of
Rs. i, 100,000 therefrom, and in 1797 the revenue was Rs. 1,400,000;
these two years were by far the most productive during the first
century of British occupation.
Several
very interesting reports on the industry were prepared about that time.
Especially to be noted among these were the accounts by Henry J.
LeBeck in 1798;1 by Robert Percival in 1803 ;2 and by James Cordiner in 1807,3 to which reference is made for detailed accounts of the fisheries of that period.
The Ceylon fishery was prosecuted about every other year from 1799 to 1809, an<3
the annual returns ranged from £15,022 in 1801 to £84,257 in 1808. From
1810 to 1813, inclusive, there was a blank so far as receipts were
concerned. In 1814 the fishery was very good, bringing in a revenue of
£105,187. With the exception of very slight returns in 1815, 1816, and
1820, no oysters were then obtained until 1828. Excepting 1832 and
1834, the industry was prosecuted each year from 1828 to 1837, the
revenue to the government averaging about £30,000 annualhy. Then came a
long blank of seventeen years, for there was no fishing from 1838 to
1854, and likewise from 1864 to 1873. Indeed, so depleted had the beds
throughout the Gulf of Manaar become in 1866, that serious
consideration was given to the possibilities of securing seed oysters
from the Persian Gulf for restocking the reefs ; but fortunately this
was rendered unnecessary by the discovery soon afterward of a few
oysters on several reefs on both the Ceylon and the Malabar coasts.
From
1855 to 1863, and also from 1874 to 1881, the returns were only
ordinary, the highest being £51,017 in 1863, and £59,868 in 1881, —the
best year since 1814; and during these two periods fishing was entirely
omitted in nearly one half the seasons. There were five lean years from
1882 to 1886, and the 1887 fishery was only fair, with a yield of
£39,609. But the returns for 1888 were large, amounting to £80,424; and
those for 1891 were even greater, being £96,370, representing a yield
of 44,311,441 oysters. No oysters were caught from 1892 to 1902,
inclusive. In 1903, the fishery was profitable, yielding 41,180,137
oysters, and the share of the government amounted to £55,303; and in
1904 the yield was almost the same, being 41,039,085 oysters and a
revenue of £71,050 to the government.
In
1905 occurred the greatest fishery in the modern history of Ceylon. The
season extended from February 20 until April 21, giving forty-seven
working days, exclusive of Sundays and five days of bad
1 "Asiatic Researches," London, 1798, pp. 3"Description of Ceylon," 1807, Vol. II,
393, et seq.
ΡΡ· 36-78.
2"The Island of Ceylon," 1803, ch. 3.
