l60 MADRAS FISHERIES BULLETIN VOL. XI, No. 5 (1917) 



per year is a general rate and they have been known to grow I lb. 

 in a month. In China 4 to 5 lb. per annum is common, and in 

 Madras water I lb. in 70 days is on record. Again, Mr. Thomas 

 has recorded steady takes of 4,000 lb. per annum, without any 

 artificial feeding, from a pond of 4 or 5 acres that had been wholly 

 dried and emptied of all life and restocked with a couple of 

 measures of fry. Hence the chances of really large carp returns 

 from protected areas of the classes mentioned, are excellent. This 

 subject has been treated more at length in paragraphs 179 to 184, 

 196 to 209, and 232 to 234 of a " Note on Japanese Fisheries " and is 

 engaging the attention of the Fisheries office. 



The main point for consideration is what methods of aquiculture 

 are best adapted for such waters. But this would demand a small 

 treatise, which is now under preparation. Meanwhile references 

 may be made to previous articles and to the "Note on Japanese 

 Fisheries " for some indications. Suffice it to say that after a 

 pond has been cleared, as far as possible, of predaceous fish, a few 

 spawners may be introduced and left to themselves or the fry may 

 be bred in separate ponds and introduced in numbers proportioned 

 to the area. 



In the case of village or private ponds and wells, growth may 

 be assisted by additions of cheap and available food, viz., leaves 

 and grass such as carp will eat, the berries of the wild fig and 

 other edible fruits such as those of the prickly-pear, the chaff of 

 grain (tavidu), insects collected from the fields and trees by 

 children, silkworm pupae if available, any cheap edible oil-cake, 

 surplus grain or food from the homestead, spare cattle manure, etc., 

 while a few water plants are valuable as shelters both for fish and 

 for the small life on which fish feed. 



Will private enterprise take the trouble to improve existing 

 waters, to form new ponds, to utilize water not merely for irriga- 

 tion and drinking but incidentally and additionally for indirect 

 food production ? Capital is not needed to any appreciable extent 

 even where private persons form ponds for the purpose. A little 

 energy and personal labour, a little trouble in practising a new 

 business, a little patience and intelligence, are the main factors of 

 success in India as in Germany and Japan. The returns in each in- 

 dividual case may not be very great, but neither will be the expense 

 nor the trouble, and the enterprise will not only be purely swadeshi 

 but a distinct and valuable addition to the industries, to the food 

 production, and to the wealth of the country. 



