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42 P. Reeves et al.

This chapter is concerned with the ways in which institutional change in the struc-ture of artisanal fisheries in colonial South Asia affected the position of those en-gaged in the industry, particularly the fishers. It discusses the background to theexperiment undertaken in the coastal districts of Madras Presidency in specially-

instituted Fish-Curing Yards (FCY). These yards were promoted from the mid-1870s as a solution to the problems caused by the colonial governments Salt Tax,which, by the 1860s, increased greatly the price of salt which fishers who neededto cure some part of their catch had to pay. The Government of India authorisedthe creation of FCY from the mid-1870s and the Madras Presidency took up thedevelopment of such yards along the full extent of its coastal districts on both itswest and east coasts.

The effects of the new yards structures and operations on the relations of pro-duction within the fishing industry are then examined. Although some fishers ini-

tially opposed and/or attempted to disregard the new institutions, the FCY became acentral part of the structure of coastal fisheries in the Presidency, fisheries in whichsome 5070 % of the catch was cured. Moreover, since the FCY were introducedin all regions of the Presidency, fishers could not afford to ignore the yards if theywanted to access the cheaper salt that the FCY made available for curing fish.

Government regulations, which officials claimed were established for the benefitof the fishers, meant that the yards brought fundamental changes to the working ofthe fisheries and the trade in cured fish. Before the FCY were introduced, the opera-tion of the fisheries took place on the beach: the fishers landed their catches and the

catch was disposed of in a variety of ways: (a) to the women for sale as fresh fishin neighbouring villages within half a days walking distance; (b) to the women forcuring and subsequent sale; (c) to agents (middlemen) for sale to merchants inmajor regional or local markets; and (d) to larger merchants or their agents for saleas dried or cured fish in larger inland or foreign export markets. With the FCY in

place the situation was changed by the creation of a new set of playersthe cur-ers (or ticket-holders, as they became known)who were those who were ableto purchase a ticket which gave them the right to buy the salt available for curing

purposes in the FCY (and only in the FCY).

The curers needed to have access to still more capital resources because whilethe Presidency government built the fences and administrative buildings for theyards, the curers were responsible for the construction and equipping of the cur-ing sheds within the yards. The result was that those in the locality who either hadcapital or could be secured on the basis of wealthy mens patronagewhether theyhad formerly dealt with fish or notwere able to disproportionally take the curerstickets and so place themselves (or their agents) in the very centre of the curing

process. Not only did they control the curing in the FCY, the wealthier merchantsalso learned very quickly the advantage of becoming boat owners so that they ob-tained fish at a favourable rate from fishers, who wereessentiallytheir men.Moreover, the wealthier merchants and financiers rapidly found that they could gaina hold over other independent catches by making credit available to independentfishers who needed such credit to sustain their fishing and who could be talked into

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433 Changing Practice in the Madras Marine Fisheries

accepting that, in return for credit, the curer gained a lien on the catch at a price well below the going rate in the market. A reporter from Tellicherry in Malabar wrote:

An ordinary pair of fishing boats with a complete set of gear together with advances givento labourer-fishermen will cost Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 4,000. After investing so much money theowner of boats and nets may, owing to failure of fishing season or other causes be obliged to

borrow a few hundreds from the fish merchants or other capitalists. In such cases all the fishcaught by the borrower must be placed at the disposal of the lender, the latter has liberty to

buy it for himself or sell it to others. The price in such cases is much less than that realised by other fishermen who have not borrowed money and who are free to sell their catches toanybody they like. Most of the boats of this place are thus controlled by a few capitalists.(Govindan 1916 )

It became clear that although the FCYs were seen initially by the officials as insti-tutions for the benefit of the fishers, it was the curers who became the real benefi-ciaries of the FCY. The curers, in fact, became the key players in the FCY as theygained control of the entire curing process in a vertically-integrated fishing process:from catching to curing, to the sale and export to the most significant markets.

The corollary of the strengthening of the curers position was the marginalizationof the members of the traditional fishing communities and the breakdown of theirtraditional role in sustaining the community. As a result, over the first 40 years ofthe introduction and development of the FCYs, traditional small-scale fishers cameto be increasingly thought of as the problem in Indian fisheries. Consequently,officials saw the need for programmes of reform and improvement to changeIndian fisheries.

Historical Background

From the beginning of the nineteenth century, there was a growing level of in-terest in Indian fish and fisheries by colonial scientists and those with an eye forthe commercial opportunities presented by Indian fisheries (Russell and Bulmer1803 ).1This led also to (admittedly intermittent) attention to the ways in which Brit-ish colonial rule affected fisheries. It was not until the 1860s, however, that therewas sustained commentary on the problems affecting Indian fisheries. These inter-ventions touched on a widening range of issues: the colonial governments neglectof fisheries; the lack of provision for fish to proceed upstream for the purpose of

1 For example, Buchanan-Hamilton investigated the fisheries of Bengal in his 18071813 surveyof the Bengal; the results were incorporated by Francis Day ( 1876b ) to his account of The Fisher-ies of Bengal . Hamilton ( 1822 ), went on from this survey to publish his An account of the fishes

found in the River Ganges and its branches . See also Sykes ( 1839 ) which was reported to the

Company in 1831 but only published when communicated to the Zoological Society of London.Royle ( 1842 ), p. 88, gives a bibliography of works on Indian fishes up to 1842 and Day ( 1865b ),discusses the literature to the early 1860s. Day ( 1873b ), in his Report on the sea fish and fisheriesof India and Burma , p. 1, cites Dr Jerdons Ichthyological gleanings from Madras, Dr CantorsRemarks on the sea-fisheries of the Bay of Bengal, Dr McLellands Observations on usefulspecies and Dr Helfers report on fisheries in Mergui (Burma) from this early period.

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44 P. Reeves et al.

breeding in the upper reaches of the major rivers in new irrigation works; 2 and thedepletion (destruction in the eyes of some commentators) of the fisheries by care-less and wasteful methods of fishingas well as the failure to eliminate verminsuch as crocodiles (Day 1873a ). It was in this context that questions were raised for

the first time about the neglect of tradeespecially the trade in salt fish into theinland districtsand of the problems created by the Salt Tax for fishers acting ascurers of fish for that trade.

These issues were taken up very strongly by Dr Francis Day, a Surgeon-Major inthe colonial administration of Madras Presidency, who became a key commentatoron fisheries in the India of the Raj. Francis Day began with a scientific interest inthe classification of Indian fishes, which was to lead ultimately to the publicationof his magnum opus , the two-volume classic, The Fishes of India (Day 1876a ).3 But he was also closely interested in the society around him, including the position

of the fisheries and the fishers (although he had a fairly traditional view of theirfailings). He was aware of the debate about colonial neglect and his own early

books Fishes of Cochin and Fishes of Malabar both raised general questionsalong with their ichthyological concerns (Day 1865a ). These books presage, in fact,his more political involvement in these matters. In 1867 Day sought a positionas a naturalist with the Government of India and in 1868 these overtures paid offwhen he was invited to undertake investigations in southern India on questions to dowith the influence of irrigation works on fisheries. Then, in the late 1860s and early1870s, as the first (and only) Inspector-General of Fisheries for the Government

of India, he investigated fish and fisheries in a range of regions across India andBurma: Madras, Orissa, Bengal, Burma, Assam, the Andamans, the North-WesternProvinces, Punjab and Sind. These investigations led to two major reports presentedto the Government of India in 18721873: a Report on the Freshwater Fish and

Fisheries of India and Burma ; and a Report on the Sea Fish and Fisheries of Indiaand Burma , which not only underpinned the major debates in Indian fisheries to theend of the century but also formed, in their catalogues of fish species, the basis ofhis The Fishes of India (Day 1876a ).

From the outset of his work in the 1860s, Day recognised two broad sets of

problems facing Indian fisheries. Firstly, there was a need for conservation giventhe nature of current fishing practices which raised questions regarding mesh sizesof nets, fixed engines, fishing with poisonous substances and the lack of regulationand restraint in the management of fisheries. Secondly, attention had to be given tothe difficulties that fishers and fish curers faced in obtaining salt at economically-

2 In 1867 the Secretary of State for India had drawn the attention of Govt of Madras to Sir ArthurCottons claim that irrigation works on east coast rivers would harm fisheries; see Day ( 1873a ),

pp. 714. The Secretary of States attention to these problems had been secured by Colonel GeorgeHaly who wrote to him in 1866 and drew his attention to Sir Arthur Cottons concerns; see White-head and Talwar ( 1976 ), p. 42, 47.3 An abridgement was later made by Oates and Blanford ( 1889 ). It should be noted that both of the1873 reportsand the earlier work on Malabar and Cochin fisheshad extensive taxonomic lists,which became the basis of the great work. For an account of the completion of this work and itsdefinitive status see Whitehead and Talwar ( 1976 ), pp. 4757.

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viable rates to carry on the trade in dried and cured fish. He saw also the difficul-ties with which trading in processed fish was faced from vexatious and arbitrary

practices that worked to discourage trade. It was, however, salt that he identified asthe key; it is, he declared, only the moneyed man who can engage in the curing

of fish (Day 1873a ).4Day used his position as Inspector-General to investigate and give prominence

to these issues from his India-wide investigations and his subsequent reports. Histime as Inspector-General, however, also provided him with a position from whichto argue and the opportunity to assemble evidence across the Presidencies, throughquestionnaires which he could send with the authority of the British. Indian govern-ments to Commissioners, Collectors and Tehsildars .5 It was on this basis, therefore,that he could argue for corrective measures in the form of legislation and properregulation of the fisheries; and more enlightened management of the salt required

for the fish-drying and fish-curing.The Report on the Freshwater Fish and Fisheries of India and Burma concen-

trated on the question of the destruction of the freshwater fisheries and the needfor a Fisheries Act for the whole of India (Day 1873b ). The Report on the Sea Fishand Fisheries of India and Burma , which canvassed the salt issue, argued that Gov-ernment or monopoly salt was from twelve to sixteen times more expensive thanuntaxed salt. 6 The Report argued that a diminution of the price of salt was needed toallow fish-curing to continue and that this would be best carried on in enclosuresin which salt could be issued at cost price, without duty, for curing purposes.

Handling the Salt Question

The use of salt for curing and drying marine fish in India was long-standing (Acha-ya 1998 ). While sun-drying without salt had always been a major practice, bothdrying with salt and curing with salt (and tamarind) were also significant (Achaya1994 ). These methods of processing were important for the trade in fish inland from

the coast and for export to markets elsewhere in South Asia. As much as 5070 %of the marine catch on both the east and west coasts of India (of which sardine andmackerel were a large component (Achaya 1998 ) was regularly processed.

4 Day ( 1865a ), pp. xvxvi, notes that the price per maund in British Malabar had risen fromRs. 1-2-6 to Rs. 1-8-0 from 18581859 to 18621863 and that, as a result of an agreement withthe Madras Government on the price of salt in the Cochin State rose there over a decade ending in18631864 from half the average cost of salt in British territory (Re. 0-9-2 in the mid-1850s) to theequivalent of the British price, equivalent to an increase of about 100 %.5 In December 1871, the Indian Civil Services club newspaper, The Pioneer of Allahabad,dubbed him, the Inspector-General of Stickelbacks; see the article pasted into Days cutting

book, Day Library of Natural History, Cheltenham Public Library, vol. Q658. See also Reeves(1995 ); and Whitehead and Talwar ( 1976 ), p. 67.6 Day ( 1873b ), pp. 4950, indicates that the cost differential for salt for those using foreign, un-taxed salt is 2 annas per maund compared to Rs. 12.00 per maund.

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46 P. Reeves et al.

The basic difficulty concerning the use of salt in fish-curing in the mid-nine-teenth century was the cost to the fish-curer of salt on which the duty was levied inthe different Presidencies. Most Indian salt was produced from sea water by solarevaporation in coastal districts, which Madras Presidency had on both the east and

west coasts. The cost of production was low but, by the mid-nineteenth century, theduty charged under the Salt Tax was considerable. As a result, despite low produc-tion costs, the price of salt to the public was high. In 1861, shortly after the assump-tion of the government of India by the Crown, the price of a maund (82.5 lbs.) ofsalt, which cost between 1 and 3 annas to produce was much higher in Bengal andnorth India than in Bombay or Madras: a maund of salt cost Rs. 3 and 4 annas in theLower Provinces of Bengal and Rs. 3 in the Upper Provinces of Bengal, as againstRe. 1 and 4 annas per maund in Madras and Bombay (Oriental and India OfficeCollections (OIOC) 1878 ).

The cost, moreover, began to rise from the mid-1860s as the Government ofIndia decided to equalise rates across the country. The control of the manufacture,trade and taxation of salt was, from the mid-eighteenth century, a central concern ofBritish colonial administration in India. Until the mid-nineteenth century, however,control over its manufacture and sale was organised at the Presidency level. Theresult of this piecemeal development was that the rates of taxation and the systemsof administration varied between the Presidencies (Strachey and Strachey 1882 ;Watt 1908 ; Dodwell and Wheeler 1968 ).7 Until the 1860s, the duty, and thereforethe total cost, of salt varied between the Presidencies, with lower rates in the south

(Madras) and the west (Bombay and Sind) and higher rates in the north (Punjab,the NWP, Oudh and the Central Provinces) and the east (Bengal, Bihar and Orissa).The move to equalise the duty and hence the price of salt, was partly to increaserevenuebecause the Salt Tax was a valuable contributor to the Imperial budget.But it was also intended as a means to undermine the rampant smuggling (fromsouth and west to north and east) which the different Presidency prices made prof-itable. The policing of salt smuggling required a substantial establishment and an800-mile hedge which formed a manned Customs Line from Rajasthan to Orissa(Moxham 2001 ).

The imperial government moved in the 1860s to increase the rates in Bombayand Madras. In 1866 and 1869 they took the first steps by increasing the duty by3 annas and 5 annas per maund respectively (OIOC 1878 ).8 In 1871, financial de-centralisation made Salt a Government of India revenue head and this strength-

7 Bengal, which tried a number of expedients in the early period of the Diwani, put in place in1793 a system of monopoly of manufacture and trade, which lasted, to the 1840s and, with somemodifications, to the 1890s. Madras created a government monopoly by Regulation I of 1805under which the control of manufacture and sale were controlled by the government. Bombayestablished, as soon as it gained a foothold in Gujarat, control over the sources of salt there andin Saurashtra; and it moved, in 1837, to establish an excise throughout the Presidency, the Maha-rashtran Continental territories, as well as Gujarat. See also, Achaya ( 1994 ) and Barui ( 1985 ).8 The result was that prices in Madras and Bombay increased to Re. 1-13-0 per maund as com-

pared to Rs. 3 per maund in the Northwestern Provinces and Oudh, Punjab and the Central Prov-inces and Rs. 3-4-0 in the Lower Provinces of Bengal. See also, Strachey and Strachey ( 1882 ).

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ened the Government of Indias ability to move on the issue of the equalisationof the Salt Tax (Strachey and Strachey 1882 ). In 1874 it abolished the 800 mileCustoms Line which had been created to regulate the smuggling of salt (OIOC1878 ; Strachey 1911 ; Strachey and Strachey 1882 ). Then, to move towards the full

equalisation of rates, Act XVIII of 1877 increased Madras and Bombay rates toRs. 2-8-0 per maund, while lowering the North-Western Provinces and Oudh (theUpper Provinces of Bengal) to Rs. 2-12-0 per maund and the Lower Provinces toRs. 3-2-0 per maund(OIOC 1878 ; Strachey and Strachey 1882 ). Act XII of 1882completed the process by providing that the determination of the rate of the Salt Taxwould be determined for the whole of India by the Government of India. The ratewas to be Rs. 2-6-0 by 1882 and Rs. 2-8-0 by 18861887. Then, between 1903 and1907, it was to be progressively reduced to Re 1. 9

The problems for fishers arising from the high price of salt for marine fisheries

were identified, as we have seen, from the mid-1860s by Francis Day. He arguedthat fishers would be unable to continue to commercially produce dried and curedfish in British Indian territory and that they would either go out of businesswhichwould undermine the extensive trade in fish to the interioror they would moveinto the Portuguese territories of Goa or Diu, or even further afield to the PersianGulf, where they would be able to obtain untaxed salt.

Because Day was able to show that cured fish was a trade productwhich could,of course, be taxed and which, given the growth of a cured fish trade, linked neatlywith railway developmentsthe Government of India accepted that Day had pin-

pointed a basic problem. As a result, when consideration of Days Report of Sea Fish and Fisheries began there was a preparedness to move on the question of howto relieve the problem of the cost of salt for fish-curing. The Government of Indiawere prepared to listen to the enclosure idea and indicated that the Presidenciesshould experiment with this scheme.

The Government of India declined to accept the full force of Days argumenton the score of the injurious effects of the Salt Tax on the salt-fish trade of India(OIOC 1874a ).10 However, it was sufficiently concerned at the possible loss of (tax-able) inland trade in dried fish to look at Days suggestion that a means should be

found to supply fishers with cheaper salt (OIOC 1874b , c). In forwarding copies ofDays Sea Fish and Fisheries to the Presidency governments, the Governor-General-in-Council sanctioned the establishment of fish-curing yards where salt will be sup-

plied at a little above cost to fishermen and others willing to cure fish within the en-closure (OIOC 1874a ). It added that it would be open to further suggestions for theimprovement of the salt-fish trade, a careful watch over which will, it is hoped, bemaintained by the local maritime Governments and Administrations(OIOC 1874a ).The Government, however, was not prepared to forego the Salt Tax in general usage:

9

The rate was Rs. 2 per maund in 1882; Rs. 2-8-0 in 1888; Rs. 2 in 1903; Re. 1-8-0 in 1905 andRe. 1 in 1907.10 The salt tax doubtless had a share in preventing that development of the trade which mighthave been looked for but other causes such as the general poverty and want of enterprise ofthe fishermen, and their inability to purchase boats and deep-sea nets have also unquestionablycontributed to dwarf this industry.

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toral areas, there were differences in their handling in different regions of the Presi-dency, of which James Hornell, who joined the Madras Fisheries Bureau (MFB) in1908 and who rose to become its Director in the 1920s, provided a sketch in 1915(Hornell 1915 ).

Hornell outlined four regions within the maritime space of the Presidency: on thewest coast he saw the fisheries of the South Canara and Malabar districtsin whichMogarveera and Mukkuva fishers respectively had traditionally dominatedas keyregions:

In these districts sea-fishing attains the dignity of a national industry, employing manythousands of hands, a great fleet of boats and a capital of no mean magnitude. Here theindustry is frequently well organised by wealthy and often enterprising merchants, par-ticularly in Mangalore, Malpe and Cannanore, with an extensive export trade to Bombay,Ceylon and Burmah.

On the east coastwhere local conditions are less uniform than on the westhedistinguished the northern reaches of the Coromandel coast from Ganjam, in thenorth, to Point Calimere, in the south, as the catarmaran coast, and the area south-ward to Point Calimere taking in Palk Bay and the pearl-fishing regions in the Gulfof Manaar, as the distinctive regions. These regions were marked by different fish-ing vessels with large and small canoes in Malabar, these, together with some built-up boats, in South Canara, catamarams on the northern and central stretches of theCoromandel coast, and a mixture of canoes, catamarams and built-up boats in thesouthern region. Hornell described catamarams in the following way:

large catamarams truly so-called, consisting usually of three main logs with the aid of spe-cial key pieces every time they are used and subsequently taken apart to dry and regain full

buoyancy at the end of each days work.

On the South Canara coast, long beach seine nets ( rampani ) and drift nets alongwith bag seine nets using two canoes were deployed. In Malabar, and in parts of thecatamaran coast, nets and large prawn fishing stakes were important; while in thesouthern regions of the east coast long-lining and beach nets were to be found. Inthis southeastern coastal region, whose waters were marked by strong surf, Hornellwas able to identify true boats:

In Palk Strait true boats prevail, capable of standing heavy seas and going long distances.Further south, in the pearl fishing region, of which Tuticoron is the centre, two local, typeshave evolved, which may be termed respectively canoe-boats and boat-catamarans. Bothsail welland are able live in a sea that no Malabar canoe would ever dream of facing.

The fish-curing yards, which Hornell called an outstanding feature of Madras fish-eries since they provided the encouragement given by Government to the efficientcuring of salt fish, were fenced and guarded physical structures with administra-tive offices, storage for salt and space for the construction of curing sheds and tubs(Achaya 1994 ). The government provided the security fence to protect the valuablesalt stored in the yard together with the administrative and storage facilities, whilstthe registered fish-curers (ticket holders) had to provide the sheds and curingtubs themselves as a condition of being registered. Until the 1920s, when control

passed to the Fisheries Department, the yards were controlled by an establishment

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50 P. Reeves et al.

of Salt Department officials and their retainerssub-inspectors, duffadars and pe-onswho provided the administrative and security services for the yard. Within the

yards, registered fish curers were able to purchase salt at an officially designated price, solely for the purpose of curing fish. Those curing activities had, moreover,to be conducted totally within the yard itself. Any attempt to take salt purchasedin the yard outside its confines was smuggling and was an offence under the SaltLaw. The price of the salt, although not at cost price, was well below the normaltaxed price outside the yard, which in Madras was Rs. 2.00 per maund. Prices inthe Madras yards varied from 2 annas per maund to Re 1 per maund, although thegeneral price was about 810 annas per maund. Once a yard was established in anarea, salt-earth, which was not taxed, could not be used for curing fish either in-

side or outside the yard because this would reduce the amount of Government saltwhich could be sold.

In addition to the Salt Department officers and the registered fish curers, therewere three other groups of participants working in the yards. Firstly, there werethe fishers who brought the fish to the yard, which in sizeable and active yardscould be up to 400 fishers. Secondly, there were the women relatives of the fisherswho traditionally looked after gutting and cleaning the catch on the beach and,when this was done, organised the sale of fresh fish in villages within a radius ofhalf a days walking. Thirdly, there were coolie labourers who were available to

undertake tasks such as shifting the catch and the cured product or cleaning fishready for curing and at times curing itself. Along with the officials and the ticketholders, the position of these groups was affected by the workings of the yards(Table 3.1 ).

The creation of the yards in Madras Presidency began in the mid-1870s and by the mid-1880s there were 63 yards in the Presidency. On the west coast, sevenwere in the South Canara district and twenty in Malabar district. On the eastern(Coromandel) coast there were 36 yards by 1885, the majority of which were inthe north-eastern coastal districts of Madras Presidency (which historically were

known as the Northern Circars)Ganjam, Vizagapatam, Godavari and Kistna andin the southern-most coastal districts of Tanjore, Ramnad and Tinnevelley.The concentration of east coast districts in the northeast and southeast was

brought about by the lack of yard development in the coastal areas of Chingleput

Table 3.1 Fish-Curing yards Madras presidency, 18851914: Number of fish curing yards.(Source: Govindan (comp.) 1916 , pp. 79, 6571)Region 18851889 18901894 18951899 19001904 19051909 19101914 NotesS. Canara 7 9 12 15 15 17 1 private

Malabar 20 24 26 32 32 32E. Coast

North26 32 49 55 65 64

E. CoastSouth

10 10 13 15 17 16

Total 63 75 100 117 129 129

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and South Arcot, the districts closest to Madras because, given the urban presencein this central region, there was a strong demand for fresh fish and this discouragedcuring (Govindan 1916 ). Over the three decades up to 1915 the total number ofyards on both coasts increased to 129.

The strongest growth was in the period from 1890 to 1905 when the total wentfrom 75 to 121. Although expansion took place to fill gaps in the coastal cover-age, the areas of strength in sub-regions remained clear. There was little growth inMadras Presidency after 1915 but over the 1920s and 1930s the Bombay Presidencydeveloped 33 yards, all of them in the coastal areas of Ratnagiri and North Canaradistricts, the only areas which had shown promise in the earlydiscouraging

phase of Bombays opposition to the FCY. By the time of Indias independence thetotal number of FCY was 155 (Government of India 1945 ).12

The FCY experiment aimed to establish separate yards in each chosen area but

it is important to recognize that the yards were, in fact, very varied. One measureof the difference in size (scale) is provided by the number of participant curerssince the yards had to accommodate these curers and their working apparatus (seeTable 3.2).

The first obvious difference between the yards was the number of ticket-holders present in different yards. Table 3.2 records the number of ticket holders registeredover the 18851913 period and shows clearly the growth in the number of ticketholders in each region. What this does not show, however, is the difference in size

between yards in these areas; indeed, the calculation of the average number of

ticket holders in each region at quinquennial stages in the 18851914 period ratherglosses over the actual differences in the number of curers in each yard, which was

12 The total was comprised of the following: Madras East Coast 49; Orissa 4; Madras West Coast56; Cochin and Travancore 14; Bombay (Ratnagari and North Canara districts) 32.

Table 3.2 Fish-Curing yards, Madras presidency 18851913: Number of ticket holders in FCYs.(Source: Govindan (comp.) 1916 , pp. 79, 6571)Region 18851889 18901894 18951899 19001904 19051909 19101914S. Canara

Total 154 213 391 675 548 472Average 22 24 33 45 37 28Malabar Total 502 791 882 1,047 1,106 1,078

Average 25 33 33 33 35 34E. Coast

NorthTotal 444 773 1,553 2,232 2,733 2,352

Average 17 24 32 41 42 37E. Coast

SouthTotal 200 256 291 322 277 182

Average 20 26 22 21 16 11

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52 P. Reeves et al.

the real measure of the activity in the yard and of the yards importance in the curingindustry of the region. Table 3.2 provides some measure of this difference, in termsof the number of curers in each yard (Table 3.3).

Table 3.4 gives details of the boats involved in fishing in the four regions. Itshows the differences between the vessels used on the west and east coasts: the pre-dominance of canoes on the west coast (with some additional canoes in the south-

east coast) and the importance of catamarams on the east coast. It also makes clearthat built-up boats were a small minority of working vessels (despite their impor-tance when boosted by outsiders such as the Ratnagiri men).

Table 3.3 Fish-Curing yards, Madras presidency 18851914: Fish processed (maunds), 1910 1914. (Source: Govindan (comp.) 1916 , pp. 79, 6571)Region Fish total

maundsFishaveragemaunds

Rangehighestmaunds

Rangelowestmaunds

No. lessthan 500maunds

No. lessthan 1000maunds

No report

(FCY)S. Canara 151,039 8,884.6 19,164 2.408 Nil Nil Nil(17)Malabar 403,525 12,610.2 75,210 596 Nil 2 Nil(32)East Coast 97,429 1,546.5 12,302 38 7 15 5North(68)East Coast 41,526 2,422.7 7,231 717 Nil 3 3South(20)

Table 3.4 Fish-Curing yards, Madras presidency 18851914: Boats at FCY, c. 1915. Note: DoCis an abbreviation for Dugout Canoe; BuB stands for Built-up Boat; Cat stands for Catar-maran. The sizes used are as follows: DoC: large up to 35 ft; medium up to 30 ft; small between 8and 20 ft; BuB: large is 40 ft plus; small up to 35 ft; Cats: large up to 30 ft; small 1525 ft. (Source:Govindan (comp.) 1916 , pp. 79, 6571)Region DoC DoC DoC BuB BuB Cat Cat fleet

(FCY) Large Medium Small Large Small Large SmallS. Canara 396 432 989 43 Nil Nil Nil 1,860(17)Malabar 1,677 Nil 2,218 Nil Nil Nil Nil 3,895(32)E. Coastnorth Nil Nil Nil Nil 768 Nil 2,351 3,119(68)E. Coast 69 Nil 279 46 30 303 501 1,228south(20)

2,142 432 3,486 89 798 303 2,852 10,102

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Fishers and the Fish-Curing Yards

In areas where the yards were located, the yards becamefor those with the variet-ies of fish used in the curing processa key market for their catch. Furthermore,even though the fish-curing yards were set up as a means to assist fishers, they infact had the effect of placing the curing operation at a more pivotal point within thechain of fish production-processing-marketing than before and they consequentlygave those who became the curers a new and more powerful position in the industrythan they had before. It was in the acquisition of this position that the fishers tendedto miss out to local capitalists and merchants because early on the construction ofthe yards and the sheds and vats within the yards, and repairs and maintenance, wasthe responsibility of those who became registered fish-curersi.e., the peoplewho could receive salt within the yard for curing purposesand this told againstfishers, who traditionally had little liquid capital and who had necessarily to investwhat capital they had in their boats and gear. So, in this initial situation traders andmerchants (who were referred to as local capitalists in the reports) had an advan-tage, if they identified such openings into fish processing and the dried/cured-fishtrade as an opportunity for investment. The evidence is clearly that some at least didfrom the earliest stages.

The initial reaction of fishers to the changes clearly signalled that they did notlike them because they interrupted their traditional control of fishing. They tried,therefore, to nullify the changes by acting as though the changes did not need to

be followed. In this, however, they underestimated the government by mistakenlythinking that the government would not persevere. This attitude seems to have beenenhanced at least in some areas by mistakes or misperceptions on the part offishers. In part they distrusted the idea of the yards: what did the Sarkar the gov-ernmentreally have in mind? What restrictions were they really trying to impose?Even more directly, the fishers resented the fact that the Government, as a corollaryto setting up the yards (which, it has to be understood, Government saw as a conces-

sion to the fishers) made the use of naturally-occurring salt-earth outside the yardsa criminal offence. The result was that fishers in a number of areas believed that ifthey refrained from using the yards, Government would back down and scrap theyard and/or allow the use of salt-earth for curing. In both of these presumptions, thefishers were wrong and as a result some fishers were punished (including spendingtime in jail) for the use of salt-earth.

An example was given by the Madras Museums ethnologist, Edgar Thurston,who investigated the fisheries on the west coast in the 1890s. He related an anecdotefrom Badagara in Malabar which illustrates this problem. A group of fishermenwhom he met when he visited, he says, were nearly all Mukkarans (i.e., those whofished in the sea, as opposed to Mukkayan who fished in the rivers). The curers were

Mappilas (Moplahs) who were traditionally traders on the coast and whom Thur-ston described as industrious, successful and prosperous. Thurston wrote:

A deputation of fishermen waited on me. The main grievance was that the Mukkaransare the hereditary fishermen, and formerly the Moplahs were only the purchasers of fish.

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54 P. Reeves et al.

[A few years ago] the Moplahs started as fishermen on their own account, with small boatsand thattuvala (tapping nets) [which were considered unfair because the tapping of the sidesof the boat to drive fish into the net scared off smaller fish] [Then] a veteran fisherman

put the real grievance of his brethren in a nut-shell. In the old days, he stated, they usedsalt-earth for curing fishes. When the fish-curing yards were started, and Government saltwas issued, the Mukkarans thought that they were going to be heavily taxed by the Sircar(Government). They did not understand exactly what was going to happen and were suspi-cious. The result was that they would have nothing to do with the curing yards. The use ofsalt-earth was stopped on the establishment of the yard and the issue of Government salt,and some of the fishermen were convicted for illegal use thereof. They thought that, if theyheld out, they would be allowed to use salt earth as formerly. Meanwhile, the Moplahs,

being more wide-awake than the Mukkarans, took advantage of the opportunity (in 1884)and erected yards whereof they are still in possession. (Thurston 1900 )

This account of change at Badagara highlights the nature of the shift in local powerand control within fishing communities and the local community in which theywere situated that the creation of the yards made possible. The Mappilas saw theopportunity, which the yards present to them and, given their capital resources, theywere able to quickly move into the position of curers from which they could exertconsiderable influence over the sale of an important part of the catch and its subse-quent processing. Moreover, Thurston recounted how they moved quickly to effectvertical integration by moving their fellow-Mappila fishers into fishing operationsfor their yards. It seems clear that the yards created possibilities for those withcapital to enter the industry in ways which were formerly unattractive, or closed, tothem. The result was that the position and power of local fishing communities wasfundamentally altered.

This is further spelt out in the account of the Mappila success in the Fish-Cur-ing Yard at Tellicherry (another Malabar yard), which is included in Statistics and

Information (Govindan 1916 ):

Except a few, all curers are very poor entirely depending upon Mappilla merchants whofinance them in return for the sale of the whole lot of their fish at a low price. Labourer-fish-ermen take advances of from Rs. 50 to Rs. 100 from the owners of boats and nets to workin their boats. No interest is charged on such advances but before repaying it he cannot goand work in another mans boat. No special wages for gutting or salting are fixed. Curingwork is done by Mukkuva women curers themselves or in the case of Mappilla curers byhired labour. The fishermen are Hindus, Christians or Mappillas. An ordinary pair of fishing

boats with a complete set of gear together with advances given to labourer-fishermen willcost Rs. 2,000 to Rs. 4,000. After investing so much money the owner of boats and netsmay, owing to failure of fishing season or other causes be obliged to borrow a few hundredsfrom the fish merchants or other capitalists. In such cases all the fish caught by the borrowermust be placed at the disposal of the lender, the latter has liberty to buy it for himself or sellit to others. The price in such cases is much less than that realised by other fishermen whohave not borrowed money and who are free to sell their catches to anybody they like. Mostof the boats of this place are thus controlled by a few capitalists.

And the report goes on to detail the full cost of these changes:

The Mukkuvas of Tellicherry were at one time-some forty years agothe richest andmost advanced among the fisher community on the Malabar Coast. They lived in well-

built tiled houses, several of them being double-storied, owned landed and other immove-able property worth many thousands of rupees, and also carried on trade in dry fish with

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Colombo and other places on the East Coast. Most of the males were literates and couldread and write their vernacular, and a fair number of their young men also attended the Eng-lish schools. At that time not only the fishing and curing industry, but also the landing andshipping business of the port were in their hands, for conducting which they had large cargo

boats of their own each costing a couple of thousand rupees. But for several years past theshipping and landing business has gone out of their hands, and with the exception of two orthree individuals none of this community is at present engaged in it except as lascars andcoolies working in the cargo boats owned by Mappilla merchants.

This community used to have a strong and well organized caste Panchayet at Tellicherry butwith the departure of the prosperity of the people this has also become weak and its voiceis seldom heard and rarely respected.

What new factors did the fish-curing yards bring into the local situation that allowedthe curers, who were also the traders, to take up the central position at the expense

of the fishers? There is evidence that, in some cases, very able or enterprisingfishermen and curers would come to yards out of their own area if the fishing wasattractive. One important indication of this was the entry of fishermen and curersfrom Ratnagiri district into yards on the Kanara and Malabar coasts. The yards leftan opening for traders and fish merchants, particularly more enterprising fishersfrom other districts, like Ratnagiri, to take up the curers positions in Malabar orSouth Kanara. In this way they were able to establish a primary hold on the yardsand vertically integrate the fish production process (catching-curing-marketing anddistribution) which was to prove very valuable in the long run.

Thurston reported in 1900 that in both Calicut, in Malabar, and Malpe in SouthCanara, there were fisher-curers from Ratnagiri. In previous years, he reported fur-ther, there had been fishers from Goa as well. In the Malpe yard, in fact, there were82 registered fish-curers from Ratnagiri compared to 130 local curers. Whether theRatnagiri men and their machwas had traditionally come to South Kanara is notclear; but it seems at least possible that the yards opened new avenues for activity

beyond some groups normal fishing zones. This links with the argument that thesituation in the fish-curing yards favoured curers rather than fishers. There was infact recognition from the outset that merchants and financiers would be at the lead-ing edge in the changes that would come about. Moreover it is possible to arguethat Madras faster and more positive response was brought about because it was

prepared to see other fishers in yards and was primarily concerned to get better fishcuringrather than just protecting fishers.

A further difficulty confronted some groups of fishers. Hindu Mukkuvar groupsof fishers traditionally relied on their curing to be done by their women. In the ear-lier situation, where this was done on the beach using salt-earth, the sexual divisionof labour (men fishing; women selling fresh fish and curing the surplus) workedwell. However, in the yard situation, where male curers were present in the yardand where many of these curers had hired male labour (coolies in the literature)and had to be able to work at night, especially during the busiest part of the season,Hindu fisher groups ruled against their women working in the yards and so deprivedthemselves for some time of a place for their curers in the yards. As a result, whenthey needed to take fish for curing or dispose of their catch for curing, they had to

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56 P. Reeves et al.

deal increasingly with other curers who were in many cases Muslims or Christiansor other outsiders.

The Tellicherry narrative cited above also highlights this positioning of Muk-kavar women as part of the explanation of the weakening of the fisher communitys

control over curing (Govindan 1916 ):As for fishing and curing these were allied industries; the men caught the fish and theirwomen either sold them as fresh or cured and kept them till they had a good demand. Cur-ing of all the smaller kind of fish including mackerel and even medium sized cat-fish wasdone with salt-earth which they gathered free When the collection of salt-earth was

prohibited owing to the introduction of the salt tax and fish-curing yards were opened forenabling fish to be cured with duty-free salt, these people were reluctant to do so It wasat this time that the Mappillas, who were till then merely petty traders who purchased thecured fish from fisherwomen and sent it to the interior and distant markets for sale, steppedin and became ticket-holders in the fish-curing yard. With cheap salt at the disposal of the

Mappillas the fisherwomen could not compete with them, and all the fish caught by thefishermen went to them at a very low price. After some years the fisherwomen also becameticket-holders but it was too late as the Mappillas had by that time practically monopolisedthe curing industry. These women were therefore obliged to serve as labourers under Map-

pilla curers and merchants. Hence a community who had lived in comfort on the incomederived from the conjoint labour of their men and women, lost the major portion of the

benefit derived from their industry, and being obliged to depend on the earnings of theirmale members alone, gradually lost their prosperity.

A Colonial Agenda for the Improvement of Fishers

The reporter of the Telicherry narrative summed up the experience there as follows:

That the fish-curing industry has brought in large fortunes to some people other than thefisherfolk is also a significant fact. In almost every fishing centre there are men of non-fisher castes who, beginning life as labourers or petty dealers, with hardly any capital haveamassed considerable wealth in the short space of ten or fifteen years. It shows that theindustry is a profitable one but the people who are now benefited most by it are not thefisherfolk, and so long as this disadvantage continues the fishermen themselves cannot

develop their industry.Moreover, he added the point that capitalistsin whatever guisehad won controlof the situation to the disadvantage of the fishers:

Many (and not only Hindu) fishers found that the situation in the yards also worked to sub-ordinate them to the local capitalists/traders/merchants who were increasingly ensconced ascurers in the yards. In the slack (i.e., non-fishing) season, many fishermen needed loansor advances to carry them through and to ensure their boats and equipment were ready forthe season; and the most ready source of such loans or advances were the local capitalist/curers. This may have always been the case but there was now a difference because thetrader-merchant-capitalist-cum-curer now had an interest not only in the fishers but in thedisposal of the catch of the fishers (who were his debtors).

In fact, it had been clear well before 1916 that capitalists had secured considerablehold over the catch and limited the ability of fishers to control the supply chain.

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Indeed, there might be a case for seeing Statistics and Information as a documentdesigned to get action in the fisheries; that is, to have the Bulletins develop the ma-terials which would clearly outline the plight of the fishers and the agenda neededto change their position. After all, Sir Frederick Nicholsons concern to have the

situation recognized had become one of the oft-repeated cachets for the system:In Madras we have a vast existing industry worked for centuries in the most primitivefashion by a large population of ignorant but industrious men and we cannot ignore themand their interests, welfare and industrial conditions; we cannot jump at once from thecatamaram to the steam trawler. (Madras Fisheries Bureau 1915 )

In such a system, capital accumulation by even the strongest fishers was difficult.As a result there was a concern among some colonial officials that more concertedaction should be taken within the framework provided by the FCY. The issue wastaken up most cogently by Sir Frederick, who looked to officially-guided and sup-

ported community development to build more effective fisheries and to improvethe marginalized men who they regarded as inadequate fishers.

The cooperative programme in Mangalore, which was begun informally in 1910 by V. Govindan was held back until 1914 by local moneylenders who developedcredit relations with individual fishers. Between 1917 and 1919, Nicholson submit-ted a comprehensive scheme for cooperatives designed to use them as channels forgovernment loans and as a basis for training young men. In 1919 it became part ofthe programme at the Fishing Training Institute in Calicut.

The MFB was retitled the Madras Fisheries Department (MFD) in the early1920s, when it took over the responsibility of managing the FCYs from the SaltDepartment and was placed in a position to bring about the development of Ma-dras fisheries. In doing this, the MFB followed the path laid down by Nicholsonin 1907, which gave priority to research and the education and improvement offisher communities. This approach linked such social campaigns as temperance,thrift and cooperativeness with education and with research on Madras fishspecies and on fishing methods, together with the development of new forms of

preservation of fish and accounts of fisheries development in other parts of theworld.

In a major paper, Hornell ( 1923 ) spoke of a number of ventures which pointedthe way to deep-sea fishing:

[i] Sea fisheries development by imported boats presented greater difficulties because ofthe conservatism of fisher-folk and the difficulty of getting teachers or supervisors [triedin a number of places] At none of these was there decided success, but recently at bothCalicut and Negaputtnam local men came forward with proposals to take over the boats andgear we have used for the demonstrating.[ii] Supervision of actual operations on the fishing grounds has been hitherto in the handsof Intelligent but otherwise uneducated men as no educated Indian fishermen at present areavailable, the material being faulty and lacking in initiative it is no wonder the results have

been faulty in the main. Neither have these men been able to report intelligently upon thecondition of the new waters they have worked in.[iii] With the recent placing of an order for an experimental sea-going launch to be devotedto the purpose of introducing and testing new methods. This vitally important problem will

be attacked in a fresh direction with greater resources than in the past, and with greater

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58 P. Reeves et al.

concentration of effort. This fishing launch will be manned by an Indian crew who will betaught under the working direction of an experienced European master-fisherman able toreport results and to vary the method according to the circumstances.

The MFD also sought to expand the agenda further by attempts to develop coopera-tives, education on practical lines in fishery schools and institutes and newer formsof preservation. In the mid- to late-1920s there was activity in these areas but nogreat change in how the fishers perceived their basic tasks.

The Madras Fisheries Committee of 1929, which comprised a group of com-mercial and professional figures, criticized the Bureau/Department on the groundsthat it appears to have contributed nothing directly to touch the professional lifeof the sea-going fishermen. To this the Government replied caustically that sincefishing was so limited in Presidency waters there was little hope of developmentand concluded that it should not bother with recommendations for development of

marine fisheries.Such a meagre outcome can perhaps be explained by a feeling on the part of

both officials and fishers that they had only limited support in the battles for improvement because louder voices disparaged the fisher people and the campaignsof MFD as leading nowhere and as taking away time and assets which should bedevoted to real fisheries, which meant improvement by deep sea research, newmechanized boats and gear and the identification of new markets. It is possible onthis basis to suggest that MFD personnel were cautious in approach because theyrecognized that they would have great difficulty in competing with the opinions of

the wealthy commercial and political voices that, in the case of the Madras Fisher-ies Commission of 1929, refused to see any point in what MFD did for fishers. As aresult, MFD tried to work with relatively simple changes and operations.

This reading of the nature of the impact of the yards is reinforced if we look atthe way in which the regulations for issuing tickets to registered fish curers inthe Madras Fisheries Manual (1929) operated. Part II of the Manual concernedthe Fish-Curing Yards and laid down in paragraph 4 are the regulations for issuingtickets of admission, which, from what we have seen over the first four to five de-cades of the FCY were a key part of the system. The regulations made it clear that

those who would be most likely to become registered fish-curers were those withcapitaland hence would be unlikely to be fishers. Para. 4(1) made the stipulationthat curers had to agree to construct their own shed and concrete floors and tubs forcuring, although it allowed for special cases:

In special cases as when the applicant being poor but deserving a ticket of admission theInspector may, with the Special Sanction of the Divisional Office in each case, authorize theissue of a ticket without requiring the applicant to construct a permanent shed.

Despite its paternalistic concern for the odd special case, this was a clear indica-tion that officials did not think that those without capital would be able to becomecurers. Moreover, the next paragraph, 4(2), very clearly pointed to what must have

been the experience in the past:

Tickets should also not be granted if the Inspector is satisfied that the issue of a ticket in a particular case is likely to prove detrimental to the interest of actual fishermen by affording

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facilities for their exploitation by capitalistsSubject to these restrictions, [it concluded]tickets for admission should be freely granted.

The Manual also underlined the method by which curers gained an important partof their control within the local situation. The regulations required the officials run-ning the yard to keep notes on the fishermen and curers in the yard and their rela-tions to capitalists and middlemen. They had to record the number of boats usingthe yard, big or small, owned or controlled (by means of advances) by each curerand the number of men to a boat (Madras Fisheries Manual 1929). 13

The notes were also to specify boats under caste or community names: Map- pila, Mukkaran and so on. These requirements clearly suggest that those who hadsufficient capital to take up positions as registered curers were able to put them-selves in an important strategic position within the industry since, in addition to theinfluence they had over the disposal of a key part of the catch, they had acquired acrucial financial role as sellers of processed fish. Thus, they were in possession ofa cash flow (liquid capital) which they could employin the form of advancesand creditto increase their hold over the producers, i.e., the fishers, who werealready in debt to them.

The experience of the colonial agenda was not entirely blank by any means; but the hope that it would transform traditional artisanal fishers into a new groupof modernised fishers was not realised. In the end that transformation was to bethe result of the move towards capitalist interests who could afford to work throughthe transition from the 1950s to 1980s ushered in by the growing importance of the

frozen and processed seafood trades to the high value markets of North Americaand Europe, which called for mechanised boats, new high value gear and the abil-ity to work in deep sea fishing areas using boats that could command the labour oftraditional fishers who found themselves increasingly subordinated to more capital-intensive forms of production and extraction.

What was more telling was that the policy-makers for Indian fisheries in the newera of independence continued to draw the conclusion that the fishers offered noworthwhile base for the modernisation of fisheries. So spoke Prof K. T. Shah of the

National Planning Committee in 1946:

The traditional fishing sector is largely of a primitive character, carried on by ignorant,unorganised and ill-equipped fishermen. Their techniques are rudimentary, their tackleelementary, their capital equipment slight and inefficient. (Shah 1946 )

And he was echoed by the Times of India yearbook for 1949:

The fish trades are universally relegated to low caste men who alike from their want ofeducation, the isolation caused by their work and caste and their extreme conservatism, areamong the most ignorant, suspicious and prejudiced of the population, extremely averseto changing the methods of their forefathers and almost universally without the financialresources necessary for the adoption of new methods, even when convinced of their value.

(Jehu 1949 )

13 For an overview of this process see: Kurien ( 1985 ); Klausen ( 1968 ); Pharo ( 1988 ); Sandven(1959 ).

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60 P. Reeves et al.

Conclusion

Although some fishers initially opposed and/or disregarded the FCYs, the yards be-came a central part of the structure of coastal fisheries in the Presidency and the reg-ulations fashioned by the colonial government. Where, therefore, the yards broughtfundamental changes to the working of the fisheries and the trade in cured fish thesechanges had major repercussions within the fishing communities. Effectively, localmerchants and financiersmany of whom had no background in fisheriesfoundopenings in the yards structure and mode of working that enabled them to become,as the financiers and controllers of the fishing, curing and trading operations in theyards, the dominant element in an increasingly vertically-integrated local fishingindustry in the areas served by the fish-curing yards. As a result, the fishers foundthemselves in a position where they were likely to be tied to the curers, throughcombined debt and contractual obligations, in ways that circumscribed their role as

potential entrepreneurs in an industry that, given population growth, the expansionof urban areas and the potential of export trade within the South Asian region, con-tained opportunities for expansion and profit in which the fishers could have shared

but from which they were largely excluded.

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