896 JOURNAL, BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY, Vol. XV 111. 



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3. Government have given careful consideration to the representations of 

 the Bombay Natural History Society and the Chamber of Commerce, Bombay, 

 as well as to the two papers forwarded by the former body. While not 

 unmindful of the great importance of the fishing industry, Government are un- 

 able to subscribe to the opinion that the estuary and fresh water fisheries of 

 the Bumbay Presidency are being so overworked or are threatened with such 

 imminent destruction as to necessitate recourse to legislation. To make 

 this point clear, it is necessary to refer to the existing condition of fisher- 

 ies — marine, estuarine and fresh water — in the different parts of the Presidency. 



4. The Governor in Council considers it desirable to make a passing refer- 

 ence to what appears to him to be a prevailing misapprehension. It seems 

 to be argued that because the Governments of Madras and Bengal have 

 undertaken inquiries into the fisheries of their respective provinces and have 

 entertained special establishments for the purpose, the Bombay Government 

 should follow the same coarse as regards the fisheries within their territorial 

 jurisdiction. It is, however, forgotten that conditions in this Presidency differ 

 widely from those which obtain in the other two provinces. The fish-eating 

 population of Bombay is not so large as that of either Madras or Bengal, while 

 the fishing industry of the first named province has already reached a high 

 stage of development. 



5. With the exception of a few mountain torrents, which do not count, the 

 fresh water fisheries of Sind are furnished exclusively by the Indus, and back 

 waters, lakes and canals supplied with water from the Indus. The people are 

 great fish eaters, and the supply of fish is abundant, there being no sign of any 

 diminution, although the means of capture employed are as effective as any 

 that have been devised in any-country. Sea-fishing is carried on from Karachi 

 and the mouths of the Indus on a great scale, in large boats, equipped for all 

 practical purposes as well as English fishing boats. A great deal of fish is cured 

 in the fish-curing yards, and there is a flourishing trade in fish maws and 

 shark fins in the port of Karachi. Large quantities of oysters and fish in ice 

 are sent up-country. 



6. In Gujarat, though it possesses two noble rivers, the Narbada and the 

 Tapti, many smaller ones and numerous tanks, inland fisheries are not of so 

 much importance, as owing to caste prejudices the mass of the population away 

 from the sea-coast are averse from eating fish. Many of the tanks and some 

 parts of the rivers are jealously guarded by the dominant castes and can be 

 fished only at actual peril of life. Some of the lower classes take a few fish out 

 of the rivers and tanks, and in the upper waters the aboriginal tribes eke out a 

 precarious livelihood with fish which they catch by every primitive device. It 

 may be said generally that the tanks and rivers swarm with fish which nobody 

 touches. On the other hand, the sea-fishing is a strong and flourishing industry. 

 Along the coast, the fishing is carried on in small boats, and the fish not eaten 

 fresh is sun-dried. The deep sea-fishing employs large well-equipped vessels, 

 which fish the banks in the Gulf of Cambay and off the Kathiawar coast 



