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PEARL FISHERIES
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years,
as the British occupied Ceylon in 1796. In the early years of this
period and prior to that, the fishings, or rights to fish, were sold to
the highest bidders, usually Hindu merchants. In 1796 the fishing
brought £60,000. The year after the British took possession, 1797, it
realized £110,000 that amount having been paid by Candappa Chetty, a
native of Jaffna for the fishery right, and for that of 1798, the same
renter paid £140,000.
These
fishings, which were prolonged, so exhausted the banks that the fishery
of 1799 yielded but £30,000. From 1799 to 1802 the yearly product
ranged from £12,000 to £55,000. In 1804 they were leased for £120,000
but from that time on declined so that in 1828 they brought only
£30,612. There were no fishings from 1820 to 1827, nor in 1834 and
after 1837, until 1855. The supply failed in 1864 and for several
succeeding years, and again for a decade, after five successful
fishings from 1887 to 1891. The average yearly profit up to 1891 was
about £34,000.
The Ceylon and Madras fisheries are now in charge of a government officer, who spends a
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