CXV11 



it inexpedient, mostly because a large preventive establishment would be 

 required, one " that another class of poor people would be pestered with 

 orders and regulations, which they and their neighbours would not 

 understand," and ten do not see any objections. The following are the 

 minimum sizes proposed ; £th of an inch between the knots of the meshes 

 by 2 ; ^ an inch by 3 ; f ths of an inch by 2 ; 1 inch by 5, If inches by 

 1 ; 1| inches in rivers and nallas by 1. 



255. Should the sale of the fry offish be prohibited? is answered 



by ten ; seven are in favor of it, three see 



Ought the sale of the fry of bj ec tious. They consider such might lead 

 fish to he prohibited i J . •> , ., „ . . . p 



to oppression, and small fish, which are not 



fry, might be considered as such. This rule might be modified thus, 



that no small fish are to be sold during the breeding months, to be 



decided in each district ; if the young are thus destroyed, the supply 



during the rest of the year can hardly be expected to materially increase. 



256. Respecting fence seasons in the hilly districts during two 



_, ,, months of the monsoon, when fish are as- 



Fence-inonths. ... i1 , . ' . . .. 



cending to breed or returning to the rivers ot 



the plains, they appear to be generally approved of where they can be 



carried out. All weirs and fixed engines of every description should be 



prohibited at these periods if any are now permitted. 



257. The Assistant Secretary to the Chief Commissioner, Central 



Provinces (August 22nd, 1S72) observes of 

 Opinion of the Chief Com- the lieg rece j ve( i from his districts to the 

 missioner or the Central Fro- , . x , . , . ■, . ■• ,, m , « , 



v i, lces# questions which were circulated : — " Ihe fol- 



lowing facts are very clearly brought into 

 view : — (1) that in these Provinces there are more than 80,000 persons 

 who gain a livelihood, either in whole or in part, from fishing; (2) that 

 from 60 to 75 per cent, of the population consume fish as an article 

 of diet ; (3) that no restrictions whatever exist, either as to the time 

 or mode of fishing, or to the size or age of the fish caught, and that 

 much indiscriminate and wanton destruction of fish takes place, not 

 only by netting and trapping, but also by the very reprehensible prac- 

 tice of drugging and poisoning pools ; (4) that notwithstanding all 

 this, the markets are generally not fully supplied ; (5) that every 

 where the price of fish per seer is very much below the price of second 

 class bazar mutton. In some districts it is alleged that there has been 

 a decrease in the number of fish, but of this there is no very satis- 

 factory proof. In the districts of Jabalpur and Seoni it is said fish 

 decreased very perceptibly owing to the drought of 1868-69, but that 

 they are now again on the increase. The facts elicited by the present 

 enquiries, seem to the Chief Commissioner to indicate very clearly the 

 necessity for some regulation of the fisheries in these provinces, and 

 I am now to confine myself to an expression of the Chief Commissioner's 

 opinion as to the restrictions which should be imposed. The practice 

 of poisoning and drugging pools should certainly be put a stop to, 

 and it is probable that no very great opposition would be encountered 

 in attempting to appoint a " close season " during which the fish might 

 breed in security. The object of a restriction of this nature would be 

 obvious to all, and such a restriction could also be enforced with com- 

 paratively small difficulty. Theoretically, a regulation of the size of 



