Madras fisheries bulletin

34
derived from it during the past 25 years appears in the
appendix.
Originally it was a portion of the Ramnad fishery, its
present separation dating back to the first quarter of the
eighteenth century (about 1730 A.D., vide Nelson's
Madura Manual, Part 1 1
1, page 249) when the original
Ramnad territory was parcelled out between two rival
claimants to the Ramnad gadi, one of whom received the
north-western section which became known as Sivaganga,
the other retaininor the district whereof Ramnad is the
geographical centre, Sivaganga was and is an inland
district, without coastline, but that it might have access
to the sea, the port of Tondi and a short adjoining strip
of coast were made over by Ramnad and this proved to be
a matter of some inconvenience to the Madras Government
in the last Poligar war as the Sivaganga rebels sent
out from Tondi several small — privateers armed coasters
— to prey upon the local shipping.*
(3) THE CARNATIC COAST FISHERIES.
{a) Tanjore District.
The fishery off the eastern coast of Tanjore is another
very ancient royalty of the sovereign power holding
Tanjore. Prior to 'the annexation of Tanjore in 1800
this fishery had formed one of the heads of revenue
enjoyed by the Rajas of Tanjore, being farmed out in
the same way as the Tinnevelly and Ramnad fisheries.
When the district was ceded to the British, the right to
the fishery continued to be sold to the highest bidder ;
many years the lease was given in single terms ;
for
from fasli
1233 (A.D. 1823-1824) the custom grew up of leasing
it for terms of several years, varying from two to five.
During 26 years following the British acquisition of the
district, the fishery continued in a flourishing condition,
seldom realizing less than Rs. .^,000 per annum and fre-
quently exceeding Rs. 5,000. In one year, fasli 12 16 (A.D.
1 806- 1 807) this revenue rose to Rs. 10,198. Theaverage
for these 26 prosperous years was Rs. 4,901-10-6 (see
appendix No. 6 for details). From fasli 1252 the returns
gradually declined till. In 1883, the Collector had difficulty
* Since the above was written the Madras Government have acquired the lease of
the Ramnad fishery and it will in future be worked departmentally.