142 MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN VOL. XII, 



Suggestions, etc. — Owing to the difficulty of getting food and the 

 excessive heat, I was unable to get up as far as the highest 

 reaches. I will, however, visit and report on these at the first 

 opportunity. That the people poach the fry is evident from 

 the fact of finding the two fry traps, and as these were hidden no 

 doubt word had been sent up the river before me. Should action 

 be taken and the reconstruction of the fixed engines prevented, it 

 would only affect the inhabitants for a few months in the year and 

 at the time when their crops are in full bearing. The fry poachers 

 of course would have to be dealt with after the big fish had left, 

 but the stopping of this disgraceful destruction would not affect 

 the communities but only the actual poachers and their families. 



When on the Siruvani, I took the opportunity to go across the 

 country close to Attapadi and come down the Bhavani to see if 

 there was any other kind of poaching going on at this time. 



The river is very low and with the exception of disturbing a 

 number of game poachers close to the river, I saw nothing new to 



report. 



I continued down to Sundapatti and then on to Niralai. 



In the big pools all the way down were large Carnatic carp. I 

 examined some of their stomachs and found them full of vegetable 



matter. 



Continuing on down by coracle towards Mettupalaiyam I came 

 across some men who had been poisoning or dynamiting the river. 

 They were hiding in the long grass on an island and round about 

 fish could be seen lying belly upwards on the surface of the water. 

 I examined them, but they had no fish on them ; they had also 

 evidently thrown the poison berries away. As I could not actually 

 prove from anything in their possession that they had done the 

 poisoning, etc., I had to leave them; but it was a certainty they 



had. 



Nearer Mettupalaiyam poaching with the small casting net goes 

 on from coracles, but as there are not many who own these coracles, 

 they cannot do much damage. 



THE MOYAR RIVER. 

 In reporting on this river, it is necessary, for reference, to divide 

 it into three sections, each section being cut off from the other by 

 immense falls impossible for any fish to ascend. 



