196 MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN VOL. XI, 



"Fishery rentals. — The fisheries of the Cauvery-Coleroon fetched 

 Rs. 21,886 in excess of the compensation payable to the five district 

 boards concerned for the year 1917-18. The compensation payable to 

 the District Board of Tanjore was reduced from Rs. 26,620 to Rs. 23,031 

 and in consequence a sum of Rs. 14,356 for 1914-15 to 1917-18 was 

 resumed from the district board funds (vide G.O. No. 4073, Revenue, 

 dated 15th December 1917). The rentals from tanks and channels 

 operated by the departments showed an increase of Rs. 23,691 over the 

 compensation paid to the local bodies. 



" Larvicidal operations. — Considerable progress was made during 

 the year in organizing and developing the work of breeding and distri- 

 buting larvicidal fish to the public and to local bodies. 83,500 fish were 

 sold for Rs. 835 to municipal and local bodies and military authorities 

 with full instructions for stocking their waters and in some cases their 

 men were trained in such operations. A leaflet of instructions entitled 

 * The value offish as natural enemies of mosquitoes in combating malaria ' 

 was published and some 150 copies have already been distributed to the 

 purchasers of larvicidal fish. 



" At the request of local bodies and the Sanitary Commissioner, 

 officers of the department conducted anti-malarial inspection of wells and 

 tanks in the municipalities of Bellary, Negapatam and the Vriddhachalam 

 union. Owing to the shortage of trained hands, it has not been found 

 possible to depute officers for this work in all cases, and some of the local 

 bodies and Native States have been requested to send their own men to 

 Madras for training. This is advantageous to the parties concerned as 

 they will have a trained man always on the spot, while the cost of deputing 

 a man for training is the same as that of obtaining the services of this 

 department officers. The Madras Corporation stocked a number of wells 

 with fish in 1915, but in a number of cases the fish introduced had 

 disappeared. In response to a request of the Malaria Board received 

 through Government the matter was investigated and a complete report 

 was submitted to Government. The investigations in Madras and in other 

 places go to prove that the failure of larvicidal operations conducted by 

 local bodies without reference to this department is chiefly due to the 

 procuring of unsuitable larvicides locally. The ignorant fishermen who 

 are entrusted with this work are incapable of selecting the proper varieties 

 of fish and very frequently introduce unwittingly the fry of predaceous 

 kinds. Moreover such stocking deprives the waters in the neighbourhood 

 from which the fish are obtained, of their own natural stock of larvicides. 

 Hence it was urged that the only way out of the difficulty is for the local 



