wholesome
preserved food for a vnst number of people, the development of an
industry which gives good employment to many and profits to the
nation, are directly traceable to the foundation of this station only a
dozen years ago. But the station was founded with knowledge and
foresight; the exact objects to besought were defined, the experi-
menters were and are enthusiastic and not only enthusiastic but
experts, and the men of the locality were, like other Japanese, ready
to be taught and ready or, rather, anxious to take advantage of
opportunity.

42. The station, moreover, has a branch at Atsuta near Nagoya
where pisciculture is carried on ; it has a good staff, the Principal
being, of course, a graduate from the Imperial Fisheries Institute ;
it consists of the usual office and other buildings and about 9 acres
of land, nearly the whole of which is occupied by 5 large and 17
smaller ponds of somewhat brackish water; the small ponds are for
breeding and the large ones for growing for market carp, mullet, eel,
and snapping turtle. The methods will be detailed s.v. "pisci-
culture " but the objects and results are as follows : the objects are
to popularise by experiment, example, and advice the best methods of
breeding, to experiment on and introduce new and more profitable
classes or species such as the Chinese eel, foreign varieties of carp, etc.,.
and to supply young carp for growth in the paddy fields, a peculiar
Japanese method of fish culture. The large ponds contain the fish grown
for market ; these are fed on all sorts of cheap nutriment, and as this
is a silk growing locality, the dead pupae from the cocoons are largely
used either whole or crushed with other food stuff such as meal.

43. Last year the station sold 100,000 * carp, 25,000 mullet, and
thousands of pounds, weight of eels, and distributed, gratis, an
immense number of carp fry ; these last are spawned in spring in the
small ponds, as vvill be described .s.v. '' pisciculture ^', and early in
June, when about 1" or 2" long, are sent out in pails slung on kavadis
and containing several thousand each ; if the water be changed they
will travel up to 40 miles, sufficient aeration being given by the motion of
the carrier. At their destination they are turned into the paddy fields
where there is abundant animal and vegetable nutriment in the shape of
copepods, larvae, small Crustacea, etc. ; by harvest time in October,
they vvill be 8" or 9" in length and fit for market ; should the field irriga-
tion fail during that jieriod. a pit is dug in the field and the fish collected
there. Considerable profit is obtained in this way by the farmer.

* These were the figures given to nie in conversation hut, there seems to he Bonie
error, the quantity being hardly credible, or reconcilable with the publibhed official statis-
tics of carp production in i\ichi and other districts. iSee " pisciculture " infra.

25

44. It was stated that several private culture farms have resulted
from the example of this branch station so that it has been useful in
the way of advice, experiment, example and supply. There is very
much of interest for Madras in these piscicultural stations, and one
lesson is the way in which small culture farms may be profitably
worked in Madras districts by small ponds for which water may as in
Bengal, be bought, if necessary from irrigation sources ; abundance
of cheap fish food may be collected by children from the fields, and if
silk culture can be combined, as in Mysore and in British territory
above ghauts (KoUegal, etc.), the pupae will form a large fish food
addition.

The total cost of this experimental station and branch in the year
ending Maich 1905, was Rs. 27,385.

45. Another station, Isohama, in the Ibaraki district on the Pacific
ooast, was inspected. This was started only in 1 900 ; special attention
is here paid to improving the capture and preservation of fish, and to
the culture of carp at a separate branch station. As regards capture :
the staff has newly introduced from another district (Chiba) the
method of catching bonito in a drift net instead of by line : the net is
a thin cotton net of about 2 inch mesh against which the bonito, a
swift large fish, strikes and entangles itself fas I have seen porpoises
caught by accident in mackerel nets on the Madras West Coast) ; this
method has now been taught to local fishermen by the station staff all
of whom are graduates from the Imperial Fishery Institute. A motor-
boat is now being built for the station ; size, 50' x 13' x 8' with a
"Dan" kerosine motor; sloop rigged, fully decked, live wells for
bait, ice and fish hold, etc. ; capstan and windlass but manual only ;
motor can be disconnected when sailing ; cost Es. 1 1,700 complete with
2,000 fathoms of drift net ; intended primarily as a drifter, she will
also be fitted for and with an otter trawl, as the bottom between 20
and 70 fathoms, but not elsewhere, is suitable for trawling ; she will
do deep sea work and stay out ten days or more. An ordinary local
bonito boat of from 30 to 50 feet in length costs Rs. 1,500 complete,
is lightly built and quite open, and takes a crew of 12 to 30 men •
these are usually built by small capitalists who hire a crew with whom
they work; borrowed money costs 10 or 12 per cent, and is usually
worked off by a share of the catches.

46. The station has good buildings including a useful museum
with models of apparatus, such as driers, new forms of nets, etc. The
cannery is complete as usual and manufactures, inter alia, special
products for export, such as white fish in tomato, sardines in oil, fish
pudding in tins, that is. boiled white fish rai?:ed with boiled potato,
pounded together, placed in cylindrical tins, soldered up, and boiled
for an hour in ordinary boilers ; then pinholed. reclosed, and processed

1)

26

at 6 lbs. There are other canned products which do not commend
themselves to European tastes ; smoking is also under trial,

47. This station has had a small fishing school attached to it
for three years, not under the Educational but under the Fisheries
Department ; it is for sons of fishermen and others, with a two years'
course. Students must have passed the Upper Primary, be above
sixteen years of age and residents of the district ; they are admitted
on nomination by a village head to the head of the county (taluk)
who makes his I'ecommendations ; all must be boarders and they are
maintained at the cost of the school if the pupil needs such assistance,
but at a cost not exceeding Rs. 6 each per mensem ; tuition is free.
So far (three years') 4 have passed out, who have all gone for fishery
work in one form or other ; 10 will pass out this year ; they are taught
new methods and ideas in the several branches of the ijidustry. The
station has also a special itinerating instructor who gives twenty-day
courses, at various localities, to sons of actual fishermen only and in
special subjects, such as the manufacture of iodmo from seaweed (a
profitable Japanese industry), the proper preparation of dried bonito
(a universal Japanese food stuff), the preserving ot" fish in soy, etc. ;
apparatus is taken from the station and practical teaching given
therewith.

The cost of the station in the year ending March 1905 was
Rs. 14,122.

48. Marine Biological Lahorator//. — There is a Marine Biological
Laboratory a few miles from Tokyo, but this is attached to the Uni-
versity and is intended for scientific research of which Professor
Mitsukuri is the head. This laboratory is largely attended, and
while devoted to pure science the results have, as elsewhere, led to
important economic suggestions ; it was on Professor Mitsukuri's
advice that the first Experimental Station was founded ; it is he who
suggested the method of growing artificial pearls {q.v.) and it is
believed that his suggestions in the culture of turtle, etc., have been
of much value.

ESTABLISHMENT OF FISHERIES SCHOOLS.

49. These ai'e of various grades and classes from the Imperial
Fishery Institute frequently mentioned above to the Sessional courses
given by itinerant instructors. As already stated, there seem to have
been travelling instructors for some time before 1894 and the Fisheries
Society also employed instructors, but organised technical education
was soon found to be necessary to supply in the first place the neces-
sary fishing experts and instructors, and secondly, to train and teach
the fishing classes. The institutions may be divided into the Imperial
Fishery Institute at Tokyo, the Fishery schools under the Educational

27

department, tlie l^ishery schools attached to the Expetimental
Stations, and the Sessional schools.*

50. Imperial Fishery Institute. — In the remarks on the Japanese
Fisheries Society, it is stated that in 1888, that society saw the need
for providing a body of well-trained experts and aocordinoly estab-
lished a school near Tokyo at the expense of the society ; this was
immediately successful so that the Museum building had to be given
up to the school until a proper building was erected in 1893 ; from
that yea,r the Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries gave a subsidy
of Rs. 9,750 per annum towards the improvement of the school which
then largely developed ; in 1897, Government decided to take over
the whole school and reopen it on a very complete basis. Dr. Hugli
M. Smith (U.S.A. Fisheries Commissioner) who recently visited Japan
writes as follows of this Institution : —

*' The Imperial Fisheries school, located in the outskirts of Tokyo,
is an institution which the Japanese may be pardoned for regarding
with great pride, for in no other country does there exist a similar
establishment which can compare with this in comprehensiveness of
curriculum, completeness of equipment, and thoroughness of instruc-
tion. The last week of my sojourn in Japan, 1 was invited to speak
before the faculty and students of this school on the fishety work of
the United States Government. After I had been shown about the
place and seen something of the methods and equipment I felt
exceedingly doubtful of my ability to impart any information. The
institution aims to equip young men for careers of usefulness in
connection with the fisheries. 'Ihe graduates obtain good position in
the Government service and in the fishing, fishcuring, and fish-cultural
establishments. I'here are thiee departments of study, each with a
, three-years* course, with provision for post-graduate work. There is
a full corps of able professors, instructors, and assistants, some of
whom have taken degrees abroad. ''

* At the moment (December 1906) of correcting this note, I find in an American trade
journal that next year (1907) a Fishery branch will be attached to the Agricultural
College in the Imperial Univerbity of Tokyo, and that Rs. 1,50,000 have already been
appropriated to meet its expenses. This was not so much as mentioned last spring and I
concludb that it has been found necessary to give a thoiough siuentific knowledge of
aquatic fauna and flora and of the sciences connected with the fishing industrj' in all its
branches, andto train men, probably those who have passed out from the Imperial Fisheries
Institute, for the highest posts as advisers of Government and heads of the various
fishery institutions. It may be mentioned, that in Japan the University connects itself
directly with the main practical industries of the country, that while " literae humaniores "
are prominent as a subject, yet science, both pure and applied, is given equal rank, while
students of Agriculture as the greatest industry in the country (or rather, to quote
a Japanese phrase, its root or source of life) are counted as worthy of the hall-mark of
the nniveisity as those who have studied language and literature, it now appears that
Fisheries, as the second industry of the country are to be accorded equal rank ; «i «Jo
in India !

28

51. A somewhat full description of the Institution and work will
now be given, baaed partly upon two visits of inspection, partly on
official papers, chiefly a descriptive pamphlet. By an Imperial Edict
of 1897 " the school course was extended to three years, and in the
third year each student was to specialize in one of three courses,
viz., fishing, fisheries technology, and pisciculture. A post-graduate
course was also founded for those who, having graduated in the regular
course wished to select and study one or more subjects in their
special lines. At the beginning, students of this course were per-
mitted to stay only one year at the longest in the institute for further
study ; but this term was afterwards extended to three years. In
June of the same year the department of Agriculture and Commerce
issued the Regulations relating to the course of Pelagic fishing, and
the institute began the training of the students w^ho had taken up
that course of study. In June 1900, an Experimental Station for the
course of Fisheries Technology was founded at Odawara in Kanagawa
Prefecture.

In September 1899, a fishing schooner of about 140 tons was built
for the purpose of training the students and was named the Kaiyo
Maru. Since that time the students in the department of fishing have
been sent on board this vessel for practice.

In the matter of the training of the teachers lor the fisheries
schools or technical schools, the institute has been doing a good deal
of work. In 1896, fifteen graduates of various normal schools were
sent by the department of Education to this institute to be specially
trained as teachers.

The institute has also been busy with the training of men who
desire to go through a shorter course of study relating to such indus-
tries as canning and curing fish, the mauufacture offish oil and iodine,
net making, etc.

Besides, in compliance with the request of the department of
Agriculture and Commerce, the institute is engaged in giving a short
course of lectures to the members of the Local fisheries experimental
stations and fisheries schools on special subjects in all branches of
fisheries."

The President is Professor S. Matsubara, a well-known expert
mentioned supra, passim, who has been delegated by Government on
various important occasions and who, with Mr. Murata, v^as instru-
mental after the Berlin Fisheries exhibition of 1880, in founding the
Japanese fisheries society ; he is assisted by 5 professors and 4
lecturers, besides a subordinate staff in the several departments.

52. The regular work is divided into three courses, fishing,
fisheries technology, and pisciculture ; each couise lasts three years
and no student can take uj» more than one at a time, or change from
course to course ; each course is again sub-divided into lecturing and

29

experimental or practical. Besides the regular courses, there are
special ones, viz., a post-graduate course which may be taken by a
graduate of a regular course on a subject studied in that course ; a
pelagic or deep-sea course ; and a special industrial course. Extra
laboratory work and practical training outside the regular lessons are
given when necessary or possible, and the summer vacation of two
months is, in the third year, wholly devoted to such work. The
academic year is of 290 days. Candidates for the regular courses
must, be graduates from a middle school or of equal educational attain-
ments, must be above 17, and must pass an entrance examination held
in January every year in Tokyo and the districts simultaneously.

53. Tlie three regular courses have the following objects :
" fishing '' is to teach all the best methods of capturing fish and other
marine products, and of managing boats, nets, lines, and gear neces-
sary ; the technological or " preservation '' course is to teach the art of
preserving fish as food, and of manufacturing or treating marine
products of various kinds such as oils, manures, salt, iodine, vegetable
isinglass, fish skins, etc. ; the " culture ^' course is to teach the art of
the artificial hatching and rearing of various aquatic products.

64. The subjects taught in the department oi fishing are, methods
of fishing, navigation, seamanship, shipbuilding, meteorology, ocean-
ography, applied mechanics, applied zoology, applied botany,
mathematics, law, economics and book-keeping, English, elementary
fisheries technology with laboratory work and practice; 27 hours a
week are given to lectures, and the rest to practice. In the course of
fisheries technology, the subjects are foods (marine products), industrial
materials (marine products), bacteriology, applied mechanics, indus-
trial chemistry, chemistry, chemical analysis, applied zoology, applied
botany, law, economics and book-keeping, English ; in the first year
25 hours and in the second 18 hours per week are given to lectures,
and the remainder to laboratory and workshop work and practice. In
the course of pisciculture the subjects are fresh water culture, salt
water culture, protection of fish, etc., embryology, bacteriology,
oceanography, chemistry, applied zoology, applied botany, law,
economics and book-keeping, drawing, English ; 24 and 22 hours a
week are given to lectures and the remainder to practical work.

55. The investigation or post-graduate course is provided for those
who have graduated from the regular course in any of the tliree
departments and who wish to devote another three years at the most
to some subjects in their special lines. Those who are admitted to
the course are placed under a professor specially appointed by the
Institute, and when they have completed their study they have to
produce an essay pertaining to the particular subject they have been
studying. On passing this test they receive diplomas.

30

A scholarship may be granted to any one who shows superior
capacity or attainments, and it is probably from such men that are
chosen the students who are sent abroad for further studies in foreign
countries.

56. The pelagic or deep-sea course i:^ intended to train men for
managing fishing smacks in distant waters^ but no one can take up
this course unless he is a graduate from the regular " fishing '^ course ;
these students may receive monthly stipends of Rs. 22-8-0. The
training is for three years and is wholly practical, being given on
board the Institute's training ship or in other fishing boats in
distant waters such as the China and Korean seas ; by the law for the
encouragement of deep-sea fisheries boats which receive bounties are
bound to receive students on board wlien so required by Government ;
students may also be sent abroad for further training or sent on board
foreign fishing vessels.

57. The special industrial course is for men who or whose families
are engaged in one other branch of fishery work and who have, there-
fore, practical knowledge of the same ; these may undergo a 3 or 4
months' course in the winter in their special subjects ; such courses
hitherto have been in net fishing, preparation of dried bonito, iodine,
oils and wax, and canning ; other courses will be gradually available.

58. There is an Experimental Department where special experi-
ments are made in the various branches, and the results, if conclusive,
are made known to the public in bulletins and used in the school
teaching.

59. The premises cover 8'6 acres, of which the actual buildings
occupy 2 acres and the dock 16 acies. The buildings consist of 91
rooms, workshops, etc. , many of large size nnd full of machinery ; there
are 7 General Office rooins, 25 living and miscellaneous rooms, the
official residence, and 59 lecture rooms, laboratories, workshops, etc.,
as pel" following list : —

Standard Instrument room.

Lecture room (Physics).

Library.

English, Law, Economics.

Mathematics and Book-keeping.

Lecture room (Chemistry).

Dark room.

Specimen room.

Drawing.

Pisciculture.

Fisheries Technology.

Hall.

Fishing.

^1

Meteoroloo-)' am^ Oceanograpliy

Ship-building and Meclianics.

Navigation.

Nautical Instriiuient room.

Zoology and Botany.

Pisciculture.

Laboratory (Zoology).

„ (Zoology and Botany).

,, (Botany).

,, (Bacteriology).

,, I (Chemical Analysis).

3> ■•■*■ i >J J» )•

Standard solution.

Balance room.

Laboratory I (Technological Chemistry).

n( _ ,, „ ).

Nitrogen distillation.

Laboratory III (Technological Chemistry).

Laboratory (Applied Chemistry).

Designing room.

Rigging.

Hook-making room.

Net-making room.

Testing room.

Curing ,, "1 ,
rn • >nets.

lannmg „ J

Can-making machines (I).

(11).

Can-soldenng rjom.

Canning room.

Engine ,,

Boiler ,,

Fish-oil refinery.

Salt and Iodine manufactory.

Secondary batteries.

Workshop.

Drying room.

Place for dressing fish.

Cold storage.

Boat-yard.

Dock.

Library.

Gymnasium.

Play groun(i.

32

Special arrangements are made for practical training vvliich cannot
bo given within the Institute.

'' For the use of the students belonging to the Fishing Depart-
ment, the sailing vessel, the Kaijo Maru, was built; the students
are practically trained on board the vessel in the various works of their
department. Tliis schooner is of 140 tons gross tonnage, and 132
tons net tonnage. She measures 93 feet 6 inches in length, 25 feet
6 inches in breadth, 9 feet 5 inches in depth, and her speed is about
12|^ knots ; she is so built as to afford facilities for various kinds of
fishing, and also to be sea-worthy for an ocean voyage."

60. To the Experimental Station in the town of Odawara,
Kanagawa Prefecture (see inspection note below), students in the
Department of Fisheries Technology are sent to get practice in their
special subjects of study.

61. Several hatching and experimental stations in and out of the
city are connected with the Department of Pisciculture. A station
at Fukagawa, Tokyo is devoted to the culture of carp, eel, etc. ;
while that of Chuzenji near Nikko is for the hatching and breeding
of trout. The students are sometimes sent to these places where they
can get practical knowledge of pisciculture. For Marine Pisciculture
there is a station in Yawata, Chiba Prefecture, where experiments
are made on oysters and other shell-fish. Investigation is made in
the neighbouring seas with regard to flat-fish, spiny lobsters and
alofEe. Three other stations are also mentioned as available for
practice, and students are also sent to any place where special knowl-
edge and practice are to be gained.

62. The students in the regular courses are about 150 in number,
50 being admitted, if suitable, each year ; those in the other courses
are obviously not a fixed number. Last year there were no less than
385 applicants lor 50 vacancies but only 45 were selected as suitable.
From 1897 to the date of the most recent report available, 210 men
had graduated, and it is noteworthy that nearly all, if not all, had
gone to fishery work in one form or other; 72 had passed in the
fishing course, 104 in that of technology, and 34 in pisciculture ; or
again, 19 had gone to private fishing industry, 24 to fishery compa-
nies principally canning, 18 to Government appointments (probably
to the Department), 41 to Fishery Experimental stations, 10 a8
experts to districts, 11 to Fishery schools, and so on ; 4 had taken a
post-graduate course, while not less than 16 had gone abroad for
study or on foreign boats, 6 of whom had obtained Government
scholarships for the purpose ; a considerable number, of course, had
gone as soldiers. Of the 438 graduates prior to 1897, 94 went into
private industry, 27 into companies, 14 into Fishermen's associations,
85 to Government, 22 to Fishery schools, 49 to Fishery Experi-
mental stations, 20 went abroad, and so on. It is clear that there is ^

33

great demand both for education iu fisLcry matters and for educated
men for the various fishery services both public and private. One
ex-student and capitalist, whom I met, had put Lis training to great
advantage for, already a dealer and broker in fishery products, etc.,
he, with others, has just established a canning company with a
capital of about 50 lakLs of rupees, intending to absorb a number of
the small companies that have lost their business at the cessation of
the war and are too small and poor to develop and export trade by
themselves, and to open an export trade with first-class goods only,
since it was found that American and other orders had followed the
Japanese exhibits at the St. Louis Exposition of 1904. The instance
is a good one not only of the practical usefulness of the training but
of the promptitude with which the Japanese seize a likely opening.

63. The following details from my notes of inspection may be
useful and interesting.

64. The Museum is contained in two rooms and has many useful
exhibits, such as nets of new or old pattern, models of fish traps,
purse nets, live chests of wood or bamboo, boats, etc. The library is
not extensive but is up to date as regards reports especially those of
the United States. The laboratories (see list of rooms supra) are
completely equipped for all necessary purposes. The technological
workshops attracted my special attention as the first seen in Japan
and as singularly complete for a teaching Institute ; the shops form a
complete factory fitted with all plant necessary for a considerable
business both in canning, net and rigging making, oil expressing, etc.
In the canning shops young men were working with machines
(generally German, or copies from the German) for every process in
can-making ; in a second shop the students were at work soldering
the variously-shaped tins under the teaching of expert mechanics ;
there was a large (Vancouver) automatic soldering machine but it was
not in use. By one process cans were hermetically sealed with
rubber instead of solder, the flanged edges being turned over so as to
form a completely air-tight joint ; this is said to stand processing
perfectly well. All machines not for manual or foot-power, were
driven by electricity generated on the establishment. Another room
contains the steam baths, etc., viz., steam jacketed kettles, wooden
baths heated by free steam or coils at pleasure, and processing chests
or cookers used at from 225° to 240°F. ; also a vacuum pan for
substances requiring evaporation at low temperature.

65. There is a complete 3et of chambers for drying fish, fish-glue,~
etc.; air is driven by a fan at 750 revolutions, absorbing If H.P.,
amongst steam pipes and then to a series of 10 wooden hot closets
about 6 feet high, 3 or 4 feet wide, and 4 or 5 feet deep which can be
used in series or cut out by a simple series of dampers ; the trays of
material are arranged one above the other on trolleys or cages running

£

34

on ligHt rails so tliat they can be loaded outside and drawn quickly in
or out of the closets.

68. The refrigerating plant is very complete ; a 20-H. P. engine
drives a Linde ammonia machine in which brine, cooled in the usual
way, passes through pipes first through a room kept merely cool, and
thence into the cold storage rooms the walls of which are covered by
a ramification of pipes holding hundreds of gallons of brine ; there
are 4 cold rooms each of several thousand cubic feet. This brine
system has the great advantage that in case of a breakdown the great
volume of cold brine in the pipes will keep the rooms cold for some
hours.

67. The large dock opens on to the river estuary by a lock gate :
the schooner was away on a fishing cruise but there were several other
boats in which the students are instructed. Practical rigging, sail
and net making are taught, and the students were at work on all these
branches ; barrel-making seems to be omitted, possibly because it
has attained such perfection in Japan or because barrelled fish are not
yet much in vogue ; in India it would be a necessary addition.

68. There are two Chinese students at work and it was said in
reply to questions, that there would be no difficulty about admitting
Indian students if of proper educational attainments ; nationality is
not regarded ; possibly this is partly due to the fact noted above,
that enough Japanese of proper acquirements are not always available.
Jf students of the proper stuff were selected in Madras and sent to
Japan they would be ready for employment three or four years hence,
provided that the Japanese authorities .would be willing to receive
them.*

69. The heavy annual cost of the Institute is defrayed entirely from
Imperial funds.

70. The Odawara practical cannery is many miles distant at an
excellent fishing locality, but is only opened ou the 10th July which
is the beginning of the summer vacation so that no students were at
work when I visited it. The factory deals with bonito, tunny, shark,
mackerel, and sardine ; bonito in its dried form is an absolutely uni-
versal food; pounded shark served in broth, etc., is consumed in vast

* Whether it is advisable to send the students is a different matter ; obviously in a
school of this sort and with students of very moderate educational acquirements, the
whole tuition will be in Japanese, and, in fact, very little English is known there,
Professor Matsubara's European language being German. On the other hand book
tuition has a subordinate place, and a student after at least six months' steady work in
Japan at nothing but Japanese, might take a place in the school and would soon follow
the work especially as so much of it is practical. But before men are sent, the Japanese
authorities should be communicated with in view to know whether they will be received ;
the young men appropriate to such a training and such a business would also have to be
selected with much care.

35

quantities, and sardines are now canned both for Lome use and export.
The factory — nearly all workshop— is close to the beach and contains
15 rooms and sheds, all of wood as usual in Japan ; the first shed, open-
sided, with a stream of running water, is for cutting- up and dressing
the fish ; the next has 6 steam jacketed kettles, ordinary open boilers
with free steam or steam coil, an oven for baking certain classes of fish
at certain stages, cooker, etc. There is a small steam engine with
boiler which supplies the steam for the various apparatus, a mill foi
preparing shark pulp, hand presses for baling dried fish for export to
Manchuria duiing the war, screw press, etc. ; also a good desiccator
which will be described with others in my final report, and which will
in four or five hours dry fresh fish sufficiently for trade purposes ; a
smoking arrangement only used for the dried bonito wedges, consisting
of trays with open-work bottoms of wire netting or bamboo, piled
vertically over a furnace, a simple but not a good arrangement, as the
trays nearest to the fire are smoked before the top ones, and the whole
have to be moved when the lower ones are ready. These same fish trays
are used for carrying and supporting the fish on the ' flakes ' (drying
tables or low scaffolds like parallel bars) during dryage in the open
air, so that the currents of air play freely on both sides of the fish and
dry it regularly and equally : this or a similar method is that always
used in America, Great Britain, etc., for drying fish and is that sug-
gested in my West Coast Report as a substitute for the unscientific
and harmful method of drying fish on the surface of the ground ; the
process is described below as also that of preparing shark flesh paste
and other fish edibles.

71. The canning rooms contain the usual plant, mostly American,
for making and closing tins from 2 lbs. downwards ; inspection in
other countries and exhibits at Milan, etc., show that larger tins are
greatly in demand. Gas fitted soldering irons of the most modern
type such as I have seen in use at Yarmouth, were being introduced.

Fruit desiccation and canning are taught as a subsidiary business
in this factory.

72. The school seems remarkably complete, and young men,
already part trained at the Central Institute eventually become
thoroughly practical and skilled men after a full course in this factory
where everything is done by the students only. The practical and
successful nature of the school factory is shown by the fact that a
similar one, copied from this feut with larger plant, was opened next
door and supplied fish for the troops during the war ; probably it is
one of those which will be taken over by the Tokyo Company
mentioned above.

73. New Fishery Institute. — A t Sapporo in Hokkaido which is a
fishing locality of vast potentialities, a new and very large and com-
plete Fishery Institute i^ now being opened by Government; th©

36

carrenb allotment for bailJiagS; plant, etc., is Rs. 2 lakhs ; men will be
tborouglily trained here theoretically as well as practically, and some
will then be regularly sent to Europe for further study of practice
and institutions. Such men will form the experts of the future.

FISHERY SCHOOLS UNDER THE EDUCATIONAL
DEPARTMENT.

74. Of these there are eight or nine regular schools all taught bj
men trained at the Fishery Institute ; three (or four) were established
by the Prefecture (district), three by counties (taluks), one by a town,
and one by a village ; there are no schools directly established or paid
for by Government from Imperial Establishment funds, but grants-
in-aid are given to the above schools. The fishery instructors in these
schools have all been trained at the Imperial Institute.

75. The schools are regulated by an edict of August 1899 which
provides that they shall be paid for from district funds allotted to the
improvement of industries ; that there shall only be one in each district
but with any number of branch schools ; that the three branches of
fishino-, preserving; and culture shall be taught, with accessory
subjects such as zoology, botany, chemistry, physics, mathematics,
meteorology, drawing, physical geography, etc. ; that the Prefect may-
order the school experts to itinerate in order to give lectures or
courses or to make enquiries; that the course shall be at least two
years; that the permission of the Minister (Agriculture and Com-
merce) shall be obtained before opening or closing the school, and
that annual reports shall be sent in.

This brief edict was supplemented by orders of procedure issued by
the Minister, according to which the ordinary course must be of three
years but may be shortened to two or extended to five when condi-
tions require it. Lecture hours shall be 27 per week, with practical
work at the discretion of the principal; subjects shall be those
mentioned above with the addition of morals (universal in Japanese
schools), Japanese, law and economics, and gymnastics ; some of these
may be omitted except morals and the subjects relating direct to the
industry. History, foreign languages, book-keeping, singing, etc.,
may be added.

76. In the regular fishing course the curriculum for jishing
embraces the outlines of fishing, catching, marine zoology and botany,
navigation, boat building, meteorology, oceanography, ship hygiene,
emergency methods, etc., for i^reserving, the outlines oi fishing, pre-
serving, marine zoology and botany, bacteriology (outlines), chemical
analysis, outlines of mechanics, etc., for culture, outlines of fishing,
cultivation, marine zoology and botany, outlines of embryology, etc.
Apparently a school does not necessarily or ordinarily teach all

37

brandies, but onlj one or two. Entrants must be above 1 i years of
ag-e and have finished the upper primary or an equal course : a pre-
paratory general course for boys of 12 and upwards may be attached
to a fishing school but shuU not exceed two years, with a maximum
of 30 hours per week in morals, Japanese, arithmetic, geography,
histoj-y, science, drawing and gymnastics, with foreign languages and
singing optionally.

A special course for single important subjects may be opened, and
students may also be admitted to study one or more subjects ociy ;
an advanced course not exceeding two years may also be started for
students who iiave passed the regular course.

77. A deep sea course not exceeding three years may also be
opened ; in this, navigation, ship handling, catching, the outlines of
ship building, meteorology, oceanography, etc., or some of these
subjects, may be taught : for this course only students who have
passed the three years' fishing course may enter. Other articles
deal with the internal rules of the school, the number of teachers, the
provision of proper accommodation, and special stress is laid on the
necessity for all proper apparatus and the machines for practical work.

78, Inspection notes of one school may be useful. The Otsu
school on the Pacific Coast is a primary institution maintained by the
' town ' which is a large fishing village, where, in addition io fish
catching, fish is dried in the usual Japanese fashion (the odours
resemble those of the Madras West Coast) and iodine is made ; salt is
largely manufactured in villages near by ; hence there will be scope
for the school graduates who are already in demand. It was estab-
lished four years ago, has a five years' course of which the first two are
preparatory as the boys enter at 12 years' old from the primary school;
24 graduates have passed, of whom 10 went through the regular course
and 14 the special course only, and 130 boys are now studying. There
is also a special course for girls, of whom there are 14 (it will be
remembered that Japanese girls attend the primary schools compul-
sorily like the boys), who, besides a general teaching in fishing matters,
are specially trained in canning which in Japan is largely carried out
by females. Of the 24 graduates 7 have gone straight into a cannery
in a distant (Kyoto) district. Of the present students 15 are sons of
actual fishermen, some are sons of fish traders, some of agriculturists ;
all hope to get into the fishery business in one branch or the other.
There are eight teachers, of whom three are graduates of the Imperial
Fishery Institute ; the principal, an enthusiastic scientist, is not so
trained, but is a normal school man with special training.

79. All three courses are taught. For catching^ the school has a
boat of ordinary type, and skilled fishermen are engaged to teach
the boys at sea ; an improved boat has been sanctioned but the
late 'affair' (war) has prevented the allotment of funds which is

38

regrettable as the local open boats, though taken as far out as 30
miles and more, are easily upset and dangerous, and an improved
sailing boat would be a most useful object lesson ; the principal even
ventures to hope for an auxiliary motor-boat in the near future. New
classes of nets are not taught as the locality is advanced in that respect
and the bottom is not suitable for trawling.

80. As regards 'preservation, there is a canning factory attached to
the school where all are trained ; uhe pickling of fish in salt or brine,
a process not at all usual in Japan where fish are dried rather than
pickled, is also taught, as well as the manufacture of iodine. Being of
a small type there is no steam engine or steam boiler and consequently
no steam cooker; all canning is done by ordinary boiling at 212° F.
All apparatus, on a small scale, is provided for making and closing cans.

81. The local fishermen only go far out to sea to catch bonito
which they boil — the first process in bonito preservation — on board.
Salt is not used to keep fish on board from tainting, but natural ice
is sometimes availed of. The chief local trade is :n fresh fish sent on
by train to Tokyo (some hours distant) and in bonito.

82. Pisciculture is at present only taught from books as there are
no ponds ; next year this defect will be remedied. There is a very
good little museum which the principal is eager in improving.

83. The cost of the school is paid partly by the town and partly
from Prefectural funds.

84. ISupplemeniari/ Fishing Schools under the Educational Depart-
ment. — To a large number of primary and some other schools have,
of late years, been attached continuation or supplementary schools of
an industrial character, as described in the Report on Agriculture.
About 36 of these are fishery schools, and up to 1903, 161 youths
graduated from them. The Regulation of 1902 applicable to supple-
mentary schools in general lays down that the duration of the course,,
subjects, hours of teaching, shall be settled according to need, but
shall be suited to the class of students and the nature of the industry ;
morals, Japanese, arithmetic, and subjects pertaining to the industry
shall be taught ; the second and third subjects may be omitted for
others. Students should be above ten years of age and have passed
at least four years at a primary school. The precise subjects for a
supplementary fishing school are not laid down in the Regulation,
but that they are fall and suitable may be judged by the curriculum
in the agricultural schools of this class (see report).

85. Fishing Schools attached to Experimental Stations or independ-
ent. — These are under ' Agriculture ' and not under * Education.' One
of these schools and its work are described above, paragraph 47,
S.V., Isohama Experimental Station. The following details are for a
school independent of a station, which was established in 1898 to teach
elenientari/ science relating to fisheries with practical work ; the regular

3d

course is of two years with & special practical course of from one to
three months : no fees are charged nor are students aided ; all students
must be boarders except for good reason. The subjects of the regular
course are, in the first year, general fishing, marine zoology, botany,
chemistry and physics, and in the second term of the same year
catching, preserving, culture, applied zoology and botany, physical
geography and meteorology, applied physics and chemistiy, and
practical work; the second year is devoted solely to practical work in
catching, preserving and culture. No more than 30 students are taken
and must be over 16 years of age and have passed six years at a
primary school and be healthy. The special practical course is only for
those actually engaged in fishery work or their sons ; the subjects in
the ' catching' course are (1) the preparation of hooks and lines and
methods of fishing and the mode of preserving bait, (2) the preparation
(making, barking, etc.), and handling of nets, and (-3) the making and
use of other fishing implements ; in the ' 'preservation ' course, the
methods, recipes for seasoning, manufacture of oil and wax, and the
making of vegetable isinglass (from seaweed) : in the ' manure '
course the constituents and preparation of the several classes of fish
fertiliser ; in the ' culture ' course fresh water culture including
salmon hatching, the hatching and growth of carp, gold-fish, eel,
mullet, and snapping turtle ; and in marine culture the growing of
shells and algse. No fees are paid and the students must be over
18 years of age ; the places of instruction are settled from time to
time.

86. The staff consists in all of fourteen persons, including a prin-
cipal, an expert, and two assistant experts, etc. Three-fourths of the
23 graduates are now actually engaged in fisheries or as experts under
Government or Companies, and all, but two of the 11 graduates
of the special course, are actual fishermen: out of 18 graduates in
the practical course, 13 are engaged in actual fishing work. The
information given me was only up to 1901.

87. In a similar school the practical course embraces long line
fishing for sharks, yellow-tail (Seriola quinqueradiata), hand line fish-
iug for squid, yellow-tail, etc., and the culture of carp. Students
must be primary school graduates, above 18 years of age and engaged
in actual fishery ; they pay no fee and get Rs. 3 per month from the
school in aid of their expenses.

88. Sessional Schools. — These are the courses held by itinerant
teachers usually attached to experimental stations or to schools,
chiefly the former. They have been mentioned above, s.v., " Experi-
meutal Stations,'^ paragraph 32. The following note relates to one of
these sets of courses in the Chiba district where they were opened in five
places to teach methods which had been proved useful by actual experi-
ment ; one was at the experimental station and four others at selected

40

fishing localities each for 90 days ; at the station the methods of canning
were taught, and the best method of preparing dried bonito (Katsa-
bushi) in the other places, from 10 to 20 young men being taught at
each place. At the station course lectures were given for two or three
hours a day when actual canning was not going on ; during practical
work the students were formed into small groups of two (^r three and
their work regularly reported on; subjects were, the proper selection
of all materials, the preparation oE the product, the making of tins
and handling of machines, etc. The students were between 18 and
36 years of age, nine of whom were engaged in fishery work ; all proved
eager at study hoping to improve their prospects and successfully
completed the course ; five of them at once started business on the
new methods,

89. At only one of the other four localities where the preparation
of bonito flesh by improved methods was taught, were regular pupils
(18) received ; at th(} others the preparation was simply carried on by
the experts and the public were invited to inspect the processes wdiich
those engaged in the business readily did and asked innumerable
questions ; at first, it is said, they objected to and ridiculed the new
processes considering the old fashioned ones good enough, but speedily
recognised the economy in labour and material of the new methods
and are now adopting them, the most convincing argument being that
114 barrels of bonito prepared by the experts fetched from Rs. 4^
to Rs. 12 more per barrel than the ordinary stuff.

ENCOURAGEMENT AND PROTECTION.

90. From the time of the restoration, 1867, the fisheries have been
the care of Government, the improvement and extension of the catches,
the development of preservation and cansequent trade both home and
foreign, and the welfare of the fishermen being the object of constant
action both legislative and executive. The greatest stimuli have been
described above, viz., those of investigation, experiment and education,
but various additional methods have been adopted such as bounties to
improve ship-building and deep-sea work, grants-in-aid to Prefectural
funds, encouragement and subsidies to fishery nnd the fishery trade
associations, rebates of the salt excise duty, rebate of the import duty
on oil on exports of canned goods, the establishment of close times
and prohibition of injurious methods and implements, protective
measures for the safety of fishermen including warnings against the
frequent storms, the encouragement of provident and thrift institutions.

91. Domities for sea-going Jis/iimj vessels.— As already mentioned
there was up to the restoration an edict prohibiting the building of
vessels above a certain size, or with more than one mast, or of any rig
but Japanese, and foreign travel was also prohibited. After the
restoration the necessity for developing the fishing industry became

41

apparent, and as the nearer waters seemed to be less prolific tlian
formerly and as valuable sea-animals were to be obtained in distant
waters, the Government decided to encourage the building of sea-
going boats for fishing in the further waters of China, Korea, Siberia,
Russia, and even America. The law of 1st April 1905 repealing a
law of 1897 provides as follows for the encouragement of Pelagic
fishing : —

(1) A sum not exceeding Rs. 2,25,000 annually may be -spent
from Imperial funds for this purpose : this shall include bounties,
costs of supervision, stipends of students of such fisheries, etc. ;

(2) only Japanese subjects, whether individuals or corporations,
are entitled to benefit by the law j

(3) the conditions of assistance are that the persons shall be
actually engaged in fishery or in the transport of marine products ;
bounties shall vary according to place, season, class of fishing,
character and age of the boat, and shall not exceed per annum Rs. 33
per ton for existing steamers or Rs. 27 per ton for sailers not older
than five years ; four-fifths of the crew must be Japanese;

(4) the crew of a subsidised boat may also receive bounties not
exceeding Rs. 108 per annum for a head fisherman, Rs. 54 for an
ordinary fisherman, and Es. 18 fur an apprentice ;

(5) steamers or motor-boats specially built or fitted with engines
according to Government plans, may receive up to Rs. 60 per ton
if of iron or steel or composite, and Rs. 45 if of wood only ; 'plns
Es. 15 per I.H.P. of a steam engine and Rs. 30 of a petroleum
(kerosine)* motor;

(6) rules shall be framed for carrying out the above provisions ;

(7) no bounty shall be given if the boat is not actually worked
for three-fourths of a fishing season save in the case of force majeure :
the same in the case of the crew ;

(8) no subsidised boat may sell, lend, or pledge any such boat
to a foreigner within five years from date of its being first entitled to
the bounty, unless he either returns the bounty to Government or
unless the boat has become unseaworthy (!) or unless he has received
express permission from the Minister;

(9) a subsidised boat must fish for three-fourths of every fishing
season for five years from first becoming entitled to the bounty ;

* Japanese opinion of the future of the kerosine motor in the fishing industry, is
indicated hy this double bounty for such motors as compared with steam. On the
U.S.A. eastern coast, both at Boston, Gloucester and elsewhere the petroleum motor is
greatly in evidence in fishing boats, launches, and yachts, from the little li H.P.
motor in a dory with a one man crew, to the sea-goin^ yacht or to fishing boats with
125 I.H.P. auxiliary gasoline motors which I find mentioned in Trade Jouruals ; so also,
and perhaps to a still more marked extent, in Scandinavian waters where an auxiliary
kerosine motor is fitted to many hundreds of boats. The subject will be more fully
examined this summer at the Bergen exhibition, etc.

42

(10) the Minister may demand tliat the owner of a subsidised
boat shall carry out any investigation in deep«sea (pelagic) fishing and
shall admit students of such fisheries on board for voyages ;

(11) boats below 20 tons gross may, under special circum-
stances, obtain the benefit of this law.

92. By rules under the law the fishing industries subsidised are
confined to whale, sea otter, fur-seal and bonito fishing, and to fishing
with trawls, drift nets, long lines, and hand lines ; the size of the
boats is also limited to certain minima and maxima, e.g., to 50 to 200
tons for steam trawlers and 20 to 100 for sailers ; steam carriers must
be within 80 to 250 tons and within 15 to 150 if sailers : the minimum
limitation is probably for the purpose of safety. Certificates of various
grades are issued to subsidised fishermen, and only head fishermen
holding first-class certificates are entitled to go anywhere and in any
class of boats as masters ; head fishermen of the second and third
grades are restricted to the nearer pelagic waters or to boats of
small size.

93. As regards students, they must be graduates in the fishing
course of the Imperial Institute or persons of admittedly equal attain-
ments ; they must then study in the pelagic deparlment of that
Institute, but may also be ordered to embark on foreign fishing boats
or to go to foreign countries for special subjects of study and work.

The course shall ordinarily be one of three years, and students will
receive either a monthly stipend or a lump sum : when sent abroad
travelling expenses will also be granted. (Unfortunately I have been
unable hitherto to ascertain the stipends given to students sent
abroad.)

94. The results of the bounty system, which began in 1897, do not
seem remarkable, as will be seen by the following statistics. Yet
pelagic and foreign fishing has immensely increased, and Japanese
fishermen are numerous and energetic on the coasts of Siberia, Canada,
America, Korea, China and the islands of the Pacific, showing that
the enterprise of capitalists and fishermen is, in the circumstances of
Japan, more efficacious in promoting fisheries in distant foreign waters
than mere bounties, especially when the latter are coupled with various
restrictive rules or conditions. In 1905 only 36 vessels aggregating
2,o89 tons and with 793 hands were entitled to bounties; 20 of these
were engaged in fur-sealing and 10 in shark catching, and only one
was a steamer, viz., a swift carrier of 143 tons, a crew of 13, and
I.H.P. of 135 ; one boat for catching bonito, of 25 tons, had a
20 H.P. petroleum engine; the rest were sailers. The total catches
of these subsidised boats in 1905 were valued at Rs. 7,99,000, of
which Rs. 6,20,000 were due to fur- sealing. The number of head
fishermen qualified and certified under the Act was 79, of whom 70
were in the second grade ; 228 fishermen were also certified. The

4g

amount of subsidy is not stated, but in 1 902, for only 23 boats, the
subsidies paid amounted to Rs. 42,000. But besides the Imperial
grants there are also grants-in-aid from prefectural funds, the total
amount of which is unknown ; the matter is further mentioned below
s,v.j " pecuniary encouragement."

95. Rebates of excise and customs duties. — Since 1905 the salt
industry has, for revenue purposes, been burdened with an excise
duty : the manufacture is in private hands, but all salt must be deli-
vered to Government at a price varying according to quality ;
Government resell this salt in wholesale quantities jplus an excise duty
of Rs. 2-4-3 (1-48 yen at Rs. l-S-G per yen) for 133 lb. ; this closely
resembles the present Indian duty which is Rs. 2-4-0 per 123 lb.
(1| I.M.). iiut iu order to assist the fishery trade it is provided
either that salt may be sold at a special fixed price if intended for
certain industrial and especially chemical purposes, including '■ (6) the
preservation of saluion, trout, cod, whale, and fur-seal," or, if salt at
ordinary prices has been used, that a rebate varying from about
As. 12 to Rs. 1-8-0 per 133 lb. of any salted salmon, trout, cod,
whale, or fur-seal shall be granted, and a similar rebate on salted
herring and mackerel when exported.

96. When salt at a special price is demanded, the applicant must
give security in cash or negotiable paper at the rate of Rs. 2 per
133 lb., and when such salt has been used for the above purpose (6)
he must present an application to the Salt office having jurisdiction
stating the catch, locality, salting place, and destination of the goods
and obtain a certificate, after examination of the goods, that the salt
has been rightly used. The weight of salt so used as compared with
that of the goods, shall be calculated by the Salt office at tLe follow-
ing percentages, viz., salmon 65 per cent., trout 75, cod 40, whale 40,
fur-seal 50; that is, 100 lb. of salt cod shall, for the purpose of esti-
mating the salt used, be calculated as consisting of 60 lb. fish and
40 lb. salt, and 100 lb. of salmon as 35 lb. of fish and 65 of salt.*
These weights are here mentioned to show (as will elsewhere be shown)
the large quantities of salt which, in countries other than India, f are

* " The quantity of salt used which is to Le certified by the Salt oiBce shall be
calculated at the following percentages of the quantity of the articles salted : salmcn 65
per cent.," etc., etc.

t Of course the amount of salt which it is necessary to use in other countries in the
proper salting or preserving of fish, e.g., either ia the fish holds of sea-going smacks, or
in herring tanks or barrels, is far in excess of the salt actually contained iu the article
when in use as an edible. But in this country where only a minimum of salt is issued
acd used, itwouli seem from experiments by the Chemical Examiner to the Madras
Government that, in the case of large fish, almost the whole of the salt issued is found in
the fish, even though much of it is antiseptically useless ; the percentage of salt is speoi-
mens taken at random being as much as 14 per cent, on an average. This ia an
unexpected result. The antiseptic effect of the rou{>h salt used in Madras curing will be
discussad in a future report.

44

considered necessary for fish properlj salted ; the rate for salmon and
trout seems in this case excessive.

97. When duty-paid salt has been used drawbacks may be granted
at the following rates : —

Herring or mackerel salted and exported Rs. 1-2-0 per 133 lb.
of herring and mackerel in brine (jjickled), As. 12 of salted herring
(probably dried and salted) ; salted salmon obtains a drawback of
Rs. 1-4-0, trout Rs. 1-8-0, cod and whale As. 12, fur-seal Re. 1,
whether exported or not. These drawbacks may be obtained in the
case of exported goods by presenting an application to the Custom
house with the necessary papers proving export ; in cases where the
fishing takes places without the empire, proof of the use of the salt
must be gi-ven by presenting papers (article XXIY) to the Salt oflBce
having jurisdiction over the place of salting, stating the quantity of
the catch, the fishing ground, salting place, and destination of the
goods, and the goods must be submitted for examination. As
regards the use of such salt in places out of the empire, e.g., when
duty-paid salt is taken on fishing boats to China or Korea, Siberia,
etc., the following provision is in force ; (article XXV). " If a person
engaged in fishing in deep-sea in a foreign country or on the coast

thereof 5 desires to claim any of the drawbacks he shall,

before he sets out to fish, present to the Salt office having jurisdiction
over the port of departure, a declaration stating the name of the vessel,
the poi'ts of call, the fishing ground, and the quantity of salt on board,
and submit to the examination of the said salt. The person who has

made the declaration shall upon return to port proceed

to the locality where the Salt office to which the declaration was made
is situated or to a place named by the Salt office, present an application
corresponding to that prescribed in the preceding (article XXIV) and
submit to the examination of the catch and the salt remaining.^'

The above provisions are quoted as confirming the suggestions
made in my West Coast report for permitting boats to take duty-free
salt to sea. *

It will be seen that the Japanese rules are in one great respect
not so liberal as the Madras Fishery yard rules which issue cheap salt
for all fish salted in the yards whether for domestic consumption or
for export, this being equivalent to permitting, j3>*o tanto, the consump-
tion of cheap salt in food.f

* Since the above was written the Government of Madras has granted the concession
Buggestbd in that Report, viz., that boats proceeding to sea may, under certain conditions,
take salt practically at duty-free rates, for the preservation ot the catches at tea. This
should in itself give a strong impetus to the trade and industry, viz., by promoting the
building of good sea-boats capable of keeping the sea comfortably for many days together ,
with a possibility therefore of real deep-sea hshing and of bringing in the catches whether
of one or more days old, in a perfectly sound, untainted condition.

t See footnote above relative to the amount of salt actually contained in salt fish as
placed otthe market.

4^

98. Another instance of tlie fostering of the industry is in the
grant of a rebate of the import duty of all olive oil re-exported in the
shape of canned fish ; the import duty before the new tariff of May
1906 was Rs, 6 for 133 lb. But there is no serious duty on oil
imported into India. Tin-plate was by that tariff imported dutyfree,
obviously with the iatention of supporting the export industry in
various canned goods.

Establishment of close times and places, andprohibilion of injuriuus
practices. — As will be seen by perusal of the Fisliei'ies Law of 1901
power is taken to suspend, abrogate, or otherwise limit fishing
rights and privileges whenever it is found necessary for the protec-
tion or improvement of fisheries ; for instance, by section 13, Prefects,
with the sanction of the Minister, can issue orders to limit or prohibit
the catching or selling of marine products, to limit or prohibit par-
ticular methods or the use of particular implements to limit the number
of licensed fishermen, to prohibit or regulate the fishing of the
waters ; the Minister himself can prohibit or regulate the placing of
any construction {e.y., weir, or anient) which may interfei'e with the
passing of fish up a stream, and so forth. The use of explosives
is entirely forbidden by one of the rules issued for the execution of
the law.

99. By way of illustration the following rules are taken from the
regulations of the Aichi Prefecture, which, of course, has rules suited
to its own conditions and quite different from those of other districts.
Rule 9 provides for the suspension, restriction, orcancelment of licenses
to fish when a fishery is recognised as harmful to the protection and
increase of marine animals and plants or to public interest. Rule 11
prohibits the catching of certain fish and of all fish during certain
seasons, e.g., sea-cucumber (Holothurian, beche-de-mer) between
1st May and November 30, young mullet between May 1 and July 31,
young eels between March 1 and May 31 : it is obvious that these
close times can only be laid down upon a complete knowledge of the
bionomics of the various fish, and it is the object of the several fish
Commissions and of the Department and Experimental Stations, to
ascertain the life history of all marine products with a view both to
their protection and cultivation as well as to their capture. So also
by rule 13 the fishing of sea-cucumber and of sardines is prohibited
in certain areas which are defined by reference to certain marks and
bearings. Eule 14 prohibits all fishing from 1st September to 31st
December of every year along certain parts of various rivers or even
the taking of sand aud pebbles, presumably in view to avoid dis-
turbing the spawning fish though the season seems strange ; and
another rule prohibits the obstruction of a certain river to the passage
of anadromous fish. Rule 16 excludes the use of the gill-net for
sardines from certain inshore areas : apparently this is to avoid

4d

disputes with the inshore fishermoa within two miles from shore.
As will bo shown elsewhere (s.v. "Associations"), strict rules are
laid down to prevent interference of one fishery with another, and
most elaborate and careful surveys have been made and maps drawn
out to secure observance of the rules and prevent disputes.

100. Encouragement of Relief and Thrift. — Under the head of
" Associations " will be found rules and remarks relating to the relief
of distressed fishermen and for the promotion of thrift to which is
attached much importance, as also to the promotion of Mutual Credit
Associations.

101. Pecuniary 'EncQuragement. — As stated above, the law for
promoting pelagic fisheries bj bounties provides a sum not exceeding
Rs. 2,25,000 annually for such purposes ; at present not much above
half a lakh is actually granted. Other pecuniary encouragement is
given as noted under education, especially in the large provision for
the Imperial Fishery Institute which is solely paid for from Imperial
funds. But, as is usual in Japan (c/. Agricultural note), the chief
expenditure in promoting fisheries is from Prefectural funds, with
moderate grants-in-aid from the Imperial treasury . In 1887 the total
expenditure from Prefectural treasuries for the promotion of various
industries (Agriculture, Sericulture, Fisheries, etc.) was Rs. 2,01-, 870,
of which only Rs. 2,296 wore spent on fisheries ; in 1896 the amounts
had risen steadily to Rs. 12,39,300 and Rs. 73,^32, and in 1902 to
Rs. 49,15,629 and Rs. 5,40,06 1, respectively, so that the proportion
allotted to fisheries rose from one-ninetieth to one -seventeenth and
then to one-ninth. By far the largest part of the fishery expendi-
ture was devoted to the Fishing Experimental Stations (including
schools attached to them), viz., in 1902 Rs. 4,20,265 or seven-ninths,
of the total ; of this amount Rs. 64,900 or slightly over one-seventh,
were contributed from Imperial funds ; in 1905-190^ the prefectural
expenditure on fishery matters was Rs. 7,79,776, out of which
Rs. 5,85,420 were spent on 29 Experimental Stations ; the budget for
the current year has risen to Rs. 8,27,371. The above expenditure
includes not only that on experiment, investigation, and teaching, but
also grants-in-aid to fishermen and fishery associations to assist in
carrying out improvements, e.g., grants-in-aid to Fishery societies or
associations, to pelagic fishermen, to the purchase or making of better
nets^ boats, implements and gear, to students, etc.

102. The aid given to fishing associations engaged in useful new
work is sometimes considerable and by the rules of one district may
amount to one-third of the cost ; the matters chiefly aided are pelagic
fishery and the searching out of new fishing gi-ounds ; e.g., Chiba gave
Rs. 5,400 in a single year to 2 companies for deep-sea fishing ; Miye
gave Ks. 1,600 towards the expense of an improved fur-sealing boat j

47

Okajama passotl a regulation granting an additional Rs. 7-8-0 per ton
to steamers and to sailers of European pattern eligible for the
Imperial subsidy, and Ks. 105 per boat for any Japanese-built fishing
boat fnlly decked, above 6 feet beam, and proved to be safe in heavy
seas, with tlio result that in 1901 the district had 84 boats in Korean
waters and paid Rs. 5,400 as subsidy; Iwate gives lis. 45 per ton for
boats of from 30 to 50 tons.

Altogether it is stated that 16 prefectures granted during the
seven years 1897-1903, the sum of Es. 3,30,000 in aid of fishing in
Korean waters, while from 19Q0 tho Imperial Treasury has granted
Rs. 30,000 per annum to the guild of Japanese fishermen fishing in
Korea. To these subsidies is, at least partly, due the increase between
1897 and 1901 of boats from 950 to 2,532 and of catches from
Rs. 4,0(3,000 to Rs. 15,75,000 * : it will be noted that the value of the
catches per boat increased from Rs. 4J7 to Rs. 022, doubtless owing
to the improved character of the boats.

103. It is stated moreover that Government lends money to
fisherraon v^dien they have a bad season and when they are unable to
provide a proper outfit from their own means. Fishermen who open
new fishing grounds or who start new fishing establishments are
exempted for some y^ears from any fishery tax w^heuever the outlay on
such new ventures is considerable. It has been recently suggested
either that there should be special district Fishery lending Banks simi-
lar to those provided for agriculture, or that these latter should be
empowered to extend their operations to fishermen.

THE ORGAN IZATION OF FISHERY ASSOCIATIONS.

104. Apparently there has alvrays been a tendency in Japan for
artizans or traders to unite in small guilds or associations, like the
artels in Russia, and doubtless this was the case also w^ith regard to
fishermen especially as the fishing community were frequently at odds
with the local farming community as to various foreshore and inshore
rights wf fishing and sea-weed collecting, and as some fishing
operations require combined effort and expenditure. Be this as it
may, a far-sighted Government, for reasons similar to those given, s.v.
"Agricultural Associations" in ray Agricultural note, determined
on the creation by law of Fishery Associations, and in this they
were, as in Agriculture, assisted by the fact that private Fishery
Societies were already in operation. The first law on the subject was
passed in 1886, but this was found insufficient and was repealed by

* This is the figure given in an official return but Fceus altogether too low, bince the
boats are of considerable size. The Journal of the Fisheries Society for October 1902 gives
the value of the catghes jp Korean waters as 3 naillion jen or lis. 45 lakh§,

48

the general Fishery law of 1902, an abstract of which will be found in
Appendix II.

105. There are, then, in Japan three classes of Fishery Associa-
tions, the first two of which are the product of or are formed in
consonance with the above law; the third is the " Fisheries Society of
Japan " which is older than the law and is of purely private foundation
and maintenance.

106. Associations formed under the law of 1902 — Class (1) Gyogi/o-
Icumini. — Sections 18 to 21 of the law are as follows : —

" Fishermen residing within specified boundaries may, with the
sanction of the authorities, establish a fishery association (Gyogyo-
kumiai). The territorial limits of the association shall (with excep-
tions) be those of a village or hamlet, or fishing hamlet. Tlie associa-
tion shall possess rights and obligations in the matter of owning and
exercising the business of fishing, but cannot itself, i.e., qua associa-
tion, conduct fishing operations. When an association has obtained
the license for the exclusive fishing riglits in the sea over against the
shore boundaries of the association, its members shall conduct the
fishing in accordance with the rules of the association. The Minister
of the Fisheries Department shall issue regulations for the establish-
ment and guidance of these Associations."

107. The associations here mentioned are associations of working
fishermen and deal only with the catching of fish : the object of the law
is to avoid interference with the fishery usages which have developed in
times past among the local community, to establish in each little area
a self-governing body of fishermen wlio will settle among themselves
the rights and duties of the individual members, and who will have,
as a common object, the furtherance by combined action of the
common interests of the members. When a number of fishermen are
isolated and independent one of the other, each individual will be in
opposition to every other individual so that disputes will be frequent,
while there is no local authority except the courts to settle the disputes ;
when the men are associated they will not only settle among themselves
their several rights and duties but can readily prevent or decide
disputes ; in other words, there will be a tendency to co-operation
rather than to disunion. Moreover, the tendency everywhere in
fisheries, as in other developing industries, is from the individual to
joint systems ; as operations become greater and more complex and
tberefore more costly, as boats and nets become of necessity larger,
the scene of operations more distant, the expenses of keeping the fish
fresh and despatching it to market more considerable, the individual
fisherman with his little boat tends to disappear in favour of the
capitalist with his fleet of big boats and his paid crews {cf. the
Hokkaido, etc.). But the joint system is not necessarily that where

49

capital commands and labour obeys : in tlie simpler industries the co-
operation of workers, individually weak and poor, may easily succeed
by combining- funds and forces in associations, and this is, doubtless,
one of the main objects in making these associations practically compul-
sory and in providing that fishing licenses, at least of certain classes,
shaU only be granted to such associations and not to individuals.
Hence, though these associations may not, qua associations, themselves
carry on a fishery, they tend to keep the fishermen together and to
develop co-operative methods ; for these reasons the law fosters associ-
ations and giauts to them exclusive rights of fishing in particular areas.
For instance, there are certain kinds of fishing which can only be
carried on by obtaining the exclusive use of a certain area of water as
in the cultivation of no ri (Forphyra), oysters, etc.; section 4 of the
Fishery law lays down that such license will only be issued to a
Fishery Association existing on the shore bordering that area ; when
the Association has obtained the license it settles among its members
the rights grantable to each member. While the formation of such
associations is not compulsory yet, where such associations are formed,
it is expected, though apparently not obligatory, that all fishermen of
the locality shall become members.

108. Again, it is obvious that the anthoritios can deal far more
easily with a group than with a number of individuals ; Government
can make suggestions or impart the results of Experimental Station
work and so forth, with far greater ease and chance of a successful
hearing than to a number of isolated units ; information, for instance,
about a new sort of net [e.g., the purse-seine), or about improved boats,
can be readily given to an association which will discuss the matter
and decide to try the experiment probably from the associatiou's funds.
Per contra such a group of men can far more readily report their
grievances or make thoughtful suggestions to the authorities or can
give well-considered replies to queries addressed to them. Finally
such a body can, by small individual contributions, create a fund not
only for experiment in new methods or implements but for the relief
of distressed members or their widows and orphans : the average
number of boats destroyed annually by storm, etc., is above 1,100 with
crews of probably five or six per boat (in a single storm a few weeks
ago V62 boats with above 800 men perished in a single locality), so
that relief is frequently needed on this score alone.

109. The above are amongst the reasons for establishing this class
of association which in June 1906 numbered Q,242 ; the actual ex-
penditure as associations of 1232 in 1905 was Es. 2,15,347 or Rs. 174
apiece and the budget for 1906 of 2,607 was Rs. 5,24,?>25 or Rs. 201
apiece. Tlie number of members is not given except in one out of 41
sea-coast districts, which had 13,201 members; probably the greater
part of the 900,000 odd fishermen are members of associations.

Q

50

110. As usual in Japan, elaborate regalations were framed for the
proper execution of the law : these provide that each association shall
bear the name of the locality, that it shall be originated upon the
consent of at least two-thirds of the resident fishermen at a general
meeting and upon the sanction of the Prefect ; that the preliminary
general meeting shall settle the object, area, classes of fishing, the
rules of the association, and so forth. The regulations further lay
down rules for the appointment, powers, etc., of the administrative
officers, and especially the proper auditing of the accounts ; for the
conduct of general meetings in which each member has one vote ; for
the appointment of a treasurer, when the income is considerable ; for
the collection of fees from the members and for the investment in
Government or Municipal banks of any reserve, which can only be
drawn upon in case of calaiiiity or unavoidable necessity, or for some
very noteworthy benefit common to the members. Every fisherman
of the locality has a right to join unless there be some strong reason
against him, and appeal lies to the Prefect against rejection or ex-l
pulsion. The rules provide for dissolution, as by the reduction of
members to below one-third of all resident fishermen, etc., and for
liquidation when necessary, and any funds available fifter paying all
debts shall be handed over to some public body or association. Asso-
ciations are supervised by the Minister, by the Prefect, and by the
Heads of counties (taluks) ; these can require reports, inspect the
books, cash balances, etc., issue any necessary orders, and can cancel
any resolution that may be considered harmful to public interest.
Penalties are also provided for cases of false report, failure to keep or
produce the proper books and accounts, or to submit the required
reports and so forth. The source of these rules is obvious to those
who have studied the laws and regulations applicable to and the
internal rules passed by German Societies.

111. But legal aid does not stop here, for the Kegulations lay
down rules for delimiting, mapping, and registering the several
positions or spheres of operation of the various associations or groups
of fishermen or even of individual rights, a matter not only of vast
importance for the prevention of disputes but of great difficulty when
the it)imense number of fishermen, the vast length of coast and the
conflict of interests are considered. A further reason for this deliinita-
tion and mapping is that it enables the fishery license fees to be
readily assessed and collected. So far as ascertained, this work has
been thoroughly carried out and though of no great immediate interest
in Madras, it is mentioned as an example of thorough work and as a
model for imitation should it become necessary, as for instance, should
fixed nets be introduced. Ownng to the immense number of fisher-
men and of various classes of fishing work, such as fishing by fixed
nets or weirs, capture of bottom or surface fish, Crustacea, molluscs,

DIAORAM II,

(See end of para. Ill, page 51.)

^C^oTrw^NV^

W.

270

N.

c

9
S. 180

Plan of " Enclosed " Fishery for the culture of Nori
(Porphyra, sea-weed).

Base. Cape at in village .

A Base.

The poira^ .4 of the enclosure is a ken (fathoms) from the base (A) in the straight line drawn
at an inclination of 4.5° B., of N.-S. line.

Point B is b ken from the base (A) in the straight line drawn at an inclination of SO* E. of
N.-S. line.

Poiwi C IS c ken from the base (A) m the straight line drawn at an inclination of '2,5" W. of
N.-S. line.

Point D is rf ken from the base (A) in the straight hne drawn at an inclinatijn of 46;
W. of iV.-S. line.

Dimensions of the Enclosure.

From A to B e ken (fathoms).
From B to C /■ ken.
From C to I) f7 ken.
From D to E A ken.

Total perimet(!r ken.

Area — tsubo. (1 tsubo = 4 square yards.)

(See end of para. 1 LI, page 51.)

DIAGRAM I.

C. Bentoa

Plan of Fixed Net Fishery.

Net used.— Oshiknami (a species of trap-net, of the Daiaiiii class).

Base.— The rock called at in vil

The following positions are known -. —

(i) Cape Benton.

(ii) A Base,
(iii) The Hill,
(iv) Cape Myojin.

(v) Cape Fudo.

(vi) A small island orer against Cape

Benton
(vii) A ridge opposite Cape Fudo,

The point A of the fishing ground is the inte"section of two straight lines, one drawn from Cape
Benton through the Island, and the other, drawn from. A at an < of 30', east of V.-S. line.

Point i?is a ken from the Base (A) in the straight line drawn at an inclination of •20° West of
N.-S. line.

P'j/w^ 2) is the intersection of two straighi lines formed respectively by joining Cape Myojin with
the Hill, and the Ridge with Cape Fudo.

Dunensions of the Fixed Net ; " ken " = fathom.

From A to B m ken ) ,. u„,„, ,1 >>
From A to Cw ken j ^o^""-
From B to E ken J .. Aiir:„„„ "
FromCloDpkenj " 'n^"-
From B to C a ken.

51

and sea-weeds, rig-lits and sphoi-es of operation are greatly intermingled.
Tliore are, in fact, several classes of fishing laid down in tlie Eegula-
tions, viz., " Fixed ", '• Enclosed ", " Special ", and " Exclusive "; the
first named is the fishery by means of fixed traps, pound nets, or weirs
(American usage of the word, viz., a fixed trap formed of stakes and
brushwood, etc.); '' Enclosed ^^ denotes an enclosed area in which
marine products, such as oysters, algae, etc., are grown by cultching
and other operations for the attachment of spat and spores ; " Special "
are such fisheries as whale or dolphin catching, etc., for which special
licenses are issued on particular areas ; " Exclusive " is the right of
fishing within a given area to the exclusion of all others and by methods
not included in the first three classes of fishery. All these rights,
often contiguous or commingled and even conflicting, have had to be
enquired into by the Prefectural (district) officials and the spheres of
operation mapped out. According to a paper of 1894 by Mr. K. Ito
" in every fishing locality the position of all traps and seines is located
on a map, and this map is filed in the county (taluk) office for the
reference of fishermen, so that when they have any quarrel in regard
to the position of nets it can be settled very easily, '^ and not only the
position of nets but, as above explained, the areas of enclosed or
exclusive, etc., fisheries. In the Regulations made for carrying out the
fishery law of 1902 there are four appendices in. the form of sjDecimen
sketches giving the precise position, dimension, distance from shore,
and bearings of the several classes of fisheries ; sketches of two are
appended.

112. The following abstract of the rules, statistics, etc., of an
absociatioa will give an idea of the work done by them. The Muko-
gasaki Fishery Association was established in May 1903 in a hamlet
of the Miski town called Mukogasaki-kabujima : it has five directors
including the chairman, three auditorSj and one treasurer; there are
558 members employing 782 men with 250 boats of above 4 feet
beam and 130 of less beam, out of a resident male fishing population
above 15 years old of 1,658 with 500 boats ; probably the youth of the
association and the youth of many residents account for the fact that
all residents have not jet joined ; owners of 380 out of 500 boats,
however, are members. The subscriptions were trifling, aggregating
only Rs. 130 in 1905, but presumably a special levy could be made if
necessary. It is interesting to note that the pay of the Secretary, the
only salaried man, is Rs. 15 per finnum, while Es. 18 pays the rent of
the office building and of the man in charge ; the expenses of the
council and of the general meeting amounted to Rs. 7-8-0. Honoraria
were granted as follows : to each director lis. 8, to each auditor
Es. 1-8-0, and to the treasurer — who has to furnish security — Rupees
7-8-0 per annum. There is a hint for Madras societies in these
figures.

52

113. The value of the catches, on an average of three years, "bj
the members of the association was Hs. 44,400, the great bulk being
taken by hand lining ; the catch fer member is thus about Rs. 81 *_per
annum which is small ; apparently the association is for the smaller
class of fishing since only six drift-nets for shark, tunnyj etc., were
employedj and only 40 long line boats for tunny, bonito, tai, etc.

114. The rules of the association give as its object " the possession
and the exercise of the right of fishery " within the recognised area
and the development of the common benefit of the members ; rules are
laid down as to membership and administration ; persons elected to
office cannot refuse without good reason, though the posts of director
and auditor are honorary. The usual rules are framed as to general
meetings and as to the disposal of the funds, formation of a reserve,
etc. The classes of fishing to be exercised by the members are 27 in
number, nearly all being line fishing, and members may exercise their
rights either singly or in partnership ; when a particular fishing can
only be exercised in one place by one person at a time members shall
exercise it in turns, which shall be settled by lot. A relief fund shall
be established up to a maximum of Hs. 750 : from this fund grants
may be made for building or repairing boats in case of loss or injury
by shipwreck, etc. ; for medical lelief to a member injured by ship-
wreck or other accident, for the travelling expenses of men swept
away to distant places by storm^ for assisting the family of a ship-
wrecked member, for rewards to persons who have rescued shipwrecked
members. All members are required to help one another at sea.
Rates of subscription vary according to the need aud accordiug to the
position of the members, e.(j., As. 2-6 (10 sen) to Rs. 1-8-0 and
from Rs. 2 for a large boat to As. 4-0 for a small one ; most
members are in the lower classes.

115. Those who know the difficulty of dealing with isolated,
ignorant, routine-led men and the frequency of disputes between units
in disunion will recognise the advantages arising from a co-operative
bond of the above nature.

116. Glass (2) Suisan-kumiai. — These are of a totally different
nature from class (1) (Gyogyo-kumiai) ; they are formed under sec-
tion 22 of the Fishery Law of 1902 aud may be called Fishery Cham-
bers using the word '* Fishery '' in its largest sense of the fishing
industry and trade, from the catching of the fish to the placing of the
product, fresh or manufactured, on the retail shops. Section 22 lays
down that "persons employed in fishing or in the manufacture or sale
of marine (aquatic) products, may establish a Chamber of Fishery

* Compare the average value of Es. 90 per household for allJapan mentioned in

paragraph 4 s?^^r«. As a mcmbtr oi an assoeialion probably reprcBonts a household the
similarity in cateh, which was arrived at independently, is noteworthy, the cautions
mentioned in paragraph are, however, to be remembered.

53

(Suisan-kumiai) for the improvement and development of tLc fisheries,
for the protection and cultivation of aquatic products, and for the
improvement of the industry and trade. These Chambers shall, except
in matters provided for by the Fishery Law and Rules, be regulated
by the Law of 19U0 relating to Associations for Staple Products (Juyo-
bussan Dogyo-kumiai) '^ for which see note on Agriculture. These
chambers are not permitted to engage in actual fishery business but
are trade associations intended to work for the general improvement
of the industry in every branch as shown below s.v., "Articles";
their sphere of operation is usually considerable and may cover a
whole Prefecture. These Chambers, again, may unite to form feder-
ations (^Suisan-kumiai Rengo-kwai), and some have already done so.

117. The Fishery Law relating to these Chambers has been inter-
preted by rules issued by the Minister ; these provide, inter alia, that
these Chambers shall not exercise the rights of actual fishery, that
they shall be established on the sanction of the local prefect who shall
approve of their Articles and any modification, and shall have power
to cancel any resolution if illegal or injurious to the public interest :
reports of work done and budgets and statements of account shall also
be sent to the Prefect.

118. The i^rticles of suoli a Chamber specify, infer alia, (1) the
work to be undertaken, viz., enquiry into the methods of catching and
preserving fish, and the provision of instruction in such methods ;
examination and standardising of manufactured sea-products ; the
means of protecting and increasing {e.g., by cultivation) aquatic fauna
and flora; the investigation of markets with a view to the development
and extension of the trade ; the settlement of trade disputes ; the
opening of shows or exhibitions and the preparation or procuring of
exhibits for such shows ; (2) the class of persons who may become
members, viz., fishermen and all persons connected with tlie fishery
trade and industry who reside within the area of operation ; [3) the
usual rules for tlie admission, rights and duties, etc., of members ; (4)
rules regarding the several officials, it being a rule that no one may
refuse office except for some strong reason, and that all oflfices are
honorary except that the office manager may get pay ; (5) the enter-
tainment of experts and inspectors under the control of the President,
the former of whom shall examine particular fishery subjects and the
latter shall superintend the examination of articles manufactured by the
members ; (6) rules for general council and departmental meetings,
departmental meetings being those of members of the same branch of
trade, ejj., curers, oyster-cultivators, etc. ; (7) the usual rules as to
finance ; (8) rules under which members rnay apply, upon payment
of a fee, for advice or for an investigation into methods relating to
the industry or trade ; (9) any trade matters to be specially dealt with
by the Chamber ; e.y., one Chamber deals specially with dried squid

54

and dried bonito with the following- provisions :— (a) a certain numlDer
of squid shall be called a " soku ", and a certain number of pounds
shall be called a " kori "; (6) squid dried at different seasons shall not
bo mixed in tbo same kori; (c) kori shall be wrapped in well-dried
mats of new rice-straw ; (d) weights less than a kori are not subject to
these rules ; (e) squid shall be classified in three grades, the first grade
being of good and uniform quality, dryness, color, and appearance, the
second grade of good quality and dryness, but of inferior color and
form, the third, inferior in all resj^ects First grade squid shall also
be sub-divided into large and small accjrding to a specified standard.
As regards bonito (see infra i-egarding the universal use of dried and
smoked bonito), it shall be packed in boxes of given volume and hold-
ing a given weight, of well seasoned wood of specified minimum thick-
ness ; bonito dried at different seasons shall not be packed in the same
box, and each box shall be roped lengthvvise and twice crosswise.
There shall be two grades of bonito, viz., '* superior" of good quality,
thorough dryness, uniform shape and color, and " ordinary ". Mem-
bers desirous of selling squid or bonilo to persons outside of the
Chamber's sphere of operations shall, under penalty of fine, tender
them for inspection at a small fee, if not less than a " kori " in weight j
inspected boxes or kori shall be marked by the inspector with the
ascertained grade of article ; an appeal lies against any such mark to
the President who may order a re-examination. These rules are of
much importance : they compare with practices elsewhere found,
such as the Scotch branding of pickled herring, and the minute rules
laid down both as to the quality, methods of packing, and the material
and liooping of the herring barrels ; the object of this marking is, of
course, to favour the development of tiade, especially export, by pro-
viding a particular standard for every class of goods and by so mark-
ing the goods, after examination by responsible and expert inspectors,
that buyers can depend upon always getting an article corresponding
to their orders and to the price paid. Official or authoritative brand-
ing may not be necessary, indeed, when trade is carried on by great
houses during a long series of years so that the goods are sufficiently
warranted by the name of the firm or by its own special marks, but
in the infancy of an industry and for small manufacturers such brands
are of great importance. In any case, in the infancy of an industry
the fixing of a particular standard for the several classes of goods is
of the first importance, if only as a guide or standard for manufac-
turers ; with such standards we should perhaps see better cured articles
issuing from our curing yards.

119. Another special object of the same Chamber is the provision
of shell-fish spat which is to be grown in a special ruirsery and supplied
on payment to members; see below s. v. ," oyster culture '' for a
description of such nurseries. Further articles contain rules for

65

making suggestious on fishery matters to tlie Prefect, for the reporting
by members to the Cliamber of any facts injurious to fisheries, and for
the investigation of the market for a particular article when a member
presents a request to the Chamber stating the nature of the article, its
price, probable fju.nitity, and other details, and pays a fee ; rules
for the opening of exhibitions or for preparing exhibits for public
exhibitions; rules for hononring persons wh ) have improved tlie
industry or increased the coimnoa benefit ; rules for settling trade
disputes among members.

120. These Chambers seem already to be doing good work : thev
have formulated suggestions of many kinds ; a single Chamber has,
intfT alia, suggested to the Minister the project of a Fishery Bank to
supply capital to fishermen who are now very hard pressed by scanty-
capitiil and higli interest ; the necessity and position for a fishery
harbour and improved boats and gear ; to the Prefect the necessity for
a Fishery school in a particular locality : to the Governor of Korea
the need for a fishing port with proper communications between it and
the markets, the provision of education for the children of the Japanese
fishei'raen working in Korea, and the necessity for sanitary measures on
the shore. Another Chamber purchases salt wholesale and supplies
it to members at rates cheaper than the retail market ; the sale per
annum is 70,000 bags of 1 j bushel (0'25 koku) each, and the saving
effected to members was no less than lis. 21,000. Another Chamber
held an important conference, issued 500 charts of fishing- grounds,
opened a local competitive show, and passed resolutions which were
sent to the Prefect in favour (a) of sending the committee to sea on
board the improved fishing boat of the expe:-imental station in order
to acquire a knowledge of its working, (h) of adding fishery subjects
to the curriculum of primary schools and industrial supplementary
schools (see " Education ") in sea coast villages, (c) of starting a
local branch of the proposed Fishery Bank as soon as it should be
established, (</) of establishing at an early date Fishery harbours in two
localities from which pelagic fishery is carried on ; and (e) of obtaining
a subsidy from the Prefect for opening temporary (fishery) schools, for
holding exhibitions by each Chamber in turn, (or studying pelagic
fishery, for the further employment of experts, and for the relief of
shipwrecked fishermen.

12 1 . Another Chamber devoted itself so tiioroughly to the improve-
ment of the members' products, to their proper packing and to a
careful inspection of the same, that the outturn far exceeded that of
non-members both in quantity and quality. This year the Chamber
is proceeding to carry out trawling experiments.

122. It will be seen that these Fishery Chambers are extremely
useful and practical Trade Associations. Presumably every person
engaged in the fishing trade or industry ought to become a membej"

56

of a Chamber if establislied, since section 4 of the " Staple Prodacts
Trade Associations Act " states that " all persons who are engaged
in the same trade as that for which the Association is established
shall join the Association except when exemption has been expressly
obtained from the Minister for Agriculture and Commerce/' But
this does not seem to be strictly observed.

123. Class (3) of the Associations is represented by the Fisheries
Society of Japan which is outside of the Fishery Law, and by at least
two similar societies. For a detailed account of this society see supra
paragraphs 14-18.

THE UTILIZATION OF EXHIBITIONS.

124. B^oUowing out tlieir determination to gather knowledge from
all over the world, the Japanese have not only sent delegates to
examine the world's fislieries but have diligently attended, through
expert commissioners, every exhibition of importance — general or for
fisheries only —throughout the world, beginning with Vienna in 1872 ;
that at Philadelphia in 1876 seems to have first enlightened them as
to the importance of the industry and development which it had taken
in the west, but it was the special Fisheries Exhibitions of Berlin in
]880 and London in 1883 which not only marked the beginning of a
vigorous development of fisheries among the Japanese but introduced
Japanese products to western nations. As mentioned s.v. "Fisheries
Society of Japan ", it was the thoughtful observations of the
delegates to the Berlin Exhibition which led to the starting of that
great and useful society, a society which has not merely aroused and
maintained a lively and practical interest in fisheiy matters through-
out Japan but held some ten Fisheries exhibitions and established a
school which developed into the Imperial Fisheries Institute (q-v.).
It was the trained observation of Japanese delegates to the Paris
Exhibition of 1878 which caused them to notice nnd to study the
canning intlustries of the West and led to their taking home, under
Government orders, a complete outfit of canning machinery and of
practical knowledge by which the industry was fairly introduced and
subsequenbly developed throughout the country till it has now attained
considerable dimensions. Since 1883 Japan has sent fishery exhibits
and expert commissioners to Chicago, Paris, Norway, St. Petersburgh,
St. Louis, and Milan (190o) : and while its commissioners come back
with abundance of infcn'mation as to fishing methods, boats and gear,
as to preserving processes, pisciculture, markets, etc., which would be
utilised in developing the Japanese industry in all branches, its
exhibits on each occasion have been attracting more and more atten-
tion from the developments shown and the excellence of the products ;
its canned goods at St. Louis have (so a leading merchant of Tokyo
informed me) led to larg'e orders for Japanese fishery products^ and q,

57

strong company was then (May 1006) in process of formation to
supply the demand for tliem and for similar goods of the first class for
American and European markets. In addition to the canned goods
there were large displays of fish-oil of fine quality supplied by various
Japanese companies, of cultivated pearls (see infra), of shells, sliell
buttons, and corals (much of the so-called Italian coral is really the
Japanese coral imported to Italy), ''agar-agar'' (vegetable isinglass)
and other products of marine flora including iodine, and so forth.
At the Milan Exhibition in 19J6j I saw a similar series of exhibits,
the art products in tortoise-shell and mother-of-pearl and ornaments
made with cultivated pearls being specially noteworthy. One result
of exhibiting at the Bergen exhibition was an export to Norway of
thread for nets valued at Rs. 1,05,0(>0. It is clear then that the
Japanese are utilising exhibitions to their full value both as sources
of information and of trade.

125. Internally they also use exhibitions very freely : as stated
above the Fisheries Society had held ten exhibitions up to 1900 ;
Government also held a National Fisheries exhibition in 1863 ; in 1890,
there was a large fishery branch in the third National Exhibition,
and again in 1895 : in 1897 there was a second Fisheries Exhibition,
and there have been several other exhibitions since. At first these
shows served only as a display of primitive methods and implements
but later shows have steadily exhibited the increasing development of
the fisheries ; e.g., in 1893 only 14,581 articles were exhibited of no
particular value, an important lesson as displaying the simplicity and
backwardness of methods, boats, gear, etc. In 1891, however, there
were 46,906 articles, including 719 models of boats and implements,
together with many manufactured products, etc., showing a consider-
able advance in a short period. Such shows diew the attention both
of officials, of the trade, and of the public to the subject; they have
proved of great educational value, wiiile the competition at successive
shows has led to considerable improvements in the goods.

FISHERY TAXATION.

-26. The various departmental and Prefectural Fishery agencies,
e.g., the Fisheries Institute, the experimental stations, etc., cost a
great deal of money ; as mentioned above, the Prefectural Fisheries
budget for the current year is 827 lakhs of which about three-fourths
are for experimental stations. In Japan the Government does not
hesitate to levy special taxes for special operations, the proceeds being
probably ear-marked for the operation ; it considers that a fisherman
can and must spare four or eight annas, probably from his expenditure
on saki (arrack), in consideration of the great improvements which a
iniUion such coins would work in the hands of enlightened and expert

H

58

hands. It lias been impossible to ascertain the actual amount of
taxation, since the taxes are prefectural and differ in every district ;
they are levied either as license fees for particular classes of fishery,
or as rentals for particular areas, or as direct taxes on boats, nets or
persons. The fees and rentals for the right to fish on the Saghalien
coasts amount to a sum probably equal to the whole fishery expenditure
of the empire ; in the Hokkaido or Northern Island, where the herring
fishery is pre-eminent, as also salmon and other valuable fisheries,
the " taxes and public burdens " on the members of two-thirds of
the associations are officially recorded as Es. 5'88 lakhs, of which
the actual fishery tax was Rs. 4*12 lakhs ; as the total value of the
catches by those associations aggregated to Rs. 108'24 lakhs, the
actual tax was nenrly 4 per cent, of the gross, and since there were
39,259 members in the associations, the taxes and public burdens
were just Es. 15 per head out of ])er capita proceeds of Rs. 275.

127. In a prefecture of the main island I found the statistics of a
large fishing village to be as follows : —

1

.,

tiD

1 »H

■^

a

<D

m

P<

><

C

■-§

cS

«

X

Nature of

-t^

o

etl

cS

Remf»rkR.

+=

'c3

y^

c

net, etc.

Ut

n

M

CS

t-i m

«(H

ei

o

(S

■t>

O $

° 6

'^

rO

,n S

m

O

^

3 o

ctf

9 o

2§

(S

tK

£ "S

O

"^

'^^

a;

<

IZi

H

t2i

«

RS. A.

BS.

A.

RS.

A.

RS. A.

Yesake net . .

22 8

11

4

1

33

12

, ,

Seine . .

18

9

2

54

Drift

22 8

11

4

1

33

12

f

22 8

11

4

1

r

According to number of

Bonito boats, i

18
15

9
7

8

U4

1,305

•• '

[

oars; more than 11,
9, or 7.

Salmon (P)

45

to

6

22
t
3

8

26

230

"Salmon" is probably
a clerical error in my
notes or a mistransla-
tion. The taxes are
according to nature
of net.

Miscellaneous.

6
to

3

t

187

1,449

Taxes on small bo^ts,
the lowest ratw being

1 8

12

for small boats with a
single hand ; average
Es. 7-12 per boat.

Total . .

2G1

'<<, 105

8

890

3 8

Since the income per house i:irobably does not much, if at all,
exceed Rs. 100 per annum (paragraphs 4 and 113 supra), the tax
amounts to about 3|- per cent, of the gross earnings. The 50 per cent
'' additional tax " is probably a war levy, but is not so stated.

As the usual number of working fisher folk per house including
boys over 15, is about 2*4 per house, the rate per head will be nearly
Rs. 1-8-0.

59

128. la another prefecture the Prefect kindly furnighed the
following rates: —

Trap net (fixed or pound nets) each

Do. (small) ...
Various nets (seines, etc.)

Furn

ishe

sd

KS.

A.

p.

67

8

22

8

3

to

7

8

5

15

2

6

Poll-tax

Sea-weed collection by machine ...

Do. by hand, per person

No tax is levied for three years upon any net of an improved
character introduced by fishei'men for trial, or during enforced
periods of suspension above six months, or upon women or boys under
13 years old when there is no adult male in the family. Nothing is
stated as to any boat tax nor is the aggregate amount of taxation
stated. This prefecture does little in the way of official fishery work,
having expended only Es. 2,952 in 1005 and having no fisheries
experimental station, though it is an important district with a marine
and river fishing population of 24,738 actual workers with 8,144
boats and 76 associations with 10,575 members ; taxation at 4 annas
per head and the above rates per net should yield a surplus above
the expenditure.

THE ECONOMIC POSITION OF THE FISHER CLASSES.

129. In general the fisher folk are extremely poor, but there are
many progressive capitalists and proprietors who are developing the
industry in all its three branches ; as in Europe these men are proba-
bly ousting the independent fishermen and bringing them under the
^/ontrol of intelligence and capital. For instance, Mr. K. Ito says that
in the Hokkaido the fishermen are divided into three classes ; the
outfitter who supplies capital, nets and gear, and even food to the
fishermen who are not able to supply themselves ; proprietors who
own the fishing vessels, fish houses, and the necessary gear ; employes
who are hired by the proprietors. Sometimes the work is done on
shares, sometimes partly on shares, partly on wages. It is these
proprietors who are intelligent, well educated and progressive; it is
they who understand improved methods of catching, curing and
cultivating ; they form associations for the purpose of preventing the
preparation of inferior articles and for the adjustment of disputes, as
well as a Chamber for the improvement of fisheries and for the
distribution of useful information. Probably much the same is found
in the more progressive parts of the country in general, as evidenced
by the numerous Chambers, by the various factories for the prepa-
ration of products, by the increasing number of large boats and new

60

gear for distant waters, etc. The tendency is, as elsewhere, to the
disappearance of the small, independent fishermen in favour of the
capitalist system of modern times, although, as mentioned above, s.y.,
" Associations," the legal obligation on the fishermen to form associa-
tions to whom alone, in many cases, fishery licenses will be granted,
tends to counteract this tendency by the introduction of co-operation.

130. Data are largely wanting in regard to the financial position
of the fishermen ; in "Japan in the 20th Century" it is stated that
the average capital is Rs. 40 per family, a sum which includes the
value of boats, nets, lines, etc., and all other gear. Boats in Japan
are very cheap and fragile and wear out in 10 or 12 years, so that the
above capital though perhaps unduly small is not so absurd as it
seems at first sight; anyhow the average individual capital is very
small. Obviously, however, fishermen with such finances cannot of
themselves build deep-sea boats and supply the costly gear and stores
necessary for the deep sea and distant fishing which is now a
necessity.

131. With such small capital, frequent losses, bad seasons, and
periods of inactivity, the Japanese fisherman is largely in the hands of
money-lenders who are spoken of in much the same terms as in India ;
the report above mentioned says (of Hokkaido fishermen) " they are
obliged, in order to obtain their working funds, to have recourse to
loans at exorbitant rates of interest, and often they have to pledge
beforehand the anticipated catch of the season. Under the circum-
stances the lion's share of the profit coming from the fishery goes into
the pocket of money-lenders, and it is hardly possible to expect the
development of the industry while things continue in this condition.''
Out of about Rs. 145 lakhs required by the fishermen of 88 associations
(out of 124) in Hokkaido as working funds, no less than 80 lakhs were
borrowed money. Other accounts give similar statements regarding
the want of own capital, the high rate of interest demanded, and the
more or less dependent position of the isolated fishermen. It is for this
reason that both the Fisheries Society and the Council of Directors of
Experimental stations (and many others) lay stress upon the necessity
for establishing (a) facilities for the promotion of saving, so that the
fishermen may have a safe place in which to put by against bad
seasons, etc., any surplus when, as happens, he gets unusually heavy
catches ; {b) credit associations among the fishermen where small loans
may be obtained, e.^., for repairs, replacing gear, working funds, etc. ;
(c) regular lending banks on the syatem of the Agricultural mortgage
banks where men can get large loans for building boats, buying large
nets, erecting pound nets and traps, etc., on mortgage of the goods
obtained by the loan ; {d) relief funds for assisting men who have
lost boats, nets, gear, etc , by the storms so frequent in Japanese seas
or have met with other misfortune. A few years ago in the Hokkaido*

ei

Government granted loans at a low rate of interest with the hope of
improving the industry, but on the abolition of the then system of
administration, these takkavi loans were discontinued to the great
embarrassment of the fisher folk. Apparently, however., even in this
island the associations are greatly helping their members, for the
above mentioned report states that out of Rs. 80'4 lakhs which are
borrowed for working funds, no less than 38'8 lakhs are obtained from
guilds (associations), 34'3 lakhs from local capitalists and 7*3 from
other sources. This seems to be good work on the part of the guilds,
but nothing is known as to the terms of the loans.

FISHERY PLANT, METHODS, ETC.

132. The original fishing apparatus of Japan and the using of it
do not appear to have m.iny lessons for Madras except, as has already
been mentioned, the boldness and endurance displayed by the fisher-
men in putting far out to sea in small and fragile boats in the bitter-
est of weather and in seas liable to sudden and violent storms ; it is
their ready adaptation of western methods that provides lessons for
India.

133. Boats. — Boats are invariably undecked, built of pine, with
mat or cloth sails but generally of such a rig that they can only sail
right before the wind, and are thus not only inefficient sailers but are
very apt to be driven out to sea by adverse winds. One peculiarity is
the very deep narrow rudder extending fuily a boat's depth below the
bottom of the boat ; this is very efficient being immersed in com-
paratively still water even when the boat is pitching. In 1904 there
were 426,287 boats of which only 22,399 were above 30 feet in length ;
26,296 were below 18 feet. A boat above 30 feet is not necessarily or
usually of any good size or strength, the average value of such boats
being only lis. 227 according to official statistics. Boats are built light
since they are, to a great extent, driven by oars, they must be quick in
manoeuvring, and must be readily hauled up on the beach. Their life
averages between 10 to 12 years as stated both by fishermen and fishery
officials ; this is confirmed by the statistics which show 36,642 newly
built in 1904 and 35,098 worn out, or a l2-year life for the 4,26,287
boats ; figures in other years are similar ; the continual replacement of
boats plus repairs must bo a heavy tax upon the fisher folk. 'I'he point
to be noticed is that the boats are improving in size and sea- worthiness ;
this is necessitated by the increasing distance and length of voyages ;
even with the present small undecked boats the men venture out,
especially after bonito, up to 100 miles from shore, but voyages to
Korea, etc., and the necessity for fishing in the stormy winter weather,
are compelling the introduction of boats after Western models. This
necessity is clear from the fact that in 10 years ending 1904 an average
of 1,279 boats with crews of at least 5,000, were annually lost by

62

sliipwreckj upsetting and drifting out to sea, etc : in one storm a few
weeks ago 130 boats with crews of about 800 were lost. In 1900 there
were only 17,682 boats above 'iO feet in length: in 1904 there were
22,399 and some of these latter are real improvements. Such are the
new liners of Oita district said to be tbe most sea-worthy in Japan ;
broad, full-decked with water-tight hatches, accommodation below for
crew, and so forth : the men liave a special mode of preparing against
storm and are said to be able to stand the heaviest gales. The bonito
boats have to go out sometimes a hundred miles from shore and follow
the shoals ; these are open boats with large crews of from 12 to 30
men and a live well for carrying live bait : they are being improved
by half-decking, but as the wind in summer is light and the fish get
tainted on the long row home, fishermen are now contemplating the
addition of motors ; this was being tried in a boat which was building
for one Experimental Station that I visited. So also the tunny boats,
which have to fish in the stoiray winter, are now being improved by
decking, adding a centre-board, and strengthening with frames which
are not ordinarily used in Japanese boats. In the improvement of
boats the Experimental Stations are leading the way ; that at Shinojima
which I visited, is building a new boat each year, each successive boat
designed being an improvement; Mr. S. Kato of the Fisheries
Bureau has an excellent boat for the Oita District Experimental
Station similar to a Thames trawling boat, ketch rigged, full decked,
live well amidships, fish and net room forward of the well, and accom-
modation for the crew aft.

As in Malabar canoes, the crews of Japanese boats seem dispro-
portionately large, eight men being common in quite a small boat and
from 12 to '60 in larger ones.

134. Nets. — Here again, except in the matter of fixed nets and
bamboo '■ weirs " there is not much to learn from original Japanese
nets ; the lesson to be learned is the readiness with which the Japa-
nese adopt or adapt nets new to them, whether it be districts adopt-
ing useful or improved nets from other districts, or the country in
general adopting foreign nets. Formerly when communication was
difficult and most localities were isolated from general intercourse,
each fishing locality knew only of its only methods and implements ;
as communications became easy, the knowledge and use of new nets
spread from district to district, whether by the enquiries and intel-
ligence of the people themselves or by the diligence of the Experi-
mental Stations, which not only busied themselves with bringing nets
and expert fishermen as teachers from one district to another, but
introduced new nets from other countries, especially the purse seine
from America which at once commended itself to the Japanese folk.
In several districts I found that nets had been newly introduced from
other localities, and one use of the schools is in showing that there are

63

new nets and metliods in existence and in teaching their use. Not only
so, but the fisher folk have been tau^^ht tliat fish wliich used to be
caught only by customary methods nnil nets, may be also and more
readily caught by other nets ; e.g., formerly sardines used to be cauglit
only along shore (^as in this Presidency) with the seine ; the people
have now learnt to use the pur3e seine and other nets out at sea
for these fish [cf. the American catches oi the menhaden, a rela-
tion of the herring and sardine), and the purse seine " has been so
successful that it has become one of the important appliances for
sardine fishery and is now used in many provinces." '' Now-a-days
with improved boats and gear there is a tendency to seek this fish
further and further out at sea," a practice which i«i precisely that
suggested for the Malabar Coast in my i-ecent report ; the Japanese
found that instead of waiting for the fish to come and be caught it
was better to go and search for the fish and follow them up and use
new nets for their capture. Similarly, it appears that it is only of
late years that the pound net has been used for catching herring- in
Hokkaido, yet these nets are now largely responsible for the enormous
spring catches round that island.

135. The Japanese use many classes of net, some being identical
with those found all over the world, such as the seine, the gill-net,
etc. ; some are common to Japan, the Mediterranean (Adriatic) and
parts of this presidency, e.g-, a bag net with wings towed by boats
against the tide like the Madras coast " thuri " ; some are special to
Japan, but not of sufficient importance for introduction.

136. Three nets or traps will now be described.

(1) The to-ami or simple cast net. This is used the world over
and nowhei'e more extensively than in Japan and India, but the
Japanese variety has an ingenious and deadly addition which I have
only seen on occasions in Madras, e.g., at Pulicat. The bottom is
heavily leaded as usual, but thin cords are attached to the circum-
ference, at every foot or two, which pass up the inside of the net and
out at the centre. When the net is thrown these cords are pulled and
draw the lower edge up into a bag in which the whole of the fish
within the circumference of the net are enclosed and taken.

137. (2) Purse-seine — {agu?^l-ami). — This was introduced from
America and enormously increases the catching capacity of the
fishermen, since it can be used for all surface fish irrespective of the
depth of the sea. The ordinary seine can only be used inshore where
the depth is so moderate that the leaded foot of the net rests on the
bottom ; it is then either dragged ashore or, as used on the West Coast
for sardines, it is gradually worked up to the six or eight boats which
ring it round and the contents dipped or tipped out into the boats
But it is well known that sardine and mackerel shoals do not neces"
sarily come close inshore but are met with well out at sea in depth^

64

where an ordinary seine could not he used ; hence the invention of the
parse-seine, used in America to capture the menhaden, an oil-bearing
Clupea, which appears in vast shoals like its cousins the herring and
sardine J the fishermen search for shoals and when found follow them
as long as possible using the purse-seine for their capture. The
difference in this seine is that round the foot of the net are fastened a
number of metal rings through which ropes are rove ; by liauling on
these ropes the bottom of the net is closed up forming a vast basin,
bag, or purse, so that when the net has been shot round a shoal and
the bottom ropes hauled in, the fish are absolutely enclosed and the
net may then be hauled to the side of the smack and emptied by boats
and dip nets at leisure. Obviously the depth of the water is unim-
portant, so that the surface- swimming shoals of sardine and mackerel
can be searched for and followed far out to sea. As stated in my
West Coast Report, this is one great desideratum of our fisheries, viz.,
the ability to fish at any distance off shore and not merely inshore
when the sardine and mackerel shoals choose to come and be caught;
the large boat is the first necessity, and the deep-sea purse net is
the next. The Japanese net is often some 20 to 25 fathoms depth, and
up to 150 fathoms in length, so that vast quantities can be taken at
a shot.

138. (3) TJie fixed or 'pomvl-net and its congener.^ {OsJiiki-ami, etc.).
— These are structures of some permanence, fixed in one position
along the coast, into which the fish are guided by leader or scare nets
or driven by boats and shouting ; the fish caught are mostly the
migratory surface fish. They have many different names in Japanese
according to their nature and perhaps the class of fish for which they
are set ; in English or rather iu American, for America possesses them
in great numbers, they are called set nets, pound nets, trap nets, etc.,
if erected with nets, and traps, weirs, etc., when built of bamboo,
reeds, and so forth ; the word " trap " will be used for brevity
merely. There are apparently about 50,000 of these traps in Japan
if we include pound nets and Shiki-ami, and I saw many in my tours.
The accompanying drawings are taken chiefly from the catalogue of
the Japanese Fisheries l^jxhibition of 1897 and another Japanese
publication, but I have added a rougii sketch of similar American
constructions to show the similarity.

139. These traps are necessarily constructed along the coast
especially between islands where there is a good current up which the
fish stream ; at right angles or so to the coast is run a leader (guide or
scare) net or bamboo wall, which may be hundreds of fathoms long ;
on striking this obstruction, the fish turn out seawards along the guide
net and find themselves again obstructed by the trap proper or pound ;
if they try to avoid this there are " barrier^' or " heart " nets which
insensibly turn them back again towards the trap ; eventually they

(See end of para. 138, page 64.)

FIGURE I.

A = Leade.of indefinite length; often of straw
B = Baflfliiig net.

''^''aa^SwitKt?""-^ ^•^'^ ^«"°- -

""'"^tr^^o^^"'^ '-^^-. -i-d on
E = Watch tower,

^^"'^'v^^sto^^e'r"^'^'^ «-*« -^ho-l by
Taken from a Japanese Exhibition Catalogue.

(See end of para, 138, page 64.)

FIGURE II.

'^TfnjriTnjjffjjjpjrrrr^^

^^^^^^TrrrrTTTTTTTr

xote

fatho1„SSmZ;rto%5"*'^' '*''■ '"''"^' y^'^«^^-t*"' et«-= «f great size : often, hundreds of
A = Leader or gnide net.
B = Semi-heart to turn fish towards 0.
O = Pound proper.

D = Net lying along the bottom which is raised when a shoal enters.
i! Z * °- fJo- do

G~^atehY'>Jer'''*"' *" *''"*^ ^^^' '^'''^^' *^ '^'*' '^^^^"^ *^" passage at E.
H = Large floats anchored by heary stones
i = Small floats.

pouiidc'^te^^lL^^hfSpn*?,.^?.;''/ V*^' leader A is. usually much longer in proportion to the
^nes seen i-cS.tt'Ca'^so"irha^i!S"netK^^^^^ '^^^"-^ '"^'^^

(See end of para. 138, page 64.)

FIGURE III.

Sketched on the shory of Massachusetts, U.S.A.., and iutroducel to show the similarity in design
between tiups indigenous to America and Japan. The sketch is not drawn to scale as the leader mar
bo of any length.

The floats shown on the leader by dit^ ani dmhis are, of course, continuous, though not so
shown, for the whole length of the net both pound and heart.

66

enter the pound by a narrow entrance usually formed by two converging
walls of net or bamboo which project into the pound ; the tendency of
fisl) being to swim along an obstruction and not to turn backwards at
sharp angles, they simply swim round and round the ponnd which is
often of labyrinthine construction so arranged that the fish get more
and more deeply involved. In many traps of large size used for
catching shoals there is a watch tower from which a signal is given
when a shoal has entered, whereupon boats hurry up and close the
pound by a net which was lying along the bottom of the entrance. In
some traps the pound or part of it is netted along the bottom, the
walls and bottom forming one continuous net; when the fish are driven
into this area and the entrance closed, the net is lifted beginning at
the entrance so that the fish are brought gradually to the surface at
the further or closed end of the net. It is extremely difficult to de-
scribe or to understand from description the building and working of
these nets, but careful inspection of the plans with the lines and
arrows marked thereon will help.

140. These constructions are common in parts of the East, in the
Mediterranean, and in the United States of Ainerica ; but do not seem
to be known in this Presidency : they have the advantage that, once
erected, they catch fish automatically; on the other hand, they are
costly to build and repair. When made of nets they are necessarily
secured by a number of powerful floats, e.g., closed tubs, bundles of
bamboo, etc., and keep at the level of the water, rising and falling
with the tide ; at foot they are well weighted, usually with large
stones. When made of bamboos, reeds, etc., they are so built as to
project out of water at high tide ; strong posts or piles are driven
deep into the ground at frequent intervals, and anchored by guy ropes
attached to anchors or heavy stones ; between these piles is a closed
lattice work of reed, bamboo, or straw. The guide or scare nets may
be of wider mesh than the pound itself as they serve simply to scare
the fish towards the pound.

Of the catches of herring in the Hokkaido to which herring shoals
come in great abundance in spring, it is said that after the introduc-
tion, some 40 years ago, of the fixed trap net, the catches became so
enormous that they could no longer be utilized merely as food, and so
the fish guano and oil industries came into existence. One of the
matters for Madras consideration will be the expedience of intro-
ducing or permitting these fixed nets in suitable localities.

As mentioned above, the positions of all such nets or weirs, as well
as of other classes of fisheries are carefully mapped and registered in
the county (taluk) offices for reference in case of disputes, etc.

141. Numerous small traps known in French as " nasse "for
lobsters, prawns, etc., are also common ; they are usually coneshaped
aijd funnel mouthed ; the elastic reeds forming the funnel converge

I

6G

too-ether within tlie trap so that tliough a fish can pass easily through
the narrow opening at the small or inner end of the funnel it cannot
return, and finds itself impounded in the cage ; bait is placed inside
the cage to attract the fish. These, of course, are common all over
the world but not in Madras waters, except occasionallj and of small
size.

142. Lines and JiooJis. — Nothing special requires note except that
the long line with many hooks is very much more used than in this
Presidency, though the lines do not attain the gigantic length of
British lines because of the small size of the boats ; some, however,
run up to 1,400 fathoms or about 1| miles. Barbless hooka are
frequently used as they injure the fish less and permit it to live longer
after capture. It is also said (Dr. Kishinouye) that hand lines are
used in Japan to the enormous depth of 300 fathoms, a depth not
parallelled, I believe, even in the Norwegian cod fisheries where 200
fathoms are mentioned as the limit,

143. Noteworthy methods in catching. — As on the coasts of France,
Spain, and Italy scattered bait is largely used to attract fish ; in
European countries a quantity of surface bait is used to bring up the
shoals of sardines from the depth, while in Japan sardines, fresh or
salted, are scattered frequently on the banks frequented by yellow-
tail in order to keep the fish on the spot, I have seen no such use of
bait on the Madras Coasts, though it is possible that sardine shoals
might be brought within reach of the seine by some such practice.

The use of torches on dark nights to attract fish, e.<j.. sardines and
nmckerel, is very common ; this method is also used on Madras
Coasts. An ingenious mode of using the torches is by suspending a
large rectangular net, 200 feet X 60 feet, slackly by a dozen or more
ropes from four boats ; two boats with torches then row into the area
above the centre of the net ; when mackerel have gathered to the
light, the boats haul in the ropes and enclose the fish in the bag thus
formed while the torch boats row out of the area. At the Milan
exhibition (1906) in the Austrian Court, powerful lamps (kerosine or
acetylene) were shown having reflectors above them, so that strong
beams of light are thrown into the depths and thus attract fish like
moths to a candle.

For examining the bottom of the sea, e.g., in catching the sea-ear
{Ilaliotis gigantea), the use of a water glass is common ; however
clear the water, it is impossible to see the bottom if the surface is
rufiled ; by using a wide wooden tube with glass bottom thrust below
the surface, it is easy to inspect the bottom at 4 or 5 fathoms and to
use the spear or dredge.

144. One of the most useful implements that I saw was the live
cage or chest for preserving fish alive until brought to shore or until
needed. In paragraphs 7 and 13 of my West Coast Report this

67

subject is alluded to and sug-gestions made. In Japan I saw bamboo
cages, double coned in sliapc like a short very stout torpedo, with
a trap dooi" in the upper part ; these are carried on the boats
when going out to fish, and when fish are caught the cages are placed
in the water and the live fish put into the cages by the trap door ;
the sea freely passes through the interstices of the cage so that the
fish are readily kept alive ; the cages are then towed homeward behind
the boat. There were also wooden chests perforated with auger
holes and somewhat coffin- shaped ; these were either to be towed
behind the boats or used as floating chests in the harbour. I am not
aware whether these cages are common, but they are in use and similar
cages are found in the South Seas. In the Milan and Marseilles
Exhibitions (1906) I saw models or photographs of many of these
chests, some identical with the double-coned bamboo cage of Japan,
from many countries ; Italy, France and Turkey showed willow cages
precisely similar in design ; Germany and Austria showed wooden
perforated chests either coffin or closed canoe shaped, the former
being rather for storage, the latter for towing behind a fishing or
other boat. The matter is specially alluded to here since there is not
the slightest reason why such bamboo or rattan double-cone cages
should not be used in Madras waters so that the fish, which are
mostly alive when caught, might be kept alive not only to the beach
but, if there were no immediate demand or the curing yards were
shut, till required ; fish tainted by the time they reach the shore might
then be almost unknown.

THE PREPARATION OF VARIOUS AQUATIC PRODUCTS.

145. The universal use of fish as diet, the necessity for utilising
the sea to the utmost owing to the small arable area and the absence
of flesh food obtained from the laud, and the inability hitherto, from
want of quick communications, to carry fresh fish rapidly inland, have
begotten a considerable variety of prepared aquatic products both
animal and vegetable. To the ancient methods are now added many
modern modes of preserving and preparing fish products such as
canning, smoking, and pickling, etc., as mentioned supra s.v. '' Experi-
mental stations." Some account will be interesting and suggestive
in a Presidency where almost the only method hitherto of preserving
fish has been that of rough salting and sun-drying ; the exception is
the method of pickling mackerel in Cochin (paragraph 22 of my West
Coast Report) and the preparation of smoked bonito strips in the
Laccadives. Certain well-known and useful Western methods such
as pickling (in brine) have not been practised till of late in Japan ;
but there are many methods and preparations of novelty and interest.

146. Shark flesh paste. — Shark and dog-fish are caught in vast
numbers on our coasts and the flesh is readily eaten. In Japan it is

68

universally consumed especially in the preparation now under descrip-
tion ; it is obviously capable, as will be seen, of considerable variation
by the addition of condiments —salt, pepper, turmeric, etc.— which
would also improve its keeping capacity. The flesh of the shark— or
other white-fleshed fish— having been freed from bones and skin, is
cut rapidly into shreds which are then pounded in a wooden or stone
mortar with a wooden pestle till the whole is reduced to paste ; during
this pounding a little salt is usually added, and when inspecting
the process I was told that no other condiments are added; Dr.
Kishinouiye, however, mentions flour, sweet wine, white of egg, and
a solution of sacchariferous algae, but this may refer to the paste
of white-fleshed fish other than shark or to the practice of other
ocalities.

The paste is then made into semi- cylindrical or other conveniently
shaped rolls upon slips of wood, like rolls of butter or curd-cheese ;
these are then steamed for 20 minutes in a close stove over boiling
water ; the result is a pure white product which will keep for several
days even in summer. This paste is not a delicacy for the rich but is
cheap and in general use, and may be seen in all the fish shops of a
town; slices of it seemed— exp^r^o crede— to be invariable additions
to the broth served at meals in Japanese inns.

147. Dried and smoked honito {Thynnus pelamys) and tunny
{Thynnus sill), etc. — This excellent product (katsu-bushi) might well
be introduced into India as it is economical in use and will keep good
for years; the above fish ara those generally prepared by this method
but other large dark- fleshed fish such as salmon, are, it is said, so
treated. The fish is opened and boned and the flesh cut longitudinally
into strips or wedges ; these are boiled * (or steamed over boiling
water, when the fat drops into the water and is collected), and then
placed in trays for drying in the open air; the trays are of wood with
open-work bamboo bottoms so that air can freely pass under and
around the wedges. t When partly dry they are removed on the trays
to the smoking furnace ; that which I saw was a simple open slow-
combustion furnace burning various woods and saw-dust so as to
produce plenty of smoke ; above the open top are piled a dozen or so

* The boning and boiling are often done on board the boats when far out nt sea.

t In ray West Coast Report I alluded (paragraphs 24 and 25) to the defective mode
of drying fish and suggested barbecues or, rather, drying tables or " flakes. " It is well-
known that fish laid on a hard surface, eueh as a plank or earth, so that the air cannot get
at the underside, readily taints on that side while of eourfe it retains its moisture for the
same reason. Hence in all Western countries fish are either hung on scaffolds (Norway,
etc.) freely exposed to complete perflation of air, or placed on " flakes " which are rough
tables of which the tops are of wire-netting or of some open wood work which allows the
air to play over and dry the lower as well as the upper surfaces of tlie fish. The tables
need not in this country be high, nnl the cost may he trifling. This reform in drying is
properly one of the essentials of a good product.

69

of trays so that tlio whole smoke is forced to penetrate the various
layers of fish- At the close of this process the wedges are a dark
chocolate brown and hard; they are then trimmed \sith a knife and
given a thorough final drying on the trays in the open air. At one
experimental station there was a simple low temperature (70^ to 90^
F.) drier for drying these and other fish wlien the weather was
unpropitious. This product is absolutely universal and much esteemed ;
it is pared into shavings and forms the basis for sauces and broths ;
in India it would be an excellent addition to the usual curry.* The
complete drying and penetrative smoking account for the keeping
power of the product ; Madras salt fish is never thoroughly dry and
goes bad on the West Coast in the rains when Persian Gulf fish,
which is much more thoroughly dried., will keep good. This is the
secret also of the Norwegian stock fish which is dried on flakes or is
suspended from scaffolds for some months.

148. (3) Dried yellow-tcnl. — This is also an excellent but more
expensive preparation, and will keep good for a long time. The fish
is gutted, soaked for two hours in salt water, boned, and the thick
flesh scored with deep longitudinal cuts; it is then placed in salt for
about a week, washed, and allowed to dry slowly in the shade for
about two months. Fine table salt is then sprinkled over the pieces,
which are then wrapped in paper and tightly wound round with a
straw rope. Thus prepared and hung in an airy place it is said to
keep good for many months. To judge by another account the pro-
cess is sometimes abbreviated, but good salting, slow drying, and
final protection from the air by enwrapping the flesh are essential.
Grey mullet are also treated in this fashion.

149. Boiling in Soy. — Soy is the well-known Japanese sauce
without which no meal is complete ; it is made from fermented wheat,
soy beans, and salt; a favourite method of preserving small fish is in
this sauce whether in air-tight tins or not. It requires an education
to like fish so prepared and the recipe is mentioned merely to suggest
that in this country fish might be preserved in a variety of ways suited
to the particular tastes of the consumer, whether with tamarind,
chillies, curry stuffs, or the like. The soy, however, adds nutriment
as well as flavour, and, in itself, is an excellent condiment.

150. Fisli pickled in vinegar. — This is an ancient J apanese product
of good character and taste ; at Milan Exliibiti(m there were special
products prepared for the export trade. The method would probably
suit this country also ; vinegar of good quality is made readily and
cheaply, whether from alcohol, molasses or toddy, and fish may be
preserved for some time if cleaned, covered with boiling vinegar
which may also be spiced, and placed in bottles, jars or kegs.

* A somewhat similar product is said to be prepared in the Laccadives and is
occasionally imported into and used in the south of this Presidency.

76

Preserving in fermenting rice and in said Ipbs. — These are merely
mentioned to show the variety of preserving methods in use.

151. Canning and of her Western methods. — The Japanese, however,
have not contented themselves with old methods, and have developed,
partly by the work of their experimental stations, partly by the energy
and pushing and progressive nature of the people, a canning industry
■which is already of considerable dimensions and promises a largo and
early development. The business was introduced as follows ; in 1877
at the Experimental Laboratory started for the encourngement of
agriculture, experiments were made in canning fish after the European
fashion ; next year several Japanese attended and studied the Paris
Exposition (1878) and there learnt the correct process; on their
return they established canneries at Tokyo with machines bought in
Paris under the orders of Government- About the same time the
so-called Colonial Government in Hokkaido also started experiments
and engaged two Americans who tauglit the industry to pupils by
whom a factory was speedily established ; others afterwards started.
At Nagasaki a Mr. Matsuba learned the business from a Frenchman
there, and opened a cannery which to this day is doing good business
in excellent products. Later on, the China-Japan war proved a great
stimulus owing to the demand for canned goods, since which time the
industry has been progressing and received a further development
during the recent war. At the St. Louis Exposition in 1904, eleven
experimental stations exhibited a variety of such goods, one (a mere
Fishery School) being prepared to supply 50,000 cans of prawnS
annually, while it mentions '' many canneries in these localities where
a plentiful snpply " can be obtained. Many private exhibitors, asso-
ciations or individuals, also exhibited goods such as smoked salmon,
red herrings, mackerel, etc., in the preparation of which the newest
machinery, including plant for soldorless cans from Hamburg, was
used. At Milan numerous companies and individuals (altogether 40)
exhibited excellent goods, five alone exhibiting sardines in oil, besides
many others which showed preserved tunny, mackerel, Crustacea,
pastes of sorts, salted roes, and so forth. Olive oil is imported for the
best goods, a rebate of the import duty being given by Government on
aU exported goods in oil, but the Japanese are already considering the
possibility of growing this oil, while, as in America, other oils will also
be used for less superfine goods. As already stated, a large company
with a capital of from 45 to 75 lakhs of rupees was being formed when
I was in Tokyo to develop the industry, chiefly for export. Wet
pickling in salt is now being also adopted, chiefly by the example of
the experimental stations, and at the Milan exhibition I saw stock fish
(cod) of the Norwegian character prepared by four Japanese in the
Bay of Okhotsk and shown by a private exhibitor, as well as smoked
(red) herrings by three exhibitors, and so forth. The pushfulness of

71

the Japanese loses no opportunity of ascertaining- the worhl's needs and
of trying" to supply them.

152. Fish Oils. — These are whale oil, cod and cod-liver oil, shark,
and dog-fish, herring and sardine oil. Herring oil is easily first in
quantity, being above one-half of all oils ; it is almost wholly produced
in Hokkaido where the herring is steamed and pressed ; sardine oil
takes the next place, about one-fifth of the total production, cod and
shark oil together yield another fifth, and the other oils a tenth. Oil
is only refined for home use ; the bulk of the oil is exported unrefined.
The processes and plant in use are of modern character and the
product of an excellent quality ; at the Milan Exhibition and in the
Agricultural and Commercial Museum at Tokyo I saw many exhibits
of the best quality. One Yokohama firm, founded in 1893, which has
now many international medals, has a factory covering over 2^ acres
with 2 large engines, 20 cooking furnaces, 30 vats, each of 10 tons,
for containing the oil, 40 filters, 7 hydraulic and 27 hand presses, 4
depositing vats holding together 350 tons, and employing 95 men and
48 women ; its exhibits at Milan were excellent. The crude oil is
bought from various places and is refined at the factory or exported :
its total annual output averages 10,780,000 lb. Another firm
(up-country) established in 1899 deals in whale oil : its boats catch
whales in Korean waters, and it has three factories and several receiv-
ing stations in Korea ; their annual produce is said to average a million
gallons. There are many other factories doing a good business. The
official statistics of fish oil production seem defective as to total
produce ; the export however for 1904 seems to have been about 16"7
million lb., value about Rs. ]2-7 lakhs; in 1900 it was lH-8 million
lb., worth 13-6 lakhs. There is evidently a field for industrial
enterprise in Madras.

153. Manures. — This is a most important product, fish fertiliser
being the most highly valued of all manures in Japanese agriculture
(see Agricultural Note). The herring and sardine are the fish almost
solely used, herring being enormously in excess of sardine now
that the latter fish is more extensively used as food, whether fresh,
salted, diied or canned. The herrings are chiefly caught on the
coasts of Hokkaido, the summer herring being much fatter than the
spring herring which is in spawn. The oil is extracted by steam
heating and pressure, and the scrap is then sent out as manure. The
annual product is about 110,000 tons, of which nine-tenths to four-
fifths are herring and from Hokkaido; the value is from Es. 112 to
Rs. 120 per ton or 20 to IS"? lb. per rupe3, the latter price being the
latest (1904) ascertained. The productive as well as pecuniary value
of this manure, chiefly nitrogenous but also largely phosphatic, as
proved in Japanese agriculture (see Agricultural Note) which consumes
practically the whole product; strongly commends its development

72

on our own coasts and its use on our own fields so sadly defective
in the above, but especially in the nitrogenous constituents. Our
sardine and mackerel shoals provide abundant food and manure, if
properly sought after and taken. 8till better, however, w^ould it be
to supply the fish inainly as food to the people and thence indirectly
as manure to the fields ; this is happening in Japan where the demand
for fresh and dried fish as food is causing a short output in the ferti-
liser product ; but then, the Japanese take care that after all it is given
indirectly through the excreta to the soil ; while, in addition, large
quantities of bean cake and some fish guano are being imported from
Manchuria, etc., and from Siberian coasts.

154. Otlier iiroducU. — There is not only a large home demand for
various aquatic products but China provides an almost illimitable
market in which Madras already shares to some extent but might
conceivably develop its ti-ade. Such are shark fins, fish sounds,
beche-de-mer, cuttle fish, ear-shell {flaliotts), various shell fish, several
preparations of seaweed, iodine, pearl-shell and coral ; pearls will be
described s.v. " Pisciculture.''^ Shark fins and fish sounds are already
considerable articles of Madras trade, especially from the West Coast,
and need not be further alluded to though developments will be
possible with increased catching power ; beche*de-mer also, but, as men-
tioned below, it is possible that this may be developed by cultivation
as is now being tried in Japan. The Haliotis is a valuable product
both for flesh and shell; the former is salted, boiled, dried in the sun,
and exported to China ; the beautiful iridescent shell is largely used
for ornamentation and is sent in vast quantities to England, Germany,
etc.; the export of shell to England alone averaged in the decade
1890-1900, 340,000 lb. valued at Rs. 52,000. Cuttle fish (Sepia) and
other squid are dried and largely exported to China, though consumed
in quantity at home ; prawns are boiled, shsUed, and dried, and mostly
exported to China where the market is practically illimitable ; the
oyster (see " Pisciculture ^') besides being eaten fresh is also dried
and exported to China ; it is now being canned. The razor-clam
{Solecurtus constrictn) is cultivated in immense quantities, its flesh
boiled and dried and sent to China ; so also the flesh of the mussel.
The Area granosa is also cultivated and exported in vast quantities to
China. A curious cultivated product is the common barnacle (Balanus)
which is cultivated on bamboo collectors on muddy tidal flats ; the
annual yield is stated as 400,000 bushels worth Rs. 45,000, the product
being used as manure. Frog skins are a large article of trade, and
being of delicate texture, the leather is used for fancy articles.

155. A very distinctive feature in the Japanese economy is the
great use made of sea weed or, as one should say, of marine vegetation,
for the word "■ weed " too often obscures or even impugns the value of
aquatic and other flora. The Japanese marine flora are particularly

73

abundant and of various cliaraeters owing to the considerable range in
latitude and temperature ; at all times they are scattered on the Leacli,
but after storms they are piled uji in masses. But the Japanese do
not content themselves with what is sent them : a large number of
boats are constantly engas^ed in dragging the alga) from the bottom,
even at considerable depths, with implements which experience has
shaped ; yet again, not content with the natural harvest they exten-
sively cultivate these marine crops.

156. The greater part of the marine vegetation is consumed as
food, and among sea flora the " Laminaria ", often of huge size, take
perhaps the first place ; under the general name of " Kombu " thej
are of universal use in the Japanese dietary though they do not
commend themselves in general to European palates. The edible is
cut up into small pieces, heated in water, and served as a condiment in
broths, or after being sugared or salted is taken with various fish. One
particular species is said to be an excellent substitute for tea with a
particular pleasant fragrance of its own. The importance of the
article may be judged by the fact that most of it is used at home and
is only exported "to some extent" to China; yet this expoi-t, on an
average of ten recent years, annually amounts in a dry state to 57,644,000
lb. valued at Rs. 12,82,550. It is an industry of long standing and
occupies many thousands of men, women and children. The total
annual value cannot be less than twice the above expoi-t value. It was
stated in a paper of 1894 by Mr. K. Ito that as the manufacture had
become inferior Government intervened and made a rule that all Kombu
must be inspected and branded before it is exported : cf. the work of
the second class of associations, ISuisan-kuniiai, supra, paragraph 118.

157. Another edible sea-weed is the Amanori (Porphyra tenera,
laver) cultivated in numerous places, usually in shallow flats at the
mouths of rivers where the water is not very salt, but especially in
Tokyo Bay where the first objects that strike the traveller's notice
as he skirts the Bay in the train, are the rows of faggots or fascines
of bamboo and brushwood sticking up from the mud on which the
weed grows ; these are placed in position in autumn and the crop
begins in January and goes on to late spring. Dr. Smith states that
the area in Tokyo Bay leased from Government was, in 1901, as
much as 951 acres and gave a crop worth Rs. 4,44,000 or Rs. 166 per
acre; in 1903 the same area gave just double that value or Rs. 9 lakhs
and Rs. 930 per acre ; while Professor Mitsukuri gives the value in
Tokyo alone as above Rs. 15 lakhs. As the industry is found in many
other places the gross value must be well over Rs. 20 hikhs, and the
product in food by no means negligible. The plant grows rapidly on
the collectors, is gathered from time to time, washed, minced, and
pressed into thin brown sheets about octavo size ; these are then stuck
upon bamboo frames inclined to the sun, and when dry are bundled

K

74

and sent to market. These are said to be sliglitly roasted when used
and to give a desirahle flavour to other foods. It is used in many
ways, such as minced and served in broths ; a favourite i-ecipe is the
well-known " Sushi " or sandwich composed of boiled rice mixed
with fish or pulse flavoured with vinegar and wrapped up in a sheet of
nori. An equally common recipe is to serve it with hot rice and
Shoyu (Soy) sauce ; it is said to be an excellent appetizer. It does
not, however, seem to keep well in the hot weather, but may be dried
and canned when it will keep indefinitely.

158. A very important product is that called in commerce agar-
agar or vegetable isinglass, which is the product of a weed called
Tengusa (Gelidium) and is known as Kanten. Tlie weed is dissolved
in boiling water which is then strained and allowed to cool when it
solidifies on cooling. This is a whitish translucent substance sold in
thin uticks and bars, and is used for bacteriological cultures, for clari-
fying Hollands, etc., for stiffening cloths, and for food like true isin-
glass. Cooled with ice and sweetened, it is said to be the most delight-
ful of sweetmeats to Japanese palates. If dissolved by first soaking
and then boiling in sweetened water it forms a jelly to which, before
it is set, various essences and coloring matters, especially yellow, may
be added. A good deal is used in Japan but much is exported to rhe
value, it is said, of over Rs. 15 lakhs annually, to Europenn countries,
India, and the United States of America. 'J he largest output is under
the control of a number of persons in several provinces who have
united into a trade association with head-quarters at Osaka ; it is not
a manufacturing company but an association as described above in
which each individual manufactures on his own account, but the
product is lumped and sold by the association which is thus able to
place it to advantage and largely commands the trade ; the principal
manufacturer makes above 100 tons per annum. There are other
similar associations but of smaller size at Suwa where, in 1902, above
443,000 lb. were manufactured by various members.

159. Another important weed is that known as Funori (Gloiopeltis)
used as stiffening paste or size for woven fabrics, inputting on wall
paper, and (otherwise ; mixed with lime and sand it forms an excellent
cement or stucco. The size or glue is easily made by cutting the weed
into moderate sized pieces, boiling it (or a short time, and then filtering
the mass ; the filtrate is the desired substance. The weed grows natu-
rally but is cidtivated in certain localities by placing blocks of stone iu
the sea at favourable spots to which the alga attaches itself ; the annual
amount has been estimated as 2,4-2o,000 lb. valued at Rs. 5,40,00U.
Here also, the leading manufacturers have combined into an association,
though it is spoken of as temporary.

160. Iodine. — Iodine is obtained largely from various algaj includ-
ing the Laminaria ; until of late, it was imported from Germany, but

75

fesearch has developed tbo industry so that not only does Japan now
supply herself with all that she requires but exports her produce. lu a
recent Fishery Trade paper it is stated that since the Japanese have
entered the iodine business the article has dropped more than 40 per
cent, in price in the world's market. The proper classes of weeds are
gathered, dried in the sun, burned, the ash dissolved and filtered, and
the filtrate evaporated , from this product the iodine is prepared hy the
usual chemical process. Secondary products are common salt, sodium
sulphate, potassium chloride, and sulphur.

161. Seaweeds in general are greatly used as manure ; in many
places I have seen great heaps collected on the beach and met loads on
hand-carts going to the fields ; though not very valuable it is of con-
siderable aid to seaside farmers.

162. Cora ^.—Formerly this was little worked though banks were
known ; this was due to prohibitory rules, and though coral was
secretly fished, yet most of the coral ornaments used by the Japanese
ladies before 1867 w^ere imported from Italy ; since the Restoration
(1867), however, coral fishers began to dredge the banks,, several of
which were soon depleted ; others have since been discovered and
what was formerly an insignificant industry is now an important one
especially along the southern coast. In 1871 coral imports weighed
3,600 lb. and were valued at Hs. 70,000, while the exports were nil ;
in 1877 exports began, but till 1887 never exceeded Rs. 15,000 in
value, while imports rose in value to Rs. 1,85,000 in 1883, from which
time they declined as exports rose, so that in 1902 exports were no
less than 55,101 lb. valued at Rs. 6,54-,200, while imports were almost
nil. The total value of the coral fished was said in 1904- to be about
Rs. 9 lakhs which must be a conservative estimate, considering" the
quantity exported. The figures and facts are given to show the rise
of an industry, as in the case of iodine and pearl buttons, from nothing
to a very large figure, and the gradual substitution of exports for
imports. The value of the coral per pound ranges from a special class
which may touch Rs. 340 per pound to a class valued at only one
rupee or less. The precious coral has been found on the shores of the
Ramesvaram island of this Presidency, but whether it exists in quantity
on workable banks is a question only to be decided after careful
exploration.

The fishing iu Japan is very dangerous ; for several months it is
too stormy and in others risky, while the chances of profit are specu-
lative as may be judged from the varying prices of coral. The boats
are mostly open, though some are half decked with crews of from 4 to
8 according to size. The dredge is simply a strong rectangular net
about 5 feet square with a 2^ inches mesh from knot to knot, hanging
from a bamboo ; to the lower edge are attached tufts of old netting
and, of late, tufts are attached to the body of the net. The net tears

t6

off the branches of coral while the tufts collect them ; it is operated
by allowing the boat to drift with the current over the bank, and a
good deal of skill is necessarily required. The coral called Momoiro-
sango {Gorallium elatius) is the most valuable and possesses a variety
of delicate colours, while the next valuable (Akasango, Gorallium
japonicum) is very seldom anything but red. The exhibits at the
Milan exhibition were of great beauty and value whether as specimens
in the natural state of the most delicate gradations of colour from
ivory to pink, or in worked up ornaments.

163. Pearls. — These vvill be mentioned s.v. '' Pisciculture ".

164 Pearl shell. — This article is not only largely in use in Japan,
e.g., in inlaying lacquer and many other forms of ornamentation and
industry, but is exported in vast quantities to China and to European
countries. The chief shells are the pearl oyster (Avicula margariti-
fera), sea-ear (Ilaliotis gigantea, iris, and sjolendens), Yako-gai (Turbo
obearius or marmoratus), and Takase-gai (Troelius niloticus). The
pearl oyster shell is too well known to need any description. The
Haliotis is a magnificent shell and is annually exported to the weight
of about a million lb. valued at upwards of Us. 1,50,000, of which a
third goes to England. But Japan is not content with exporting the
shell in its natural state for others to work up, but has developed in
the last few years a large pearl button and stud industry in which the
above shells, chiefly pearl oyster and Haliotis, are used for the manufac-
ture, from the small shirt button to the large iridescent button an inch
in diameter ; the total weight of shells was said in 1904 to approach 4
million lb. At the Milan Exhibition there was a large show both of
the shells and buttons, and the annual produce of buttons alone was
valued at above Rs. 2,25,000 ; the manufactured articles are exported
to the chief centres of Europe and America, as well as to India and
other eastern countries. The industry is of the simplest character and
is one of those requiring the minimum of technical knowledge and skill
and the smallest capital ; shells, a few crown drills, saws, and polishing
apparatus, a little care and skill in cutting the shells to prevent splitting
and in the drilling and polishing, are almost all that is needed. Not
only buttons and studs (the latter cut from the thicker parts of the shell
as cylinders which, are then shaped) but slips for fans, knife handles,
etc., are also largely cut, while much is used in inlaid work.*

Many shells, even the humble cowrie, lend themselves to a species
of cameo work by cutting down through the outer shell to the inner
which is often of very delicate hues and colours.

165. The following prices of manufactured goods may be useful
as an indication of possible trade : they are mostly those quoted in

* On the Australian coasts and in the Pacific generally, the Haliotis, like some other
univalves, produces very good vearls in considerable numbers. Whether this is so in
Japaii I omitted to ascertain.

77

1904 and may now be slightly different. The word Jcen means district
or prefecture, and gun moans county or taluk.

Experimental station ...

Shinojima

Aiehi-ken

Experimental station ..
Sasakiinachi Takasu-gun

Kochi-ken

Kxperimentftl station ..
Katsu-ura

Chiba-ken

Fishery school

Nakanoseki
Yamaguchi-ken

Experimental station ..

Nakakasai-mura

Kagawa-ken

Experimental station .

Matsuyama

Yehirae-ken

Experimental station

Noboiitate-mura

Kumamoto-ken ...

Experimental station .

Hamajima

Miye-ken

Fishery school ...

Ushitsu ...

Ishikawa-ken

Experimental station
Kushimoto
Wakayama-ken ...

U. Nagashmia ...
Chichijima
Bonin Island
Noshiro Industrial Asso-
ciation, Noshiro
Akita-ken

f Sardines salted in barrels : per"^
j kit of 20 lb. fish delivered at \
! Kobe. J

J Sardines in oil : per case of 100
I quarter tins at Kobe (5
(^ grades).

'~1 Mackerel salted in barrels : per
r i barrel at Kobe.

•"I Anchovies (Sardines) salted:

• r per kit of 20 lb. at Yokohoraa.

n Canned prawns : per case of 48

• I one pound tins at Kobe

}Grey mullet in oil : per case of
50 one pound tins.

•"l Mackerel in od : per case of 100
•■ r tins (1 lb. ?) at Kobe.

"1 Pickled eels in jelly: per case

• • r of oO tins (1 lb. ?) at Nagasaki.

} Canned clams : per case of 48
one pound cans at Kobe.

} Devilled crabs : case of 48 one
pound cons at Kobe.

.•^Fish pickled in vinegar : per 3
...I dozen bottles at Kobe —

Pagrus

Prawns
I Mullet

1 Green turtle soup at Yokohoma,
r per 1 lb. tin.

>, Red Herring : per case of 5
I dozen tins each holding 12
j fish at Yokohoma.

■■<

27

3 5

17

18

24

16 8

12 10

23 6

23

18 12
12

75

78

G. Takahasiii

Ishikarimaclii ...

Hokkaido

Takasu Canning- Co.

Futakawaclio

Hiroshima

T. Waki

Otemaclii Hachichome
Hiroshima

YokoLoma Fish Oil Co
No. 1 Zaimokacbo
yokohoma

(1906 prices)

I Smoked salmon : per tin of 6
[ fish at Yokohoma.

} Canned mackerel : case of 1
dozen 2 lb. cans at Kobe.

I Canned oysters : case of 48 one
I pound tins at Kobe.

->l Sperm oil per 13'5 11). ('30 kilos)
s, Ordinary whale oil per 138 lb.
J (GO kilos).

Cod liver oil (medicinal),
srrades.

Cod oil, four grades

Shark oil (various)

I Herring oil (refined), three ^
grades.

Herring oil (unrefined)

Sardine oil (refined), two grades."

Sardine oil (filtered), two grades. '
Sardine oil

Rg. A.

7 4

5 6

15

29
19 12

four J

PISCICULTURE.

166. Under the head of " Seaweed " the cultivation of certain
marine vegetables has been described ; the present section will touch
brieHy on the cultivation of aquatic fauna but only so far as hints may-
be obtained for Indian use. The pamphlet (1904-) of Professor
K. Mitsukuri, Professor of Zoology in the Tokyo University, should be
consulted for fuller details and illustrations on certain items; the
present sketch is derived partly from the above and other pamphlets,
partly from personal observation ot several piscicultural stations.

79

167. The animals ciiHivated are cliiefly the carp, eel, grey mullet,
snapping turtle, gold fish, salmon and ti'oat, oyster, pearl oyster, the
ark shell (Area granosa), razor clam (solecurtns constricta), ])inna,
barnacles, and trepang (bcche-de-raer). Of these the gold fish need
merely passing mention as an instance of the skill exhibited in breed-
ing ; for centuries, Japanese breeders have shown their skill in
modifying the forms and coloration of these fish, which in their hands
prove to be almost " plastic material ^' : the extraordinarj' and
beautiful results must be seen, as they maybe seen anywhere in Japan,
to be appreciated, and from a biological point of view, the skill and
the results must be of surpassing interest. Dr. Mitsiikuri's instructive
paraplilct has many excellent illustrations.

1G8. Gallium {OncorJiynchu^ heta). — This salmon abounds in
Hokkaido (the northern island), the various rivers being, at the season,
full of salmon running up for spawning, but, consequent on the
development of communications and industry which followed on the
Restoration (1867), the catches became so destructive that the need of
conservation and ariifici:il propagation was evident, and the Govern-
ment sent over a local expert to America to study the hatcheries
there ; after his return, the Cbitose Government hatchery was
established in 1888 on the higher waters of the stream and has been
followed by 17 smaller ones maintained by private associations with
some State aid : there are also a few smaller ones on the main island.
The Chitose is a tributary of a larger river up which and its branches,
as in other rivers in Hokkaido, the salmon annually swarmed in
vast numbers ; the hatchery occupies 31^ acres, chiefly, of course, ponds
in which the fry are reared till liberation, with an annual output up to
15 million fry : all stations together protably liberate between 35 and
£0 million fry annually. The system is adopted bodily from America
and will therefore not be described here, nor would such hatchery at
present be useful in this Presidency ; the points for notice are the
rapidity with which a river fishery, especially of anadronious fish such
as the salmon (and hilsa) may be destroyed by overfishing, the promp-
titude with which Government noticed the destruction of the fishery
and adopted measures for its rehabilitation, and the readiness with
which private associations followed the lead. It may be mentioned that
so early as 1876 a Government official, seemingly on his own initiative,
had studied fish culture in America and started experiments ; apparently
he was a little before his time as not much came of it except the trout
mentioned below. Trout have also been successfully hatched, but seems
to have been little successful except that at Chuzenji near Nikko the
lake has been well stocked.

169. The edible oyster. — As in ancient and modern Italy, so in Japan^
the oyster has long been cultivated with great success and though at
present the Indian does not cp-re for this mpUusc, yet since it provides

80

an easily grown and most nourishing- food and as, in any case, its flesh
can be exported either dry to China, or canned to other countries^ and as
the oysters of this Presidency are good and can probably be developed
in hundreds of places with great success, the subject is here adverted to,
but it is hoped to deal more completely with the subject in future
reports where suitable locahties and various methods will be mentioned.
The most notable place in Japan is at Hiroshima, where the sea is
usually quiet and where large areas of the space between high and low
tide, which here runs out to a great distance, is lotted out into thousands
of plots each leased by Government, on payment, of course, to persons
whose business is that of oyster culture. An official report states that
the area is 24 miles in length and that the locality is favoured by
abundance of sweet water from rivers, plenty of food, a quiet sea, a
wide area exposed at every low tide, and suitable bottom. There are
several local metliods but the principle in all is the same, viz., the
planting in spring (spawning season) of " collectors " which are
branches of bamboo, etc., usually in small clumps of 5 or 6 each
which are stuck into the muddy bottom of what may be called the
nursery ; on these the spat collects and is left to grow till next spring,
at which time they are uprooted to give place to a new set of " collec-
tors." * The young oysters are then removed from the " collectors "
and taken to the growing ground (ikeba) where they are left till the
cold weather of their third year, when they are (sometimes but not
always) again removed to an enclosure or maturing ground whence they
can be selected for market. In some cases the oysters are left for
about 20 months only on the original " collectors " and are then sent to
market.

Great pains are taken to keep the beds perfectly clean and it is
obvious that cleaning and all other operations are greatly facilitated
by the exjiosure of the sea-bottom and oysters at every ebb tide, but
there would be no difficulty in dealing with similar areas which
though not actually bare are only covered with shallow water.

170. The illustrations in Prof. Mitsukuri's pamphlet show clearly
the methods employed, but the most striking is the ground-plan
showing the extraordinary way in which every foot of the tidal
estuary at Nihojima — the most famous of grounds — is parcelled out :
the plan is precisely like an ordinary village survey map of a paddy
area, absolutely covered with minute enclosures of which there must
be nearly a thousand and, as Prof. Mitsukuri observes, since the
surrounding hills are cultivated in terraces to the very top it is difficult

• In the Adriatic the reverse method is practised as shown hy models and photo-
graphs in tl>e Austrian Court of the late Milan Exhibition ; a sort of seaflfolding is erected
in the tidal water from which hang rows of cords into which are tied rough pieces of
stick, small branches, etc. ; on tht'se the tpat collects aiui is easily removed at the proper
Reason,

81

to conceive of a more complete utilization^ morfi japovico^ of land and
water especially as the outside waters are also covered with fishing
boats. The mere existence of this complete map of the oyster grounds
confirms what is said above (paragraph 111) of the thoroughness with
which the Japanese authorities have provided not only against disputes
but also for the realization of the license dues both on " enclosed "
and on other fisheries.

171. Pearl oysters {Avicula margaritifera). — This culture is
believed to be peculiar to Japan and unique in the world ; though
apparently practised to some extent before the Restoration, and
though fishermen have made co-operative regulations against over-
fishing, scientific culture and the artificial stimulation of pearl growth
are of very recent growth and are due to the zoological knowledge
and practical acumen of Prof. Mitsukuri who, after studying the
bionomics of the mollusc which is found in many places in Japan,
suggested to a practical man the desirability of cultivating it.
Experiments were at once begun and the learned Professor then
suggested the possibility not only of cultivating the oyster but of
stimulating it to produce pearls. The result has been " beyond expec-
tations " and the chief exponent of tlie system (Mr. K. Mikimoto)
has about 1,000 acres of water, nicely sheltered, with three to seven
fathoms of clear water where millions of pearl oysters are annually
grown and regular crops of cultivated pearls are obtained, some of which
are naturally, some artificially stimulated into existence. It is also
stated in a paper obtained at the Milan Exhibition that the pearl oyster
is cultivated over a distance of 29 miles in the Bay of Ago alone, but
apparently the stimulated pearl is produced only by Mr. Mikimoto.

172. As usual there is a breeding ground, viz., shallow areas where
spat is found to fall ; these are heavily cultched with stones of several
pounds weight ; the spat usually falls in summer, and before winter any
stones in very shallow water are removed to at least one fathom of water
merely to obviate the effects of cold. In these waters or in the
deeper neighbourhood they live for three years, at which time they are
taken up, operated on, and replaced at the rate of 8 per square yard of
bottom for four years, when they are mature and the pearls are removed.
At the recent Milan Exhibition I found from the official report that the
annual produce of these pearls on Mr. Mikimoto's farm was as follows :
in 1901, 10,405 pounds weight ; in 1902, 11,554 pounds ; and in ly03,
16,0^)0 pounds. The bulk of these are used in Japan, but in 1902 the
declared export value was Rs. 82,500 without counting the value of
those privately purchased by tourists which do not appear in exports ;
in Tokyo in 1906 I saw an ornament of culture pearls bought by a
visitor for Es. 9,000.

173. At present the culture pearls resulting not from the natural
cultivation of the oyster but from the artificial irritation set up, are

1/

82

only half or three-quarter pearls being broadly attached to the nacre
of the shell; their size, shape and lustre are however fully equal to
those of the natural detached pearl and where the setting does not
demand whole pearls they are equally effective ; at the Milan Exhibi-
tion, beautiful culture pearls very well set and looking like whole
pearls, attracted much attention. The defect is due doubtless to tho
method of stimulation which is the introduction of a foreign body,
e.g., a nucleus of mother-of-pearl, or a small natui-al pearl (the process
is of course secret both as to the precise nature of the irritunt and the
method of its introduction) inserted into the oyster ; tliis being
weighty sinks on to the lower shell and is there enveloped by the
living nacre. As usual in Japan a special zoological scientist has been
employed at the farm for years studying the oyster, and there are
hopes of the production of free pearls, doubtless by inoculation with
the proper parasite. It is one of tho curiosities of nature that the ces-
tode parasite which is probably the irritant cause of most natural pearls
and which, as in other cases, demands at least two hosts for its life
course, is the immediate product of the pearl oyster's most destructive
enemies such as the file fish and the skate ; in the latter it finds its
full development, and its larvas, ejected from the skate, are absorbed
by the oyster and when possible, sepultured in pearl. Hence it may
result that too great an exclusion of the oyster's natural enemies may
develop the oyster to the detriment of the pearl. This seems a field
for Indian study, and it is possible that the future of the Indian poarl
may lie in secluded bays rather than in the Straits of Mannar infested
with every enemy whether the minute boring , sponge, the file fish and
ray, and other destructive fauna, or the mill-race currents which
sweep through the straits and smother the beds with sand. It is
hoped hereafter to mention localities for such cultivation ; meanwhile
local suggestions would be most acceptable.

174. Area granosa. —The cultivation of this shell is worth mention-
ing : the account is from Prof. Mitsukuri's pamphlet. Here, as in
the case of the edible oyster, the fiats exposed by the ebb tide which
falls some G feet are utilized, and the value of associations is shown
by the fact that when cultivation was begun in the sixties of the IQih
century it was carried on by separate individuals who soon began to
quarrel to the probable wrecking of the new industry ; they accord-
iuj^ly amalgamated of their own accord in 1866 into a Fishery associa-
tion (before the law of Fishery Association was passed); in 1890
this became a Joint Stock Company. The annual return on capital on
a cultivation of about 830 acres is said to be between 40 and 60 per
cent., and the outturn between 75,000 to 100,000 bushels or above
100 bushels per acre. The methods are simple, viz., the raking up
from the mud of the tiny shells immediately after tho mollusc has
quitted its free swimming stage, and strewing these shells, then only
about 1/10 of au inch across and averaging about 85,000 to the quart

83

measure, over the culture gronnd. In the third year they are of a
size such that about 120 ^\ill fill a quart and are then exported to
China where they are in great demand, or they are kept another year
for home consumption ; the gradual growth of the shell-fish requires
a frequent redistribution so that they may get sufficient food, &nd this
is determined by experience.

175. Razor-cIcoDi {SoIectiHus constricts). — The flesh of these is dried
and exported to China, the demand from which was so great, though
the trade only began in 1875, that over- fishing speedily resulted and
by 1883 deterioration in the sir.e and quantity of the fish was very
marked. Hence the Agricultural Department established an Aqui-
cultural Station at Ariake Bay where the shell was chiefly found, in
order to attempt its cultivation, with the result that by 1896 in one
part alone of that bay 700 acres were under cultivation, 50,000
bushels of such shell were collected for cultivation, and 112,8 15 bushels
sold for Rs. 1,20,000; the industry is said to be increasing. When
collected they are about an inch in length, but increase in three years
to about four inches.

176. The culture of the two shell-fish just described is mentioned
(1) in view of the possibility of cultivating near Pamban the chank
which, a few years ago, produced very far more abundantly and, it is
believed, better shells, than at present ; the matter is eminently one
for an experimental station, the whole cost of which might be
defrayed from an increased chank revenue ; (2) as showing one
instance of the immediate practical utility of such stations especially
when founded for definite objects ; (8) as showing the ease with which
a particular product may be at once exhausted and deteriorated ; and
(4) as manifesting the rapid growth of a home industry, and of a
valuable and new trade in the vast market of China.

177. The Pinna jiqionica is cultivated in only one village and is
interesting because it is carried on by the smallest of fisherfolkj
there are only 25 houses and each house has a little culture ground
not more than 50 by 30 feet ! It is an instance of what may be done
by poor folk even without scientific experiment or advice ; the culti-
vation is probably limited by the market. Similarly Prof. Mitsu-
kuri was led by his study of the life history of the trepang (becke de
mcr) the well-known holothnrian called Stichopus japonicus, to
propose particular measures for its protection and cultivation ; an
expert (Dr. Kishinouye) of the Fishery Department found during his
tours that at an out-of-the-way island the people for 100 years had
been in the habit of piling up loose stones in the shallow parts of the
sea (Prof. Mitsukuri's proposal apparently) and of thus cultivating
these holothurians. This product is found in the parts near Pdmban
(and elsewhere) and its cultivation, if successful, would provide the
fishermen with the means of immensely increasing the trade in an

84

article for wliicli tliere is an unlimited demand in China to which this
produce already goes.

The cultivation of barnacles for manure has been mentioned
supra, somewhat out of place.

178. The snapping turtle. — (Trionyx japonicus) a small turtle,
seldom above a foot in length and at marketable age only 7 or 8 inches
long and weighing little over 1^ lb. This is a very interesting class
of culture, and its inception and development owe nothing to the
efforts of Government but to private enterprise aided by science ; a
Mr. Hattori is the originator of the culture being of a family who
lived in a suburb of Tokyo full of ponds near the river, and who were
long engaged both in ordinary farming and in collecting and selling
fish, and in raising gold fish ; science was represented again by
Prof. Mitsukuri who suggested methods which were of practical
service.

As usual the industry began in the smallest of ways, viz., with one
female turtle in 1866 ; even by 1874 there were only 50 and these
were kept in a pond of 144 square yards in area. The farm which I
inspected is now of considerable size containing a number of rectan-
gular ponds ; these are surrounded by a sloping bank at the top of
which is a low fence of wooden planking surmounted by a horizontal
plank projecting inwards in order to prevent the turtle from escaping;
the bottom of the ponds is muddy as this is necessary for turtle life.
The eggs are laid in the sloping bank, hatch out after two months
and the young ones then proceed to the water, but as they would
promptly be devoured by their parents, they are cut off from the pond
by a special plank fence, put up after laying is finished, with trap
baskets at intervals into which the young find their way and are
thence removed to separate ponds.

The best age for marketing is from 3 to 5 years when the weight
will be from f to 1^ lb., and the value about Ks. 1-4-0 per pound.
The animals are fed throughout their life, chiefly on shell-fish which
are roughly crushed by a stone roller and thrown into the ponds. It
is found advisable to keep carp and eels in the same ponds as they
stir up the mud which turtles love.

The matter has no special interest at present for Madras except
as a lesson in starting wholly new industries in which science and
practice combine to a successful result.

179. Carp, eels, and grey mullet. — This culture, which is not of
modern origin, is of the greatest interest to this and other parts of
India, especially since it has been stated that about 60 per cent, of all
the inland fish in this Presidency is of the carp species, and that it is
not only easily fed and of very rapid growth but is one of the fish
which most successfully survive removal from the water and trans-
portation even as fry. The above three fish are mentioned together

^5

ADDENDUM.

The following extract from the '' Fish 'I rades Gazette " (London)
of the 9th March 1907 should bo read with paragraph 12 of this Note.
It is an excellent illustration of Japanese thoroughness and assiduity : —

"JAPANESE EXPF--R.T« \^ ^^IMSBY.

g c» "^ 9 1 S

I. S- :: g' ^ g _ ^

■a ' — ' '-' CI CD P O

G> - P •— O" JO 51 e^-

£-iC3 f-^-O <!t^ EB 2. _

<rt- i-"'

. "^ ^ t3^ * ^ ^ t^

CO ^'T3 c*-"* t^2:^CD

5' «L 5' g c- P -"^ ^ ^

i-i S CD i_i i-i' 23 ^ — '

%% ^^ ^^ 1^ ^ to

^ c*- VJ ^-^ CD ci-

o-^^ tr" -D S^ CD ^^

S) ?= <rK 55 ^ „ .

o

00

p >

CO

1-1= CToq

33 S'

2 ^ cr

R CD
P S3

^ a^§ S^ S,3

^ ^ P CD « ^ -

? § ^ t5 ^
Pj 3

S3

CO CD ~

Government fishery

g industry there with

wn country. These

fisheries experiment

Nozawa, who holds

lumber of Japanese

ides of fishing from

etion of the scheme

ntatives have come

sales, packing, and

3 in all its bearings

mitted, even to the

'es systems. Apart

manufacture of fish

0136 of inquiry, for

abounds round the

ill TlllU. eii-J- JViXHAO

several places I

ival of the silk

,c., can be very

-equire a special

grow up to 20

various temple

ot kiilled, know

Society or to the

84

article for wliicii there is an unlimited demand in Cliin.a to which this
produce already goes.

The cultivation of barnacles for manure has been mentioned
supra, somewhat out of place.

178. The snapping turtle. — (Trionyx japonicus) a small turtle,
seldom above a foot in length and at marketable age only 7 or 8 inches
long and weighing little over l^ lb. This is a very interesting class
of culture, and its inception and development owe nothing to the
efforts of Government but to private enterprise aided by science ; a
Mr. Hattori is the originator of the culture being of a family who
lived in a suburb of Tokyo full of ponds near the river, and who were
long engaged both in ordinary farming and in collecting and selling
fish, and in raising gold fish ; science was represented again by
Prof. Mitsukuri who suggested methods which were of practical
service.

As usual the i;
female turtle in 1
were kept in a po
inspected is now (
gular ponds ; thej
which is a low fen
plank projecting i
the bottom of the
The eggs are laid
and the young or
promptly be devoi
by a special plan!
baskets at intervi
thence removed tc

The best age i
will be from f to
The animals are f€
are roughly crushe
is found advisable
stir up the mud w

The matter ha
as a lesson in stai
practice combine tt

179. Carp, eels
modern origin, is
India, especially s
the inland fish in 1
not only easily fe(
which most success
portation even as i

m

ADDENDUM.

The following extract from the '' Fish Trades Gazette " (London)
of the 9th March 1907 should be read with paragraph 12 of this Note.
It is an excellent illustration of Japanese thoroughness and assiduity : —

"JAPANESE EXPERTS AT aRIMSBY.

'' At the present time there are in Grimsby two Government fishery
experts from Japan studying branches of the fishing industry there with
a view of applying similar methods in their own country. These
gentlemen are Mr. S. Eujimura, director of the fisheries experiment
station, Government of Hokkaido ; and Mr. S. Nozawa, who holds
a similar office at Sapporo. In late years a number of Japanese
students have learned the technical and practical sides of fishing from
Grimsby by trawl and by line, and now in completion of the scheme
of the Japanese Government these two representatives have come
to know more particularly about the system of sales, packing, and
general distribution throughout the country. This in all its bearings
is a big question to tackle, for nothing is to be omitted, even to the
making of kits and boxes and the railway companies systems. Apart
from this the curing trade, the salt cod trade, the manufacture of fish
manure and fish oil will all come within their scope of inquiry, for
practically the same class of fish seen at Grimsby abounds round tlie
coasts of Japan."

for a few weeks, and then earth worms, crushed shell -tisJi ana all i^mas
of insect life and some cereal food, usually cooked : in several places I
found that the pupae of the silk-worm after the removal of the silk
were a principal food, so that in silk districts carp, etc., can be very
readily and profitably grown ; carp so treated, however, require a special
feeding course before marketing. Properly fed carp will grow up to 20
inches in length within two years. Those who know the various temple
ponds in this Presidency where fish are well fed and are not kiUed, know

* I am not quite clear wheiher this belonged to the Fisheries Society or to the
Imperial Fishery Institute.

are roughly crus]
is found advisabl
stir up the mud ^
The matter 1
as a lesson in sti
practice combine
179. Carp, ee
modern origin, i,
India, especially
the inland fish ir
not only easily f
which most succe
portation even aj

5t

85

as tliey are habitually gi-own together in the same ponds or estab-
lishments. 1 inspected several ot tliese establishments in Tokyo and
elsewhere.

180, The first series was near Tokyo, one establishment belonging
to the Fisheries Society * (see supra), and two others to business firms ;
all these are fed by water from the Snmida river which is at that place
under tidal influence and supplies rather brackish water. It is said
that in this neighbourhood alone about 225 acres of ponds are devoted
solely to the culture ol carp and supply Tokyo with above 400,000 lb.
of fish annually — a quantity which could , doubtless be largely increased ;
there is a strong hint for Madras in this suburban fish cultivation
considering the immense demand in Madras and the distance from
which {e.(j., Pulicat) sea fish is brought, often in not too good condi-
tion. At the first establishment I was fortunate enough to see the
important process of selecting the parent carp and placing them
together in ponds for breeding. There is no artificial removal and
hatching of eggs, but the ripe fish are simply placed together, about
two males to each female, in spawning ponds on the surface of which
are floating masses of weed and fibrous matter under which the
females lay their eggs which are at once fertilized by the males. Up
to the time of spawning the males and females are kept in separate
ponds, small and rectangular, for ease of netting, and only 3 or 4 feet
deep at most; at the proper season the ponds are carefully netted, the
ripe fish selected by appearance and gentle pressure, and transferred
to the spawning ponds ; after spawning they are again netted out and
retransferred to their old ponds, tiie spawn being left to liatch out
which occurs in a few days ; or the masses of weed with the adherent
eggs are removed to other ponds. The process is therefore of the
simplest, and requires no elaborate buildings or plant as in hatch-
eries j it is simply nature kept under control. The fish both young
and old have, however, to be fed, as the ponds are small and contain
little natural food ; moreover the fish are crowded together, at the rate
of about one fish of six inches in length per 2 square yards, and so in
proportion to size. The food for the newly hatched fry is said to be
yolk of egg for a few days only ; after that copepods of various kinds
for a few weeks, and then earth worms, crushed shell -fish and all kinds
of insect life and some cereal food, usually cooked : in several places I
found that the pupae of the silk- worm after the removal of the silk
were a principal food, so that in silk districts carp, etc., can be very
readily and profitably grown ; carp so treated, however, require a special
feeding course before marketing. Properly fed carp will grow up to 20
inches in length within two years. Those who know the various temj)le
ponds in this Presidency where fish are well fed and are not killed, know

* I am not quite clear whether tliis belonged to the Fisheries Society or to the
Jmpurial Fishery Institute.

the enormous size to whicli these fish will attain, as in the old monlcish
stew ponds, and the number and weight of fish that can be kept in small
areas. There is no reason why the practice should not be carried out
industrially.

181. The area of the Fisheries Society's establishment was only
about 7 acres with three large and eleven small ponds ; of these the large
ponds aggregating nearly 6 acres were the industrial j^onds where fish
were grown for market : the others were either experimental or breed-
ing ponds or ponds for maintaining the parents (rcproducfeurs). The
three ponds produced last year (it is said) above 20,000 lb. of eels,
23,000 lb. of carp and a large number of mullet, or above 8,000 lb. of
fish per acre. This produce is so heavy tliat there is possibly a mis-
take in the figures, though the Atsuta statistics (paragraph 183) are
equally high, and Prof. Mitsukuri meutions 405,000 lb. of carp
as the produce of 225 acres or 1,800 lb. per acre, to which must be
added similar weights of eel and grey mullet which are usually grown
simultaneously with carp in the same ponds. Hence the above
weights for particular ponds are possible and may be compared with
still larger American yields mentioned by Mr. Moreton Frewen
(" Nineteenth Century ", September 1899) in small ponds where cheap
artificial food was supplied.

182. A business establishment which was also visited was of great
size, apparently above 50 acres, with a number of large as well as small
ponds. It seems probable that if Madras ponds were large in size and
supplied with the proper class of vegetation, giving shelter to all sorts
of small animal life, the cost of feeding might be reduced to a minimum,
while the fish would be better, since they would live under more natural
conditions.

183. A district establishment (Atsuta), which is the cultural branch
of an Experimental Station, afforded me much instruction and sugges-
tion ; the area was somewhat over 9 acres, containing 5 large ponds for
market purposes where carp and eels are grown for sale and 17 smaller
ones for hatching, breeding experiment, and — which is a special
feature of this station — the distribution of fry. Last year above
100,000 carp, 25,000 mullet and many thousands of pounds of eels
were sold from the market ponds; it is noteworthy that, as this is a
silk district, silkworm pupae are an important item of fish food iu this
station. The yield is almost incredible, but the fish were probably
small; the yield in the Tokyo ponds was similarly large. The distri-
bution of fry is gratis and is tor a special purpose ; in Japan it is
customary in suitable localities to place young carp when 1 or 2
inches long, in the paddy-fields iu June when irrigation begins ; by
October, say four clear months, when the paddy is cut these have
grown to 8 or 10 inches and are quite marketable ; the rapidity of
growth is due to the warmth, excellent feeding on minute crustaceae

87

such as copepods, larvae, etc., in the fields^ from wliicli, of course,
tbey are kept from escaping' by bamboo gratings. Should the water
in the fields fail, the ryot digs a small pit in one corner in which the
fish can survive till more water comes down. The rearing of the fish
in the fields is said to improve the produce of the paddy since the fish
destroy many insects injurious to the plant. This is one of the
many instances in which, as is more especially shown in the Agricul-
tural note, the Japanese allow no waste in space or material ; another
is the use of the dead silkworm pupae as fish food. The young fry
are given away gratis at this station to the extent of very many
thousand : they are sent iu the usual wooden buckets sinng on a
hivadi over a man's shoulder ; each pail contains several thousand,
and the fish will travel up to 40 miles in this way if the water be
occasionally changed ; the sliaking supplies sufficient aeration. I^his
station claims to have originated, by its example, several private
culture farms, and many persons are continually coming to it for
advice as to methods, food, etc.; experiments are being also carried
out in improving breeds and introducing new ones such as the Chinese
eel, etc. Hence this branch station is useful by way of experiment,
advice, example, distribution, and suppl3^

On the subject of the growth of carp in paddy-fields Prof.
Mitsnkuri says that in a single village the agricultural society (a point
worth noting) represents the whole village, utilizes 250 acres of
paddy-fields each year for this by-product, and annually breeds 25
million fry to be sold and raised in surrounding villages. He men-
tions another ease where a vast area is irrigated (as in Egypt) by
inundation, and the culture of carp in this area, though in its infancy,
realized in 1902 no less than Rs. 72,000.

184. The eel and the mullet, though grown in the ponds with the
carp, are not spawned therein : they are caught with the net in April in
any brackish water near at hand and placed in the pond : the eels may
then be in the second year, but the mullet are only fry. They are fed
with crushed shell- fish, earth-worms, etc., and the eels may, by July, have
doubled or trebled in size and be ready for market ; by April following
they are all sold off, and the profit is said to be large. The mullet
increase from a couple of inches in April to 10 inches in September
when they are gradually sold off.

SUGGESTIONS.

185. Here the descriptive part of this note may end. It remains
to make proposals arising from a consideration of the above account,
viz., (1) the preparation for an experimental station ; (2) carp hatch-
cries for stocking inland waters other than rivers ; (3) minor items •
and (4) the provision of experts for carrying out the above and for
founding the future Burean of Fisheries, A separate cpmmunicatioii

88

deals with details of character, cost, position, and management,
nnnecepsary for this note.

18G. The first suggestion relates to the early necessity for at least
one sea fishery Experimental Station. The peculiar history and
work of the Japanese Stations as described above, show their practical
value ; they are " peculiar " in the sense that, unlike those of other
countries, their origin and primary object is industrial; primarily
they are not biological observatories, valuable though these are, but
they are pU\ces where the processes of the industry and the require-
ments of the trade are practically experimented upon and developed,
e.g., in the building of better boats, in the use of new nets and
methods of capture, in the better curing and preserving of fish and in
new modes of preservation, in introducing goods into the market
whether by exhibition or otherwise, in various methods of pisciculture,
and in educating the people, whether in practical schools or by advice
and example, in these processes. They serve secondarily, however, as
places of experiment and research in special matters, and as centres
of that enquiry and observation so essential where Government desires
to improve an industry or a community by methods based on exact
knowledo-e of conditions and facts. In like manner, we need Ex-
perimental Stations on these coasts as a meanS; in the first place, of
ascertaining experimentally the boats and nets, the catching and
curing methods and processes, etc., suitable to these waters and
climates, and of estimating quantitatively the chances of extended
fisheries ; in the second place, of demonstrating and teaching those
found to be of real practical value ; and in the third place, of obtain-
ino- knowledge by close scientific observation of the character of the
waters and of the habits and characteristics of their fauna and flora.

187. As shown in my West Coast Eeport of the last quarter of
1905, the Madras fishing industry, even on that coast, leaves almost
evcrvthino- to be desired in the mtthods of capture, preservation, and
distribution; cultivation is not yet even thought of; methods are
primitive and rude, and the produce far from first-rate, whether consid-
ered as food, as an export fit for foreign markets, or as a warrantable
manure. On the other hand, there is abundance of excellent fish in
the sea for the greater part of the year, and at certain seasons a
superabundance ; these fish ought not only to be more largely caught
but more largely put on the market, and not only more largely but in
prime condition and yet cheap. But however backward the West
Coast may be, it is, I consider, in advance of the East Coast in the
matter of fisheries, and since this important industry is waiting for
development, and there is no one to begin it. Government must show
tbe way ; the Japanese Government, notwithstanding considerable
private enterprise, have found it necessary to act in this way, viz., in
establishing Experimental Stations, and I suggest that the Madras

89

Government shall begin work by establishing as soon as circumstances
permit, a first station on the West Coasfc, probably at Tellicherrj,
with the following initial objects.

188. First, it will be the earliest business of the station to build
or cause to be built on its designs small (5 to 10 ton) sea-going
fishing boats (sailers) suitable to local requirements within the means
of many local fishermen, safe, roomy and comfortable enough to
shelter a crew for a week or more, and to house their catches in salt
holds or in wells or live chests. For, the future of the trade is with
the catching; and while it is true that, in the absence of an organized
fresh fish trade, larger catches will have to be marketed as cured fish,
yet the development of the whole industry, and with it, the food and
manure supply of the country, rests with the improvement in the
catching and storing power of the boats, in their ability to stay out at
sea, to seek out and follow up the shoals,* to exploit the deeper waters
and to trawl over the shallower ones, to operate fleets of drift nets
and miles of long line, and to keep their catches in snch condition,
whether in wells or salt, as shall make them marl^etable goods even
weeks after capture; last July in Gloucester (Mass. U.S.A.), I saw
absolutely sound, wholesome fish turned out of the hold of a smack
which had caught them on the distant cod banks and kept thein in her
salt-hold from April onwards. In Japan the improvement of boats
for deep sea and distant fishing is a constant anxiety and subject
of experiment, and our experimental station should take the lead in
demonstrating the best build and rig, and the cost ; measures for
assisting fishermen — if necessary — to build such boats can follow on
the demonstration.

189. The second object of the station will be the introduction and
use, especially with the new boats, of new and better nets, especially
the purse seine for deep sea use on the shoals of sardine and mackerel.
The sea bottom along our coasts is so generally of a muddy or sandy
nature, is so free from rocks, and shelves so gradually, that the use of
the trawl is obviously indicated, and this net will also be tried. The
long line, i.e., the horizontal line of a mile or more in length, armed
with hooks on short vertical lines (snoods) at frequent intervals, will
also be adopted ; in a small size it is in occasional use on parts of the
West Coast, but is not general even there, and on the East Coast is
practically unknown.

190. The third object of the station will be to experiment in
bringing fish to shore or into the curing yard in better condition than
at present, even when salt is not used on board ; to learn and to teach
the better treatment of the fish, alive or dead, so as to minimize the

* As I write this I note from the ordinary reports of the fish-ouring yards remarks
such as " the sardine shoals are moving awaj- from the shore " or " the shoals have gone
out to sea," etc., remarks which mtan, as the figures in the repoits show, a cessation of
catches till shoals return to shore.

90

cLances of taint before reacLing the market or tlie curing yard. For
tlie inability to convey f resL fish far inland is at least partly dne to the
poor condition of the fish, to the approach or even access of taint,
when it reaches shore, and since taint, once started, cannot be got rid
of, though it may be arrested by curing, it follows that the uncured
fish taken inland can never be taken far, whilst even the cured fish
retains the traces of the original taint, even if it is not altogetliei
spoiled as wholesome food by the rapid progress of putrefaction during
the operation of curing. Mr. H. S. Thomas in South Canai a expressly
mentions the bad condition of much of the fish even when newly
landed, and speaks of seeing it " covered with maggots " on being
brought to shore, a condition common enough in the curing yard where
cm'ing often begins long after putrefaction has started. We require
then better treatment of the fish from the moment of capture, for
ranch of the liability to taint is due to want of care and knowledge ;
e.gr., the ungutted fish, flung pell-mell into the bottom of a boat, are
bruised and trodden on and, if alive, slowly exhaust themselves to
death, all of which aie conditions favouring early putrescence, whereas
a proper treatment would, if caught alive, keep them nlive in
basket or other receptacles in the sea or in the boat, and if dead
would treat them after modern fasliion {e.g., gutting and draiuing,
antiseptic washing, careful stowage, salting in the boat, etc.), to delay
the approach of taint.

Again though much of the fish is, when taken out of the boats,
perfectly good and fresh, even alive in some cases, yet whether by
reason of unnecessary delays, of the rapidity of decomposition in the
tropics, of improper gutting and cleaning, of mixing with tainte ^ fish
in the salting tub, of ineffective methods of salting or of insufficient
salt, of imperfect methods of drying which are even provocative of
taint, the product though not always putrescent is always readily
putrescible, while in smell, colour, form, and appearance it is not only
inferior but would in general be absolutely barred from a European
market.

191. The fourth present object of the station should be thfi more
rapid bringing of the fish into the factory or to shore. I have already
mentioned that amongst the first objects of a station will be the
experimenting in, and demonstrating, correct modern methods for the
general treatment of fish in the boat from the nnmient of capture till
brought ashore, so that it may have a better chance of arriving fresh ;
the object now under consideration is to teach the method of rapid
collection at sea and transport to shore.

Dealing first with fish intended for canning when fresh ; it is

obvious that for a factory it is absolutely necessary that the supply

should be both regular and continuous, and that it should be perfectly

fresh ; now since the shoals come irregularly to the several localities,

the supply at any given point is not only irregular in time and

91

qiiantity bat. often nil ; moreover small fisli tuint rapidly. Hdncc, as
stated in my West Coast Report, the Jt^'rencli caimer at Mahe is said
to be finding it necessary to have a motor boat in order to secure a
sufficient supply of fresh sardines Secondly, as regards fish which
may be cured in salt or smoked ; it may be necessary to secure
supplies of such, either from boats at sea or at some distance from the
factory ; e.g., near Teliicherry there is splendid fishing at Sacrifice
.Rock some 10 miles out at sea, but the canoes take several hours row-
ing or running home in the afternoon; or again, it might be neces-
sary to visit comparatively distant fishing centres.

ilence I propose the purchase shortly of a sea-going steam or
motor boat, of 7 or S knot sea speed and with a consequent radius of
action for fresh fish of, say, oO miles even without ice ; much more
for goods which she can keep in salt. Iq America the small petrol
fishing boat — not merely the pleasure boat or yacht — is already greatly
in evidence and there are also a number of fishing boats with petrol
engines of considerable power ; kerosine motor boats, especially with
" Dan " engines, are also now available and are already very numer-
ous, as fishing boats, in Scandinavian waters; in July (19u7) there is
to be held at Bergen an exhibition of motors and motor boats with all
kinds of fishery equipment which I expect to visit, and this will afford
an excellent basis for starting an enquiry with a view to purchase.
The " Margarita " is not only required by the Inspector of Pearl
Fisheries, but is too large and too slow for the purposes of an experi-
mental station and burns far too much coal to be economical anywhere.
The ascertained cost of fitting the yawl " Pearl " with a motor is
prohibitive and the job would only be an unsatisfactory makeshift.

192. The fifth object is the better curing of the fish. The jDrevious
paragraphs deal with the obtaining of greater quantities of fish and
the bringing of it to shore and factory in better condition than at
present ; but State hygiene demands that the food thus provided shall
be placed before the people in as wholesome a condition as possible.
Possibly it will be found easier to improve the curing process, a more
or less mechanical art, than to introduce larger boats and longer
voyages and salting at sea, and much weight will therefore be given in
the station to experiment and demonstration in curing processes. In
my West Coast Report I have mentioned obvious faults or defects in
the curing yard, and others may be added as observation in other
countries has taught me ; a first duty of the station will be to endea-
vour to correct these faults and teach better practice especially in the
methods of drying the fish.

That, however, is not all ; we need new methods of curing and
preservation for market, such as fish pickled wet in barrels, a process
crudely begun in the barrelled mackerel prepared at Cochin for
Colombo ; hard dried fish hke the Norwegian stock- fish, which will
keep good even in the rainy weather now so fatal to West Coast salted

92

goods ; smoked fish wliether liard-dried and smoked like tlie Japanese
bonifco wedges * (" katsu-buslii ") and red-herrings for long keeping,
or mild-curod, like bloaters, to be kept for a few days only ; prepara-
tions such as shark flesh and other pastes of Japan or the dried cod
meal of America ; goods pnt up in cans for indefinite preservation,
and, if necessary, for export.

193. Sixthly, as a special branch of the fifth object, the canning
industry should be developed. On the West Coast there are three
sorts of sardines, excellent though small mackerel, and many other
good edible fish. These, as in other countries, may be preserved not
merely in the small tins usually seen in shops and on the table
but in large cans holding up to 20 lb. apiece, a matter of importance
when we wish to supply not so much delicacies for the rich as plain
food for the masses; a 10 or 20 lb. can of fat sardines, plain-boiled in
their own fat as in Japan, can be placed on the market at a fraction
of the cost of the same weight of fish put up in the usual quarter or
half tins whether in oil or otherwise. In India we want our fish sent
up-country not only untainted but in hulk, and it may easily be pos-
sible to supply persons just above the poorer classes with good and
cheap food sold retail out of cans such as kerosine tins holding
bulk ; hence the canning and processes should be of various classes,
including modes intended merely to keep goods in absolutely whole-
some condition during a few days' transport.!

* Since writing the aboTe 1 have found that strips of bonito are prepared in somewhat
similar fashion in the Laceadives, and are sold in Ceylon and occasionally in the south of
this Presidency.

t Indeed, while the art of caiining — including the proper trea^tment of Tarious fishes
in various ways and by various recipes to suit high-class demands especially in the foreign
markets — must be thoroughly taught in a proper factory as proposed, there is nothing to
prevent any intelligent person, with one or two thousand rupees to risk, from setting
up a small factory in Calicut, 'i'ellicheiry, etc., entering into relations with a few boat-
men so as to ensure a regular supply of fish in a fresh condition, purchasing a quantity
of sound kerosine tins or other sound cans and a small soldering plant, and after
preparing his fish, and filling and closing his tins, despatching them to a convenient
market. The preparation might be i^imple, e.g/., brining the fish for an hour or two,
draining, partial drying, packing in the tins with a small quantity of boiling oil,
closing and processing in a brine bath in ihe absence of a steam-cooker; the oil may
be giugely, ground-nut or if available, cotton seed, all excellent cooking oils and
believed to be largely consumed as olive oil; in America cotton seed oil is frequently
used in canning in place of olive oil and in the State of Maine is alone mentioned
in the law relating to canning. If the sardines, etc., arc fat enough as in the cold
weather, simple boiling, as in Japan, may suffice. Even if this is open to the objection
attached to cooked food (which, however, is hardly the case, since the cooking is only
after the tin is closed so that the fish cannot be touched by hand) it would serve for
many classes, especially if supervised by "caste" men. Moreover, other proccbscs are
available ; after treatment with brine and drying, it is easy to smoke the goods lightly
and then to can or otherwise pack them. Similarly, instead of kerosine tins small kegs
can be cheaply made on the West Coast, and in thesa the cleaned fisli may be packed
in salt and brine (pickle) and will then travel well and keep well for many days.
However, it is probable that Government experiment and demonstration will be awaited,
and it is certain that there is a wide and instant opportunity.

9a

I propose, then, that Government should obtain a small bat
complete canning plant, for Iian-l work only at first, that this should
be installed at the Experimental Station and that students and work-
men should be taught no*} merely the mechanical art of making and
closing cans but the main industry of treating the fish from the boat
to the cooker. The cost is not great and I can readily ascertain
everything in Eui'ope this summer.

194. The seventh immediate object of the station will be obser-
vational ; the station will be utilised as a minor marine laboratory
for studying questions of importance relating to the food-fishes of the
coast. We know practically nothing accurate at present of the habits
food, habitat, spawning periods and places, etc., of the various classes
of fish or of the causes which bring the shoals to shore or keep them
away ; the nature, abundance or paucity of fish food (plankton) in the
waters is wholly unstudied, though important as a test or sign of the
nature and abundance of fish life. An observational section will be
able to utilise and control the statistics now furnished regarding the
catches, appearance and disappearance, etc., of fish by the fish curing-
yard returns (No. 11) which will then become valuable, as well as the
information now being collected in the new " Information books " at
the same yards, and will itself compile full and accurate information
on the general statistics, conditions, facts, and needs both of the
industry and of the trade. It will also study the backwaters of the
coast with a view to develop them as local food producers readily
available without sea risks and at periods when sea-going is impossible •
at places like Cochin one can hardly fail of being struck by the
potentialities of these large sheets of water, and the lessons learnt at
this station will be available on the East Coast for use in the vast
lagoon called the Pulicat lake.

195. There is much more work to propose, but, for the present,
the above will amply suffice for the West Coast station. Nor will I
at present, unless so desired by Government, propose other coastal
stations, leaving that for further reports. Certain aspects of the fresh
fish trade will also be left over till 1 make, shortly, my East Coast
report.

196. Pisciculture. — But in the method of Indian pisciculture
Japan suggests certain cheap and immediately possible methods, open
to the poorest man who owns a patch of water, to every villao-e which
has a tank or pond, to the owners of many thousands of acres of
paddy fields, and to the controllers of thousands of acres of freshwater
reservoirs and canals, and in this matter, little Government aid, or aid
costing but little, will be required. Under the head of carp culture
it will have been seen that, in from 4 to 5 months at most, carp of
li to 2 inches long placed in the Japanese paddy fields will increase
to 8 or 10 inches and though still immature are quite marketable,

94

while culture ponds produce a largo outturn per acre. In India, as
elsewliei-e, carp is one of t'le hardiest, most prolific, and most rapidly-
growing fish, and, of one kind or other, form, it is said, 60 per cent, of
the freshwater fish of this Presidency. Madras conditions, indeed, are
good for carp which, for their most rapid growth, require a high
temperature (80° F. is stated) with, of course, plenty of food, and
thrive in shallow water — conditions fulfilled in the Japanese paddy
fields and in oar own^ and in most of tlie canals, tanks, and ponds of
the Presidency. It is to be remembered that carp, especially in the
tropics, grow not only rapidly but to a great size ; that they seem to
be practically omnivorous, are very cheap to feed when artificial food
is necessary, and bear transport better than almost any other fish, it
beino- readily possible, in Europe at least, to keep them alive out of
water for from 2i to 48 hours if placed in wet moss or straw, or they
may be transported in tubs of water with considerable ease.

197. As regards produce; European figures are not of much use,
for in Germany where carp are so largely grown, the winter is long
and during tha,t period there is practically no growth, and even loss
of weight. Stilij the figures even there are encouraging ; in ordinary
ponds or small lakes, the average annual yield of medium quality
waters has been stated at about l^ cwt. per acre ; at the recent
Milan Exhibition I saw a large map of Bavaria showing groups of
ponds aggregating 25,000, of which 90 per cent, were carp ponds with
a total area of 30,000 acres or Ij acres apiece ; these are worked by
the peasants on whose farms they stand. Now the value of the carp
annually produced in these ponds averages 4 million marks or Ks. 30
lakhs or Es. 100 per acre, and if carp be worth as much as six pence
(half mark) per pound they must produce at least 8 million pounds
or 266 lb. per acre. This is in a comparatively cold climate and the
fish get no special nutriment, though doubtless ranch refuse food (or
as in China the draining of the cattle stands, etc.) finds its way to
the ponds. In Japan the figures are far larger ; as already stated the
fry develop in their four months' life in the paddy fields to a market-
able size of 8 or 9 inclies, and the figures given me of the weights
grown in the culture ponds w^ould be almost incredible but for the
confirmation of a careful scientist (Professor Mitsukuri) who says
deliberately in his pamphlet quoted above that the 225 acres of
culture ponds round Tokyo produce annually " 405,000 pounds of the
meat of this fish " or 1,800 lb. per acre, and since eel and mullet are
usually, perhaps, always, grown, as I myself saw, in the same ponds
and at the same time as the carp, the annual yield of fish per acre
must be something like double that amount or, say H tons. Tliat
this is possible is shown by the yield mentioned by Mr. Moreton
Frewen (" Nineteenth Century," September 1899) of 6,000 lb. of fish
in a year from several ponds aggregating a quarter acre, at a cost

95

for food of ouly a small percentiio-e of the value of the product, while
the accounts of trout ponds in hatcheriea in Great Britain show
enormous weights of fish reared in small areas. Of course these
large yields are ouly obtained — except in the paddy fields — by artificial
feeding, but in the case of carp which seem to be omnivorous, the
food is simple and cheap ; in Japan crushed shell-fish, worms^ silk-
worm piipa"", various hirva3 and some boiled barley, are fed to the fish
which are also supported by the natural food brought in by the river
water which feeds the ponds. In Germany ponds of, literally, only a
few square yards and two or three feet deep, are utilized for two or
three parent fish, and, separately, a number of young ones ; these
are fed from any refuse house food, larvae, insects, etc., an;l provide
a change of diet and a little money for the owners.

198. For Madras we have not many data for want of experiments
and observers. But Mr. H. fS. Thomas has provided some facts; the
classic instance is the (Vallam) pond of 4 or 5 acres, which having
been emptied d sec, was refilled and stocked with a few measures
of fry, probably labeo and other carp costing him Rs. 2 ; after only
18 months at least 4,000 lb. weight of fish were regularly taicen from
the pond without affecting its annual production ; in this case there
was absolutely no artificial feeding. In another case he mentions a
pond (size not stated but evidently small) which was netted early in
June " down to the last tadpole " ; it was filled from the river about
the 15th idem, and was fished on the 2!)th August or within 75 days ;
the yield to a couple of rods in one day was 180 fish averaging A lb.
each, and doubtless there were plenty more left in the pond. Ho
states elsewhere that carp and labeo were known to increase from a
few drachms to one pound (qucere, half a pound) in 70 days, and it is
recorded by a Mr. Mitchell that Catia buchcuianl Lave grown from H
inches to 11 inches, weighing 12 to 14 ounces, from May to September,
and to 5 lb. in two years. The yield of tanks which have water for
only a few months is considerable, but this is largely due to the
murral which aestivate in the mud ; the nature and size of the other
fish have not been ascertained. But from the data available and from
the fact that the carp in Europe increases its rati} of growth with the
warmth of its environment, it is certain that, givon a proper natural
food supply, carp and other indigenous fish will grow with great
rapidity ; that fish food is abundant in our inland waters is a certain
fact, the larvas of mosquitos alone providing an abundance of food,
while other aquatic growths are similarly prolific. We have, then,
these certain clear facts: (1) a carp produce of nearly 30O lb. per
acre for small ponds, without artificial feeding but probably receiving
much natural food, in German farms where, however, there is a cold
winter; (2) a very large increase in the size and weight of carp
growing, of course without artificial feeding, in Japanese paddy-fields;
(3) immense yields of this and other fish when grown in culture ponds

96

and artificially fed ; and (4) very \avge yields in ponds in tliis Presi-
dency wholly without artificial feeding.

199. Premising this much, suggestions may be made for the
beginning of cultural work in this Presidency.

200. The inland waters of this Presidency are rarely permanent
but Japan shows that permanency though greatly desirable is not
absolutely essential for growing great crops of fish, since its ponds
and paddy-fields yield harvests of young fish which, though immature,
aggregate a vast amount of excellent food. The question is whether
the example of Japan suggests practical work in stocking our own
waters which will be considered as tanks, canals, village ponds, wells,
and paddy fields ; rivers are for the present left out of consideration.

201. The position is this ; water in this naturally arid Presidency
is of such extreme value, of such vital importance, that we are bound
to utilize it, wherever we have it, in every possible way and season^
in crops, fish, and productive trees,* provided only that the major
and primary utilities of the water are not injured or diminished by
secondary utilities ; if it appears possible to utilize vast irrigation
reservoirs and canals as fish sources, without appreciable injury to the
irrigation of crops, we are bound to experiment in such waters even at
some expense and, at first, somewhat blindly, owing to our ignorance
of Indian fish facts and possibilities, till success, or its impossibility,
is demonstrated. If there is one clear lesson to be learned from
travelling in Japan, it is the utilization of waste or, rather, the absence
of waste ; space and material are used almost to the utmost, and the
neglect of sources of food supply such as are apparently available in
our irrigation sources, would be impossible.

202. Tanlcs. — Under this head I include only irrigation reservoirs.
These very numerous sources unfortunately seldom contain permanent
water and while the great bulk of them not only hold water for less
than four or five months, a vast number are also precarious in supply.

Of tanks with permanent waters there are the Periyar lake, the
Kanigiri and other reservoirs under the Sangam and Nellore works,
the Rushikulya reservoir, probably the Barur tank in Salem district,
and, notably, the Marikanave tank in Mysore territory. Besides these
there are some large and decjo tanks which may and often do contain
some water for years together, such as Daroji in Bellary, Erratim-
marajacheruvu, Bukkapatnam, etc., in Anaiitapur, and others which
have been made by bunding valleys. Of these the Periyar and

* Pee note on Jstpanese Agriculture and suggestions ; the banks of our great irriga-
tion canals ought to be made more largely productive by the planting of valuable trees
which would utilize the seepage water ; a contiderable income and still more consider-
able supplies of food and timber could thus be n.ieed, v hile the tiees and bam loos would
yield a large ijuantity of food for the ti.^h in the canals,

97

Rushiknlya lakes are too distant and ill placed for fishery work ;
Marikanave is in other territory ; hence tanks with permanent waters
are not very numerous, thoug-h they may hereafter be increased by
projects in contemplation. But such as they are, they should be im-
proved as food sources by direct cultivation and should not be allowed
merely to grow a natural crop ; at present it appears that the Kanigiri
and other great reservoirs are hardly utilized ; amongst the suggestions
which follow is one for improving the fisheries of these tanks, with
the view not only of making these tanks profitable, but of obtaining
data and displaying examples which may be followed even in tempo-
rary sources. Tanks with temporary water vary in capacity from one
month's to six or more months' supply; the fishery rights in these are
annually let out, usually for small sums, and the mode of fishing is, in
general terms, simply the netting of the muddy residue in the tank
shortly before the supply is exhausted. Apparently a number of fish,
chiefly murrel (Ophiocephalids) have the power of aestivation and,
escaping the drag-net, bury themselves in the mud throughout the
dry season ; hence a natural stock of reproductors is provided and
the large size of many of the fish is accounted for ; murrel, however
Ijeing voracious fish of prey in any case increase readily in size owing
to abundance of food, since tank waters are either supplied from
rivers in which case they probably contain abundance of fish fry and
other food, or they drain from the surrounding cultivation and are also
bathing places for cattle. From the results of Japanese practice and
from the few data we have of the tropical growth of carp, it is obvious
that tanks which usually hold water for four months and upwards
may often be usefully stocked, but it would be necessary continually
to net out the predaceous fish to the greatest possible extent.

203. Canals. — Omitting Tan j ore and other systems there are
under the Kistna, Goddvari and Kurnool-Ouddapah systems alone
about 1,072 miles of main and branch canals, all navigable, except
57 miles, besides nearly 4,300 miles of the distributaries, exclusive of
course of field channels. The body of water contained in the main
and branch canals at any given moment must bo above 1,500 million
cubic feet, and tho volume of water lot into them during the nine or
ten months of flow, averages above ^00,000 million cubic feet or
11,000 million cubic yards. This vast body of water is probably full
of fish food since the rivers drain forests and districts in their course
while the sides of the canals provide a good deal of vegetable life and
consequently shelter small animal life of very rapid growth and
increase. What this body of water could produce cannot possibly be
stated even as a guess ; its total area at an average of only 60 feet
in width is something over 8,000 acres, but this in no way expresses
its productive powers, since the water is continuously changing and
therefore, being river water, bringing new supplies of food ; hence

98

these waters will support for tLe time enormouslj more fisli than an
equal area of tank or lake water whicli changes but seldoiu. Practi-
callj, however, this great volume of water is unutilized as a source of
fish ; in several journeys I saw absolutely no fisliing and there is
apparently little fish life ; the fisliery rentals are nominal or nil, and
the fish are only taken when the canals are closed and dry up.

204. The annual closure is of course the main reason for non-
utilization ; when the canals close, every vestige of fish life is captured
or dies, and since fish can only enter from the river and since it is
probable that the main sjDawning time is in the cold weather shortly
before the canals close in March or April, the fry even if they enter
the canals have no time to grow. Nature has not provided for the
abnormalities resulting from human action, and it is therefore for
human action to attempt to supplement nature ; there is an enormous
supply of water and presumably of food and consequently of potential
fish life, and it is almost criminal to fail to utilize it if it can be done
without injury to the primary object of the canals, viz.. crop
irrigation.

205. Carp including labeo are believed to spawn in the cold
weather ; consequently, if hatcheries, more Japonico, were started near
the anicuts and elsewhere, viz., a series of breeding and nursery
ponds, it would be possible by the end of May to have millions of
carplings, etc., of three or four inches long, ready to turn into the
canals ; at the end of 9 or 10 jnonths these should, at Indian rates of
growth, average at least 1 lb. each,* considering the favourable
circumstances of a vast abundance of slow moving warm water proba-
bly full of food ; during the last throe mouths that the canals are
open these should be steadily netted and marketed either fresh or
dried, A vast number of the young fish would doubtless find their
way into the distributaries and fields, bat even there they would be
caught and utilized as food, while in time the Japanese method of
nurturing them in the paddy fields themselves would possibly be
adopted ; since there are apparently few fish now taken in tiiese delta
wet lands, restrictive rules could be more easily framed than in
Tanjore, etc., where it has long been customary to trap the numerous
fry in the field channels and fields. But in the above great canals
vFith their few sluices and quiet streams and large body of water, the
fry would probably evade many of these offtakes and would remain
in the main canals. The fact, moreover, that the canals are annually
closed, and that only non-predatory fish would be reared and placed
in the canals, removes the loss from predaceous fish which elsewhere
devour so many times their own weight of other fauna. Hence

* It is recorded that in Ceylon even nt an elevation of 5,000 feet, trout h;ive increased
from 6 inches in length, weighing a, few ounces, to 2 lb. in 9 months (" Tlie Miglity
Mahseer," second edition, page 81).

09

there is considerable cliance of rearing a vast mass of edible fish
every year, and though the whole of them would annually be captured
or destroyed, they would provide a vast mass of food, and their place
would annually be taken by fresh swarms from the nurseries. The
Engineers, indeed, may find it possible to allow certain reaches to
retain water in turns throughout the season of closure, or to clear one
reach while retaining water in au upper one, and then passing the
water down into the cleared reach ; this would give a much longer
period f)f growth and allow of spawning within the canal. These last
ideas, however, are only suggested possibilities, and it is not intended
to propose at present anything more than the future use of the water
during the open season of 9 or 10 months.

206. Ponds. — Under this head come the very numerous class of
tanks not ussd for irrigation ; generally they are not embanked
reservoirs but excavations such as teppakulams and other tanks
attached to temples, and drinking-water and bathing tanks in towns
and villages. The temple class which are largely those alluded to as
permanent waters by Mr. H. S. Thomas, need not be here considered;
they can hardly form sources of public food supply. Similarly
municipal drinking tanks can only be stocked for angling purposes,
and since fish improve the water in which they live by clearing it
of noisome impurities, this should be encouraged. Village ponds,
however, can be more fully utilized : they are extremely numerous,
and, when deep, will keep a supply throughout ordinary hot seasons ;
during a recent tour I saw many tanks of from half to one acre which,
at the beginning of February, were too deep for cattle, except at the
edges. Into these ponds drains the water from the village lands, viz.,
the cultivated fields, the house-site and cattle-stands, etc., while the
cattle habitually bathe and stand or be about in them ; hence the
supply of food suitable and agreeable to fish is particularly abundant.
For the present nothing can be done except to suggest that the
smallest co-operative village effort would speedily convert these ponds
into most useful sources not merely of water but of fish ; if each year
for three or four years every able-bodied man would give three days'
labour or its value, these small ponds could be deepened to an average
of 6 feet, with a deeper pit in the middle ; such ponds would seldom
go dry and would support a large weight of fish for village food
and sport. Those who during the long hot-weather village tours
necessitated by jamabaudi, have seen the village males loafing for
weeks together in their villages, idle because there was neither work in
the fields nor other (cottage) industries available, know well that such
a voluntary communal corvee (such as still exists, though not voluntary,
in France and Germany for road purposes) would cost the villagers
nothing but a little energy. The ponds could then be stocked with
a few fry from the nearest source, whether a natural stream or a

100

liatcTiery sucli as will be suggested below. Ponds of tliis character
shaded bj fruit trees thriving on the soakag-e from the ponds and
providing fish food by their leaves and by the insects falling from them,
would supply a much needed village want in water for cattle, shade,
and food ; they are to be found in many of our villages and those by
no means in areas where rainfall is heaviest ; they are generally a
village inheritance from past energy or charity, and nothing is needed
ia thousands of villages except a little present co-operative energy.

207. Wells. — By these are meant the great irrigation wells of
Coimbatore, Salem, and other districts. In Coimbatore, a district of
almost minimum rainfall, inland, and far from marine fish sources,
there are some 80,000 of these wells averaging probably 10 yards
square or 100 square yards, so that 50 equal one acre of water. Here,
then, are 1,600 acres of water which in many cases is absolutely
permanent, in very many more it is permanent except in unusual
years, while in the least permanent there is usually water from July
to March. A few of these wells have one or two fish (murrel) in them,
but they are in general not used as stock or stew ponds. They
naturally contain a certain amount of fisli food in and on the aquatic
plants found in them, and in other small life, but it would cost
practically nothing to supply food from the fields in the shape of
crabs, worms, larvse of sorts, white ants and various insects, leaves
and flowers of certain trees, all of which could be gathered by the
children ; refuse or surplus food from the house and cattle stall would
be both cheap and useful. The return in fish would be astonishing ;
those who know the weights of fish grown and maintained in small
ponds in trout and other hatcheries or in stew ponds of large or small
size in Europe, still more those who have seen small bathing tanks, a
few yards square, attached to mosques on the West Coast, absolutely
alive with hundreds of pounds of fish, will know that the two or three
hundred cubic yards of water in these wells will maintain a large
weight of fish if food be supplied as suggested. If each well provided
an annual weight of only 28 lb., 80,000 wells would furnish 1,000 tons
of fish worth from 1'5 to 2 lakhs of rupees, no mean addition to the
food supply and income of a district. tSince carp or murrel can be
readily transported it would be easy for the villagers to obtain a few
reproductors or a few chatties of fry from neighbouring sources,
especially it' either a river or one of the hatcheries to be presently
mentioned, is at hand.

208. Paddy-fields. — The growth of fish in the fields in Japanese
fashion will be a matter of pure experiment ; nothing can be predicted
save this, that in fields producing a single long crop of rice and well
supplied, as in the deltas, with practically unfailing water, carp
should succeed at least as well as in Japan; fry may be seen even
uow in quantity in the fields and some of these escape immediate

101

capture and grow to appreciable size, but the vast bulk are captured
at once by fine woven basket cruives at each drop from field to field.
Where fry are found naturally, as in the Tanjore and West Coast
fields, it will only be necessary to substitute bamboo gratings for
cruives at the exits from the fields so as simply to retain the fry in
the field instead of snaring it. When fry are not naturally found it
will be part of the hatchery experiments to supply suitable fields with
fry to test the feasibility of the Japanese method. Whether small
fish thus reared would escape the numerous paddy birds and other
enemies, is of course a question.

209. De minimis relatio, for that is precisely what Japan strongly
teaches, viz., that the utilization of trifles, of waste spaces and materials,
whether sea shore bottoms or hill-tops, whether ponds "or paddy-
fields or back-yards or even roofs, is essential. Not trifles either
except individually ; multiply a pound weight by a million and the
result is important ; multiply lOU lb. by a million and the product is
immense, and the aggregate produce, however individually small, of
the village pond, of the irrigation well or gunta, of the paddy-field,
may run into many millions of pounds. Moreover it is precisely
because these matters are individually small that they are important;
a big departure can only be carried out by a large and organized
expenditure; a village experiment of the simplest of natures, can be
tried in a hundred places at once with a minimum of individual
expense. In a vast number of cases the experiment could be tried at
absolutely no cost save that of obtaining a few fry ; in many others
simply by a small exercise of village co-operative energy which
ary intelligent well-wisher of his village could ensure. After all
nothing is too small for profit ; a pond ■will produce gratis a hundred
■weight of fish, a tamarind tree in a backyard will pay the kist of a
field ; Tamulice " Even the corner of a field will produce (the cost of)
a cloth " ; the pond, the tree, and the backyard havo not yet been
properly exploited in Madras.

210. HatcJteries. — The Government share in the stocking of inland
waters is the establishment, more japouico, of hatcheries or sources of
fry at convenient places. It is proposed, if the Public Works Depart-
ment see no objection, to establish the first near Nellore at the Kani-
giri reservoir. This is a real lake of about 20 square miles in area
and 21*5 feet deep at the sluice at F.T.L. ; at its lowest in the hot
weather it has an area of about 2 square miles with about 1 14 million
cubic feet of water ; though it contains large fish, such as freshwater
sharks, murrel and other predaceous fish, it produces little in the way
of food supply, the fish rental for the past three years averaging only
Rs. 410 though the netting of the shallow water of the hot weather
is very easy. Its cubical contents at F.T.L. are not less than 6,000
million cubic feet ; at the minimum rate of 50 cubic yards per pound

it svould maintain 2,000 tons of fish, and being- not only tropical but
containing abundant fisli food from the drainage of several districts
and having its water entirely renewed at least once from the river,
local drainage, and rainfall, it should maintain a much larger quan-
tity. Should Government approve, a site will during this year
be selected near the reservoir, the necessary ponds will thereafter be
dug, reproductor carp and labeo will be stocked, and broods of fry
produced and nurtured from hatching time, probably in the cold
weather, till a convenient season for turning them into the lake.
Meanwhile, during every hot weather especially the first, the lake will
be steadily netted with the aid of boats and trawls or drag-nets to
decrease the predaceous fish wliich devour so many times their own
weight of other fish and destroy the productivity of the water ; this
will be easy as the lake is then shallow. The hatchery will be able
eventually to supply not only Kanigiri but other similar reservoirs
under the same works. The increased produce in fish, if the experi-
ment is successful, should more than pay the cost of the hatchery
which, moreover, will be a place of example and instruction.*

211. A second hatchery should be established, probably later on,
for the Kurnool-Cuddapah canal. This canal is favourably situated
for experiment ; there is a long reach of canal without much offtake
for irrigation, and this mostly through tanks ; hence young fish would
enjoy a large area undisturbed and if drawn off would largely go
to tanks which maintain a considerable supply. The district being
fur inland is badly supplied with fish, while the population is one
which will readily eat animal food. The length of the navigable part
of the canal is 190 miles, besides 315 miles of main distributaries
and the area of the tanks supplied from it ; the average offtake of
water through the head-sluice averages in round figures 1,000 million
cubic yards. The canal probably contains at any given moment,
when full, at least 11 million cubic yards of water which is therefore
changed some 90 times during the season so that abundant food is
furnished for fish. As the canal is closed every year in the hot
weather, fish have no chance of growing to a large size; per contra
there can be no predaceous fish.

A carp, etc., hatchery placed at or near Kurnool could be supplied
with water from the canal, and rear in spring a large supply of well-
grown carplings for stocking the canal in June.

212. The other canals, being very much larger and nearer to the
sea, may wait upon the results of this experiment, which may also
afford data for work upon the Cauvery with hatcheiies at Erode, the
Grand anient, and, still better, the great reservoir now projected

♦ See Appendix I for ii j ossible mode of dealing with Marikairnvt' and other similar
reborvoirs.

103

above Bhavani (Nerinjipct) wliicli should by itself be of immense value
as a source of fish. Small exporimeutal hatcheries should be estab-
lished at. Madras and at the new Agricultural station at Coimbatore
in view to ascertain the fish \>est suited to minor operations such as
the supply of carp fry for wells, ponds, paddy-fields, etc., and to
ascertain those facts relating to the food, life, rates of growth, etc., of
fish, of whicb we are at present profoundly ignorant.

213. Minor proposals. — With the sanction of (lovernment the
nucleus of a Fisheries Museum and Library will be formed by the
purchase of models and photographs of boats, nets, apparatus,
hatcherie?, etc., connected with the various branches of the industry.
Modern models show boats and nets in actual operation nnd are
extremely instructive even to unskilled observers ; the exhibits will be
useful for display at the next Industrial Exhibition and can then be
located at the Experimental Station which will^ of course, be freely
open to visitors and enquirers

214. It is also proposed to initiate various minor industries relating
to sea products, and, as a beginning, to purchase the very simple
apparatus needed for the manufacture of ordinary pearl buttons. The
industry as it has sprung up of late years in Japan, is alluded to supra,
paragraph 164. The apparatus is so small and simple that it may be
made a household industry, as in America, and will, at first, be con-
veniently located at the Experimental Station on the West Coast
until a second is started at or near Pamban.

215. The necessary details for carrying out the above proposals
for an Experimental Station, hatcheries, the purchase of models and
button machinery will be found in the letters which accompany this
note.

216. For the above operations, slight and tentative as they are, it is
obvious that we require a provision of experts ; non-experts however
well-meaning and well informed can effect little in work of a severely
industrial and manufacturing character. It is equally obvious that at
present not one expert is available save, perhaps, my Assistant Mr.
V. V. Uamanan who being already an experimenter and observer in
natural history will be able to take charge at once of the initial experi-
ments in hatchery work as proposed. But of the men who will conduct
the sea and shore practical operations of the experimental station as
described above, of those w^ho can be put in as managers of hatcheries,
we have not one. A fortiori we have not the men who will be the
numerous experts required in the near future for extended work; the
scientific yet practical observers, like Professor Mitsukuri and Dr.
Kishinouiye, of marine or aquatic biology, on whom will largely
depend future administrativb action; the men who can design as well
as sail the new boats, make as well as use the new nets ; the industrial
experts in the various branches of the curing industry ; the men

104

trained in tlie varieties of marine culture such as oysters and other
shell-fish, pearls and sponges, crustaceans, etc. ; the teachers of the
necessary industrial or other fishery schools; the men of wide fishery
knowledge and of practical ideas gained from world-wide enquiry and
study.

217. The preparatory or foundation work of a novel industry
or of wholly novel developments of an industry, necessarily occupies
years, if work is to be placed from the outset on a proper foundation.
Japan began serious preparatory work about 1881, formed its earliest
Bureau in 1885, but was unable to start its first experimental station
till 1894 though the first training school was begun in 1888 by the
Fisheries Society, and Japanese delegates had lai-goly studied abroad.
With her experience before us, while we need not be unduly troubled
by reasonable delay, it is obviously necessary to begin providing
experts as soon as the necessity is demonstrated ; it is claimed that
the example of Japan applied to our own conditions has fully demon-
strated that necessity.

218. Now for Government there are only three practicable methods
of providing the necessary experts ; the first is to call in foreign experts
from the various nations who have progressed furthest in the several
branches of the industry; the second is to wait till foreign merchants
and manufacturers have set up their works (and got hold of the cream
of the business) and to trust for indigenous progress to the object
lessons provided by their enterprise and to the training of apprentices
and others in their factories ; the third is to send our own men abroad
for training.

219. The first method is too cumbrous and expensive, for the
experts would have to be well paid men from Europe or America and
yet each would only deal with part of one branch, for the scientist
could neither trawl nor can, the trawler is not a drifter or liner, the
canner is not a pickler or Salter, the trout or carp culturist cannot
grow oysters or lobsters or pearls. Then the practical experts of the
working industry are not usually of the class desirable or capable as
instructors, and while necessarily of an age not very suitable for
coming newly to India, would be absolutely ignorant of the country,
its people, manners, languages, and conditions, and for various reasons
would be sparely capable of adapting themselves to their surroundings
and pupils. There are other obvious objections.

220. The second plan may be put out of court at once, for though
the coming of European enterprise is possible or even probable, it would
be less than fair to wait its arrival and capture of the trade in order
to save the trouble or expense of training men. In the matter of
canning which individual European enterprise has already begun
on the West Coast, a proposal will be separately made for the early

105

training of young- men. It may possibly happen, moreover, that
larger opportunities will offer in the not distant future for training men
under this second method.

221. The third method, that of sending Indians abroad for training,
appears in every way the most suitable ; a delay of two or three years
may be regrettable but is necessary jpour mieux sauter, and the method
lays a solid foundation for the indigenous working of an indigenous
industry.

The ordinary Government of India scholarships are not suitable for
the training required ; in the first place there is no European or
American institution capable of giving the necessary training at once
highly technical, practical and comprehensive, while to send unin-
structed young men to Europe or America on a general mission
would be to court failure. We need a place where young men can be
deliberately and systematically trained all round, each in the par-
ticular branch of the business which he takes up, viz., catching,
preserving, cultivating, trading. I know of no place outside of Japan
where such all-round instruction is or could be given ; technical fishery
training institutions are, so far as I know, non-existent in English-
speaking countries, and students would require to learn their work by
rule of thumb in the variety of factories or fishing ports which are
scattered along the coasts, a method at once imperfect and not very
accessible. European and American fishery study is technically
profitable where a man, already properly prepared, intends to learn by
practice a particular item or sub-division of the industry, like the
Japanese fishery graduate at Yarmouth who was mastering the Yar-
mouth herring and bloater trade. It is, of course, also highly useful
for widening general knowledge after a man has acquired a large
and definite experience in his branch of work ; before that a man
could only get a superficial or general knowledge of great directive
or advisory value but of little use in the actual working of a practical
industry which demands not merely a knowledge of principles but
a complete grasp of technical working details of the industrial
processes and actual manual skill.

Hence I do not advocate the despatch of students to Europe or
America for the preliminary technical training which we require, while
the expense would be almost prohibitive at Grovernment of India
scholarship rates for the number of men who ought to be sent in the
next few years.

222. On the other hand, as shown above in paragraphs 50 to 72,
the Imperial Fishery Institute in Tokyo, is an institution remarkably
complete in everything that can train men in the principles and in all
the practical details of each of the three great divisions of the fishing
industry and trade ; staff and plant, mental and manual training, are
alike thorough, and all is taught, so to say, almost under one roof ; the

106

Institute has its own laboratories and workshops, its culture ponds, its
fishing vessels and boats, and everything necessary for turning out
instructed and practical men, while it has the use of or entree to other
factories and stations where its students can get further knowledge.
Moreover it seems that its graduates will soon be able to take a high
scientific course at the University (see footnote to paragraph 49), and
in any case there are now special post-graduate and pelagic courses.

223. The Institute is no mere school ; it embodies the " mente
manuque " principle of the late lamented Cooper's Hill, but with more
attention to practical work than even that college gave. I know of no
other institution in the world where men are thus trained in the science
and technique of the industry; Dr. Smith (U.S.A.) also says that it is
unique; nations such as the United States, Great Britain, Canada,
and the European countries do not require such institutions owing to
the advanced condition of the industry and the universality of wealthy
private enterprise, while less advanced countries have not thought of
them : Japan has created the institution to meet the special needs of
her industry. At present there is not sufficient scope for such an
Institute in India ; the persons interested are not generally advanced
or eager enough for such education ; hence it will suffice to utilize, if
so permitted by the Japanese Government, an existing though foreign
institution for the purpose of training a few men who wiU become the
teachers and experts of Government stations and institutions or the
managers and assistants in private concerns. The Japanese Institute
is thoroughly practical, and since the processes involved are compara-
tively simple, passed students are well able to carry out personally or
to teach and supervise the ordinary labours of fishermen, curing
factories, or culture grounds.

224, It is therefore proposed that enquiries shall at once be made
in Tokyo whether students will be admitted to the several courses of
the Imperial Fisheries Institute, and if so, that Government shall send
three students forthwith for a complete course, one in the catching
branch, one in the preserving (curing, canning, etc.) branch, and one
in the culture branch. It will be remembered that each course lasts
three years and that a student can only take up one course at a time ;
hence the necessity for three students simultaneously. But as the
courses are intended for youths of moderate education (Middle School),
much of the work would not be required by Madras University gradu-
ates whom alone I would propose, and in that case they would prob-
ably be allowed through in two years from next September when they
would have to enter.

Details regarding negotiations with the Japanese authorities,
stipend, etc., etc., will be found in one of the letters which accompany
this note, and further proposals will hereafter be made for subsequent
btitches of students.

107

PEIVATE ENTERPRISE.

225. Fresh fish trade. — Tlie above suggestions are intended for
Government work only, aud presuppose that private enterprise will
wait on Government experiment, seeing that there is no sign of new
activity amongst those interested in the industry as merchants or
employers of labour, while the fishermen themselves are obviously not
in a position to make new departures of any importance. Yet as in
Japan there are many opportunities both in large and small enterprise ;
e.g., the new Salt rules for duty-free salt taken to sea should encourage
local merchants in the building of boats of an improved Ratnagiri
pattern, or in hiring Eatnagiri boats, to keep the sea for some days
cleaning and salting their catches on board preparatory to curing on
shore ; there are many merchants who could, singly or in syndicate,
arrange this. Then the introduction of the better treatment of fish
when caught and especially the keeping of live fish in cages, chests, or
wells, is a matter requiring little except thought and arrangement.
The introduction of a motor or steam carrier, of no great size but
of some speed, would enable fish alive or recently dead to be brought
in at any time and with the least possible delay either for transport
inland as fresh fish, or to the curing-yard without the delay which is
now so often fatal ; the use of ice on such a carrier is possible, and
there is already an ice factory at Calicut which could be utilized and
the prices of which could be lowered if there were a better demand ;
such a carrier would begin an organized inland fresh fish trade which
the railways are believed to be ready to meet by the provision, if
sufficient traffic is guaranteed, of cold storage or even of special
refrigerating cars or motor vehicles.

226. To anticipate an item of my East Coast Report : the Madras
City fish market is poorly supplied with fresh fish, poorly, that is,
compared with the actual and still more with the potential demand ;
at present much of the evening fish is caught at places such as Pulicat
and brought to shore in the morning by 9 or 10 a.m. ; it is then trans-
ferred to kavadis and so to light open boats on the Buckingham Canal
which are then towed by men to Ennore ; here they are again transferred
to jutkas which bring the fish to Madras by 3 or 4 p.m., the fish having
been dead and exposed to sun and heat for some six hours. There
must be enough enterprise and capital and organizing power in Madras
to put on a proper footing the fresh fish trade of a city of half a million
people with thousands of well-to-do persons ready to buy fish almost
daily at prices which would well remunerate liberally spent capital :
better and larger boats and nets and lines, for drifting, trawling and
long-lining, used further out at sea where the fish are less disturbed
by the frequent passage of great steamers with their noisy propellers
or by the incessant catamaran ; provision thereon for live storage ; the
rapid carrier; the ice factory ; these combined should do much for the
Madras fish supply : even a small motor boat on the canal with proper

108

cold storage or used, as in Europe, to draw a train of canoe-shaped
live-chests, would do much to improve matters and to develop deep-
water fishing off Pulicat, Ennore, etc,

227. Canning and curing. — Irrespective of the possibilities of an
export trade a large amount of canned fish is used in In'3ia, not merely
hj Europeans, and yet a solitary French canner is the sole representative
of the industry ; his products are cheap and said to be good and
provide an example for imitation ; the factory industry itself is simple
and requires but a moderate amount of capital and training ; the experi-
mental stations and scores of petty factories in Japan turn out excellent
goods. There is nothing to prevent the early establishment of such an
industry save the knowledge and enterprise which will organize not
merely the work on shore but the more difficult yet absolutely essential
business of ensuring a supply of fish absolutely fresh from the sea so
as to avoid obvious risks to health.

228. Manure and oil. — The manure and fish oil industry is one
which should heavily repay capital and benefit agriculture to an untold
extent. In Japan this industry — the two are of course combined since
herring aud sardine are the chief manure fish — has taken on an
immense development since the Japanese are well aware of the high
manurial value of fish. Here, in India, its value is practically unknown ;
cocoanuts and tobacco occasionally get sardine manure, especially offal,
on the West Coast : on the East Coast I have found no trace of its use
except that the brine in which sardines have been salted is, in one
place, said to be used for tobacco. Hence the introduction of fish
manure to Madras fields awaits the use of an agricultural demand,
and this can only be shown experimentally on the Government farms
unless the district associations or well-to-do farmers will take up the
matter in view of developing the double industries of agriculture
and fisheries. Seeing that dried sardines can be frequently had in
vast quantities on the shore at from Es. 20 to Es. 25 per ton, and that
there is rail communication along both West and Bast Coasts, there
is an obvious field for enterprise wholly irrespective of the export
trade which ought, however, only to be utilized if an Indian demand
cannot be worked up. One obstacle to trade is in the gross adulter-
ation of the article with sand ; this is partly unintentional as the
fish are dried on the loose sand, some of which is gathered up with
the fish. But Dr. Lehmann states that whereas the average of sand
was 6 per cent, a few years ago it is now far higher averaging 39'56
(? 34"56) in 1905-1906, and a sample shown me in London had 44 per
cent. : these figures show wilful and gross adulteration which will
damage the trade and crush the demand just as the Cuddapah indigo
trade was similarly sjDoiled : one obvious result of an organized trade
would be the stoppage of this adulteration and the production of
a warrantable article. Probably the enterprise demands such know-
ledge, organization, and capital that European firms will at first alone

109

tackle it, but there is nothing inherent in the business to keep Indian
manufacturers from learning- and extending it.

229. More simple developments of the industry may be readily
attempted in new modes of curing fish, such as pickling in salt,
smoking, etc. : these involve less expenditure of cajiital and less risk
of spoiled goods. The risk run is in the possible loss of money should
the public tail to accept goods of the novel character proposed.

230. In these industries knowledge is required which is not at
present possessed by local capitalists ; the very ideas are novel while
the technical knowledge necessary for working the ideas into going
industries and the practical aud business knowledge needful for
pushing the trade are entirely wanting. Hence it is that Government
has been called upon to experiment and demonstrate. But if the
example of Japan has any weight, surely it is for Indian capitalists to
follow it, viz., either by visiting foreign countries in person or by
delegate to observe and to learn, or by hiring foreign experts to teach
on the spot. By learning is not meant mere study even at the best
technical school, still less that dilettante dabbling in industries which
is sometimes mistaken for the mastering of the art and trade : it is
more Japonico, the apprenticeship of men, with a proper educational
grounding, to the business in all its details, the long drudgery which
combines the study of the principles and bases of an industry with
the strenuous, coat-off tackling of the practical work of the factory, the
trade, and the market, after the fashion of the educated young
Japanese who, for two years, had been living and toiling as an ordinary
sea-going fisherman aud curing hand at Yarmouth in view to master
the details of the Yarmouth herring industry.

231. Possibly for Indians the best, if the more expensive method
for private enterprise is to enlist foreign experts as the Japanese have
done just as readily as they have gone abroad ; for many years well-
paid foreigners hired for the purpose, worked, supervised, taught the
various Western methods as in engineering of various kinds, ship and
railway building, canning and pisciculture, weaving and spinning, and
so forth, till the Japanese felt that in each case they could stand alone.
It is now for Indian capitalists to study the marine and inland
fisheries of this Presidency in all details, the catching, manufacturing
and culture branches, the trade openings whether in fresh fish or
in cured fish or in manure and by-products, the inland market and the
openings for export. The Indian merchants who so largely conduct
the internal trade of the country and who skilfully and profitably
trade in various branches with many parts of the East and West
should be perfectly capable of studying what should be the second or
third industry of the country, and, if convinced of Indian possibilities
and needs and of the markets available whether internal or foreign, of
combining both to obtain experts and implements and to send selected
students abroad for thorough practical training in each specific branch.

110

(rovernment is playing and doubtless will play its part in initiating and
assisting investigation and experimeut both by direct and indirect
action, but tbe future really lies with capital, enterprise and foresight,
and if Indian capital is not awake and alert the industry will presently
pass in its most lucrative forms into non-Indian hands

2-J2. Pisciculture. — As regards pisciculture the matter is somewhat
different ; the larger, more difficult and uncertain enterprises such as
the stocking of Government reservoirs and canals which annually dry
up either wholly or nearly, must be the subject of Government experi-
ment as already proposed. But the " petite culture " of the water may
readily be undertaken by those who similarly cultivate the soil ; the
matter is of the simplest, and what Government can do can be even
more easily and cheaply done by the villager with bnt slight instruc-
tion and help ; it is j)recisely a case for that small-scale effort on the
potential benefits of which I have elsewhere dwelt,* It is a case where
the possessor of a tiny pnnd of a few yards square, can experiment
practically without cost, and may be practically certain that favourable
results will be equally true of larger areas ; possibly indeed, the larger
area will give better results since the fish will live under more normal
conditions. The cost of the experiments in the small experimental
ponds would be nothing but that of half a dozen parent fish ; as
suggested above, refuse or insect, etc., food can be cheaply suj^plied if
the ponds are small and destitute of natural food — which is improbable
— and fish are numerous, but in such cases the value of the fish should
far outweigh the cost of the food , Hence well wishers of rural progress
may easily attempt small culture with a knowledge that success would
be readily imitated and sj^read throughout the country.

233. It is certain that in India an acre of average water will, with
proper care, produce as great a weight of food as an acre of average
laud, while its money value will be much greater ; hence wherever
a pond naturally perennial or which may be cheaply made so, is
available, it should be utilized, it being remembered that the utilization
of ponds by pisciculture not only costs less than arable culture, but is
far less liable to seasonal uncertainties, while the water is still avail-
able for other purposes and is even improved by fish growth ; even
in a season of drought the harvest does not fail since the whole stock
of fish can be taken as the water dries up ; finally, such ponds if
triennially dried and cultivated with cereals will, for one or two years,
give enormous crops aud at the same time be improved for subsequent
reversion to pisciculture.

234, Now, not only are there many small ponds, as mentioned
above, but these could be deepened and enlarged at small cost ; a
pond usually exists just because it is already in a low and favourable
place for the gathering of water, and deepening merely increases its

* Convocatiou address, 1 900.

Ill

storage power. Moreover there exist tlioiisaads of low swampy places
which might be excavated and embanked at small cost ; such are the
marshy places often found at the lower end of an irrigated area, which
now "breed only mosquitoes and malaria but which might produce
human food ; as I write, the latest Fish Trade Journal mentions a
Swedish morass which is being turned into a magnificent hatchery.
Along the Kurnool and other canals there is a vast amount of seepage
so that at the toe of the bank there are often similar wet marshy
places ; in the unirrigated area bordering certain Kistna Delta canals I
found in Februaiy that the undisturbed water level was but 4 feet
below the surface of the ground and that steady baling only temporarily
reduced the level to 5 feet. In all these cases it would cost but little
to excavate and embank ponds, and it is well known that in many
parts, e.g., in Bengal, it pays to buy irrigation water to supplement the
natural supply in fish slock-ponds, especially just before the setting in
of the hot weather. It is, of course, obvious that old ponds should
be prepared for experiment by the absolute exclusion of all fish,
especially predatory, except those which are to be reared ; this can be
obtained by careful and repeated netting or still better by complete
dryage of the pond in the hot weather.

235. Delegation of Students to Japan. — Finally, it may be suggested
that of the Indian students who decide on studying in Japan, at least
one per annum should seek to be enrolled in the Imperial Fisheries
Institute, Tokyo, and to undergo complete training there ; in the first
year or so two or three should enter annually since a student may
only take up during his three years' training one branch, viz., either
the catching, the preserving (curing, etc.), or the culture of fish.
Most of the industries which students have attempted to study in
Japan, e.g., glass, have the grave disadvantage that they do not already
exist in the Presidency, that an effective demand for the products of
such industry is uncertain, that the very existence of the necessary
raw matenals is often problematical, that their existence in the
necessary quantity, quality, position, and cheapness is unascertained,
that there are no data for estimating' the probable cost of the goods,
and that there are no workmen already skilled in the novel industry :
these disadvantages form a serious, often a fatal handicap But in
the case of fishery products the case is very different ; the industry
is in general existence though in a primitive condition ; the product
is a valuable food which all meat-eaters — say, a possible 90 or even
75 per cent, of the population — will accept; the raw material exists
in enormous quantities everywhere along the coasts and is even
abundant inland wherever circumstances permit ©f growth ; no elabo-
rate machinery or complex scientific processes needing a life-long
training are needed either to obtain or to preserve the raw material ;
workmen skilled in the industry so far as it has gone, are everywhere
numerous and ready for employment. Hence students trained io

112

theory and practice like the Japanese g-raduates from the Fisheries
Institute, could be certain of a field for the exercise of their
knowledge. Nevertheless, it is still urged that private students who
go to Japan for the purpose of this training, should go as the
delegates of some person, syndicate, or company, who will give
them beforehand a reasonable certainty of employment on their return,*
unless in the rare cases where the students are able, by fortune or
otherwise, themselves to take up on their return, as a personal venture,
such branches of the industry as they may master. In general a
student with assured prospects will work far better not merely because
of the certainty of employment on his return but because he is
working with a definite aim and because of his responsibility to his
principals.

236. Fisheries Society, etc. — Finally, private enterprise may form
a Fisheries Society for the awakening of interest in the subject, for the
purpose of gathering and spreading trade and technical information,
and for small experimental effort. The example of Japan in this
matter is eminently one to be followed, and though much of the best
intellect of the Presidency is naturally uninterested in the question
seeing that it concerns a food distasteful to vegetarians, yet there are
a vast number to whom such questions are of grave importance.
There are educated and well-to-do men in Madras and elsewhere who
are ancestrally connected with the business^ and to whom it is almost a
duty at least to push foi'ward a knowledge of the industry even if
they no longer care to handle the business personally.

F. A. Nicholson.

* It is very regrettable to see students going to Japan not only without any
previous training or preparation for a particular industry but without the least certainty
of subsequent employment. Far more regrettable, however, is that aimless drifting
of students to that country with a vague hope of learning some industi-y {nesciunt
quid) or other which may possibly avail them on their return; there were newly,
arrived students who told me that they did not know what industry they would take
up ; one had actually to be prompted to reply that weaving was his object. Not only
so, but the chances of obtaining even manual, low-grade employment in a factory is
always problematical j a Japanese employer naturally prefers a sturdy labourer of his
own country to a foreigner who can barely understand the simplest orders. As for
admitting students \o participation in the higher branches of an industry, it is hardly
to be supposed that a shrewd, farseeing race of remarkable secretive capacity,
struggling with all their might to attain supremacy in arts and industries which have
cost them such time and energy and money and even life will, at all events without
very heavy premia, part with their knowledge and trade secrets to foreigners who may
besome and who in weaving and spinning matters already are, industrial rivals in the
Eastern trade. Equally regrettable is the short-sighted procedure of taking up an
industry especially those of a complex and most costly nature, without first ascertain-
ing the existence of suitable and accessible supplies of material without which the
projected industry could not only not compete with Europe but could not even exist.

113

APPENDIX I.

THE MARTKANAVE LAKE.

With the object of examining Marikanave lake as a possible source of
fish, I recently visited the tank, -which will have an area at F.T.L. of above
30 square miles with a depth at the dam of 130 feet ; at its lowest the tank
can never fall below about hall the above area nor, except for silting, can
there ever be less than 60 feet at the dam since the sluices are placed at
that level above the bed ; the lake at F.T.L. will hold 1,100 million cubic
yards of water. This enormous body of water is Applied with vast quanti-
ties of fish food both from natural growths in the shallower areas which
from the configuration of the lake are extensive, as at Kodayar in Travan-
core and the Periyar lake and from its catchment area of 1,000 square
miles ; if stocked with productive classes of fish such as carp and properly
worked the lake would speedily become a very prolific and inexhaustible
source of food.

The proper way to treat the lake would be for persons of knowledge
and capital to lease the fishery rights from Government for a long term of
years, to provide spawning and nursery ponds so as to stock the reservoir
annually with millions of the proper fry at an age when they can look after
themselves, and to employ power boats with trawls and other nets and also
large fixed or pound nets as in lake Biwa (Japan), to gather in the harvests
which would practically be continuous. Owing to its distance from populous
centres a large fresh fish trade would probably be difficult at present though
the railway is within a very few miles of its shallow parts and might make
special arrangements for a guaranteed supply ; but the fish could readily be
dried or otherwise preserved, and sent to the various markets, while the
offal, including heads and guts, would be useful as manure in the irrigated
(sugarcane) land under the tank.

It has already been suggested that the warm Indian waters are far
more prolific of fish food and consequently of fish, especially carp, than the
cold European waters where, moreover, carp practically hibernate for half
the year ; in Europe a warm summer apprecially increases the carp harvest.
But even in European lakes where fish subsist solely on the natural food
supplied by a lake and its sources, 1^ cwt. per acre chiefly of carp (180
kilogrammes per hectare) is considered a medium annual yield, and if this
figure be adopted the annual produce of 20,000 acres would be 1,500 tons.
Taking another method of calculation ; in Europe a lake is considei-ed stocked
(with carp, etc.) if it holds fish at 1 lb. per 50 cubic yards ; assuming
throughout the year an average dej th available for fish life and food of only
30 feet or 10 yards, the lake of 20,000 acres at F.T.L. will provide about
960 million cubic yards ; allowing for the periodical shrinkage by irrigation
demands, etc., an average of only 600 million may be taken as available for
fish life I this volume would therefore safely nourish 12,000,000 lb. of fish

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.

115

APPENDIX II.

FISHERY LAW, JAPAN, 1901.

Section J . — In this law the word " Fishery " means the catching or
cultivation for profit of aquatic fauna and flora.

The word " fisherman ' * means one who engages in or possesses the
privilege of fishery.

Section 2. — This law does not apply to private wateis except where
expressly so provided.

Section 3. — Any person desirous of obtaining the right to fish {a) either
by establishing any fixed engine in a fixed position, {h) or by enclosing a
particular area of water shall obtain a special Government license ; the
Minister of the Department shall determine the kinds of fishery requiring
special licenses.

Section 4. — A Government license must also be obtained for the exclu-
sive right of fishing within a given area. Such license shall only be
granted on the application of a fishery association (Gyogyo-kumiai) intend-
ing to use for such exclusive right the shore of the locality where such
association is established, or in cases where such right has acquired the
sanction of long usage.

Section -5. — The license mentioned in section 4 shall determine the limits
of the fishery when granted to an association or shall recite such limits
when granted in accordance with long usage.

Section 6. — Licenses shall not exceed 20 years in duration. But periods
of suspension under section 9 shall be excluded in determining the expiry
of the license.

Section 7. — Eights of fishery may be the subject of inheritance, assign-
ment, common property, or mortgage. But the transfer of exclusive use of
an area of the sea can only be sanctioned by the authorities.

Section 8. — The right of fishery may be cancelled when such right is not
exercised within one year of the issue of license, or except on special sanction
where a fishery has not been carried on for two whole years. But suspen-
sions under section 9 shall not be taken into count in the above periods.

Section 9. — The authorities may limit, suspend, or cancel any fishery
license when required for the protection of aquatic products or by the
public interests, or when a fisherman breaks this law or the regulations
issued thereon.

Section 10. — Owners of land shall not hinder entry on their land or the
use thereof when so required for establishing marks for fixing the bound-
aries or beariogs of fishing grounds, provided that the sanction of the
authorities shall have been duly obtained.

Section 11. — The aiithorities may order the establishment of such fishing
marks.

116

Section 12.— Any loss or damage caused by the eutry oi- use of private
land as mentioned in section 10 shall be paid for upon a claim being-
made.

Section 13. — With the sanction of the Minister of the Department
prefects may issue orders on the following matters : —

(1) The limitation or prohibition of catching or selling marine
products ;

(2) The limitation or prohibition of particular methods of catching or
using boats or implements ;

(3) Limitation of the number of fishermen engaged in a fishery, or
fixing their qualifications;

and (4) Limitation or prohibition of the discharge into the water of
substances injurious to aquatic products.

"Where such orders are violated all fishing implements and the
products fished shall be liable to confiscation.

Section 14. — The Miuister may limit or prohibit the placing or building
in any particular locality of any construction that may interfere with a
passage of fish up a river.

He may also order the modification of any such existing construction.

Section 16. — In cases falling under the second paragraph of section 14
compensation shall be payable by the Miuister, such compensation being
recoverable from any fisherman upon whose application the modification
was ordered.

Section 16. — The three preceding sections shall be applicable to private
waters when such waters communicate with public waters.

Section 17. — (Not important in India.)

Section 18. — The fishermen residing within definite limits may, with the
sanction of the authorities, form a fishery astociation : the terjitorial limits
of the association shall be definite sections or hamlets of a town, village, or
fishermen's quarters. In Hokkaido the limits may extend to those of a
county.

Section 19. — Such Fishery Association shall be the owners of the fishery
rights and privileges in the given locality, but shall not itself (that is qud
association or company) conduct fishing operations.

Section 20. — When such association has obtained a license for the
exclusive use of the sea adjoining its place of habitation, it shall cause its
individual members to conduct the fishery on rules laid down by the
association.

Section 21. — The Minister of the department shall issue regulations for
the establishment, management, and supervision of fishery associations.

Section 22. — Fishermen or persons engaged in the manufacture or sale
of fishery products may establish a Marine Products Association (Suisan-
kumiai) or Chamber of Fishery for the improvement and development oi
fisheries, for the protection and cultivation of marine products, or for
increasing the advantages derived from the industry. Such Chambers shall
be regulated by the Law for Industrial Associations (Juyo-buasan-dogyo-
kimiiai).

117

Section 23. — Kny one to whom the issue or modification of a fishery
license has been refused or who may consider himself aggrieved by any
decision under sections 8 or 9 or paragraph 2 of section 14 may present an
objection petition to the authorities.

Any person aggrieved by the decisio}i on such objectioQ petition may
appeal (file a suit ?) to the Civil Courts.

Section 24. — Any person considering himself injured by the wrongful
issue of a license or by a wrongful modification thereof, may file a suit in
the Civil Courts.

Section 25, — In case of disputes between fishermen as to the boundaries
of fishing grounds or the limits of any fishing rights or methods, the parties
may apply to the local authorities for the decision of such dispute. Either
party may sue in the Civil Courts against such decision.

Section 26. — Any person fishing without a license in cases where license
is required, or during any period of suspension of such license or in contra-
vention of the conditions or limit.s settled by such license, shall be liable to
fine not exceeding Es. 150 (100 yen), and to the confiscation of all fishing
gear employed in such illicit fishing and of the products thereof.

Section 27. — The owner or possessor of the right of fisheiy shall be held
responsible for the acts of his employees, and penalties due under section 26
shall be levied from liim.

Section 28. — Any person trespassing upon rights of fishery conferred by
sections 3 and 4 shall be liable to fine not exceeding Es. 150 upon the
complaint of the owner or possessor of the rights trespassed upon.

Section 29. — Any one destroying or removing marks denoting a fishing
ground shall be liable to fine not exceeding Es. 45.

The above law is supplemented bv 75 sections of regulations issued by
Government for the due carrying out of the law.

118

APPENDIX III.

LIST OF TRANSLATIONS.

Fisheries,

(1) Fishery Law of 1901.

(2) Rules for giving effect to (1).

(3) Specimen maps of fishing grounds.

(4) Regulations of 1899 for the establishmeat, etc., of Prefectural

Fishery Stations.

(5) Regulations of 1899 for the establishment, etc., of Prefectural

Fishery Schools.

(6) Law of 1899 for the grant of subsidies to Prefectural Experimental

Stations (Agricultural including Fishery).

(7) Rules for giving effect to (6).

(8) Law of 1899 relating to the establishment, etc., of Industrial

Schools (including Fishery Schools).

(9) Rules for giving effect to (8).

(10) Rules for the education of teachers in Industrial Schools.
(U) Regulation of 1901 (Department of Education) relating to Fishery
Schools.

(12) Regulation of 1902 (Department of Education) relating to Supple-

mentary Industrial Schools.

(13) Regulation of 1902 (Department of Agriculture and Commerce)

governing Fishery Associations (Gyogyo-kumiai) established
under section 18 of the Fishery Law (1).

(14) Regulation of 1902 (Department of Agriculture and Commerce)

governing Chambers of Fishery (Suisan-kumiai) established
under section 2'2 of Fishery Law (1).

(15) Prefectural Regulation of 1903 relating to the Fisheries of Aiohi

Prefecture.

(16) Papers relating to Fishery Associations and Chambers of Fishery.

(17) Specimen articles of a Chamber of Fishery (Suisan-kumiai),

(18) Statement of work done by such a Chamber.

(19) Statement showing number, finances, etc., of Fishery Associations

in June 1906.

(20) Articles, budget, etc., of a sjiecimen Association.

(21) Financial statements of two specimen Associations.

(22) Reports showing work done in 1889-1901 by the " Fisheries

Society of Japan."

(23) Law of 1905 for the encouragement of Pelagic (deep-sea) fishing.

(24) Rules for students selected for deep-sea training.
(26) Reports of results of (23).

119

(26) Eepm-ts showing- number, work, expenditure, Hiibsidies, etc., of

Fishery Exporimental Stations, schools and itinerant teachers.

(27) Results of experiments in such Stations.

(28) Eeport of instruction given in 1902 by Experimental Stations.

(29) List of subjects assigned for experiment to Stations by Central

Government (Department of Agriculture and Commerce).

(30) Scheme showing experimental suggestions for future work.

(31) Eeport of recent Conference of 79 Directors of Prefectural Fishery

Experimental Stations, Fishery Schools, Fishery Officials, etc.,
for the improvement of fishery work.

(32) Statement relating to Fiwherj' :;chools of all classes.

(33) Eeports relating to three Fishery ?^chools under the Department of

Agriculture and Commerce.

(34) Eeport of a School of Agriculture, Forestr}^ and Fishery.

(35) Annual report of the Imperial Fishery Institute, Tokyo.

(36) Statistical report of til e Kanagawa Prefecture for 1904 (Agricul-

ture and Fisheries).

(37) Two articles by Prof. Matsubara and Dr. Kishinouiye on sea

fishing.
(3S) Miscellaneous.

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