

NO. I (1920) ADMINISTRATION REPORT, 1918-19 29 



payable by the department to the District Boards. In addition a 

 profit of Rs. 23,425-13-0 was made last year upon the rentals 

 of the Cauvery-Coleroon river system, after making full allowance 

 for compensation. This amount of profit shows the satisfactory 

 increase of Rs. 1,534-13-0 upon the 1917-18 figures. The total 

 profit on this part of our work for 1918-19 amounts to the handsome 

 sum of Rs. 31,315-11-4 as against Rs. 23,691 in the preceding year. 

 I am desirous that this phase of our operations shall include the 

 whole available tanks of a suitable nature in the Presidency at as 

 early a date as possible. The Piscicultural Assistant is being 

 given all the opportunity possible to press on with his survey of 

 tanks in the different districts ; I have also decided to have the 

 work done systematically, district by district, rather than to pick 

 out specially favourable tanks here and there as was the system 

 previously. Accordingly effort during the past six months has 

 been concentrated upon the Nellore and Chingleput districts, with 

 the result that a complete scheme covering all the good tanks at 

 present available in this area has been sent in to Government for 

 sanction. I propose next to take Ganjam district as the tanks there 

 are specially numerous as well as eminently suited to our purpose. 



55. Fish Hatcheries. — The trout hatchery at Avalanche has, for 

 the present, been transferred to the control of the Collector of The 

 Nilgiris; this head will in future disappear from this report. 



At the Hilsa hatchery at the Lower Anicut, no operations were 

 possible last year owing to the failure of floods in the Cauvery due 

 to the weakness of the south-west monsoon. Great numbers of 

 ripe hilsa accumulated in the estuaries unable to ascend the rivers ; 

 these fell an easy prey to the local fishermen and hilsa roes were 

 particularly abundant in the fish-curing yards on the Tanjore coast, 

 Muthupet in particular. This year floods arrived early and ripe 

 hilsa were found at the Lower Anicut as early as 25th July (1919). 



56. Fishery Regulation and Conservancy. — The customary notifica- 

 tion under section 6 (4) of the Fisheries Act of 1897 was a prohibi- 

 tory order against all fishing in waters to which it was not applied, 

 and, as this was not considered satisfactory, a modification is now 

 made to permit fishing by lessees [G.O. No. 567, Revenue (Special), 

 dated 27th March 1919I under which modified order, the fisheries 

 of the Cauvery-Coleroon were notified for the first time under 

 section 6 of the Act named above ; this will in future enable the 

 prosecution of poachers to be instituted and will, it is hoped, result 



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