( 3 ) 



that the statement made by Sir A. Cotton, together with the 

 strong a priori arguments that may be adduced, render it in 

 the highest degree probable that the effects of anicuts or 

 weirs across large rivers leads to a rapid destruction of many- 

 kinds of fish, which may ultimately lead to their extermi- 

 nation, not only by interfering with their spawning in their 

 accustomed localities, but by leading to their accumulating 

 in large numbers below the weirs, where they are not only 

 captured in large quantities by man, but are exposed in an 

 increased degree to the attacks of crocodiles and predaceous 

 fishes." Dr. Jerdon (9th November 1867) observed on 

 " the necessity for adopting some restrictive measures for pre- 

 venting the wholesale destruction of large fresh-water fish, such 

 as the mahaseer, during the spawning season." Mr. Grote, 

 Senior Member of the Board of Revenue, Loioer Provinces 

 (15th March 1868), considered — " very little is known of the 

 habits of Indian fish." " It may be found advisable to 

 legislate for regulating the exercise of the public right of 

 fishing in all our navigable rivers. As yet we have been 

 unsuccessful in our endeavours to curtail that right, or to 

 enforce the claim of Government to lew a tax from those who 

 have been in the habit of exercising it." Colonel Strachey, 

 Inspector General of Irrigation Works (23rd June 1868), pro- 

 pounded the following enquiries: — "What are the fish which 

 constitute a practically important portion of the food of the 

 people ? Of those fish, which are those which migrate for the 

 purpose of depositing their spawn ? Amongst the migratory 

 fish, what are those which live entirely in the fresh- waters, 

 and what are those which pass from the sea or brackish 

 waters into the fresh river waters ? "What are the precise 

 habits of each of these classes of fishes, as to their migrations, 

 both in respect to their extent up the rivers and the season 

 at which they occur ? And what is the season at which the 

 young brood of fish is developed, and when do they descend 

 the rivers ? "With such knowledge, we should be in a position 

 to form an opinion of some practical value on the question 

 that has been put." I now propose taking up all these and 

 some other questions in detail, before entering upon the 

 result of the investigations which have been made by others 

 as well as by myself. 



IV. The fresh-water fisheries of India and Burma 



Where fresh-water fisheries extend fl'Om a Sea level to almost 



exist - every place in which water exists in 



any quantity, even to high up amongst the hill ranges. 



