it svould maintain 2,000 tons of fish, and being- not only tropical but 

 containing abundant fisli food from the drainage of several districts 

 and having its water entirely renewed at least once from the river, 

 local drainage, and rainfall, it should maintain a much larger quan- 

 tity. Should Government approve, a site will during this year 

 be selected near the reservoir, the necessary ponds will thereafter be 

 dug, reproductor carp and labeo will be stocked, and broods of fry 

 produced and nurtured from hatching time, probably in the cold 

 weather, till a convenient season for turning them into the lake. 

 Meanwhile, during every hot weather especially the first, the lake will 

 be steadily netted with the aid of boats and trawls or drag-nets to 

 decrease the predaceous fish wliich devour so many times their own 

 weight of other fish and destroy the productivity of the water ; this 

 will be easy as the lake is then shallow. The hatchery will be able 

 eventually to supply not only Kanigiri but other similar reservoirs 

 under the same works. The increased produce in fish, if the experi- 

 ment is successful, should more than pay the cost of the hatchery 

 which, moreover, will be a place of example and instruction.* 



211. A second hatchery should be established, probably later on, 

 for the Kurnool-Cuddapah canal. This canal is favourably situated 

 for experiment ; there is a long reach of canal without much offtake 

 for irrigation, and this mostly through tanks ; hence young fish would 

 enjoy a large area undisturbed and if drawn off would largely go 

 to tanks which maintain a considerable supply. The district being 

 fur inland is badly supplied with fish, while the population is one 

 which will readily eat animal food. The length of the navigable part 

 of the canal is 190 miles, besides 315 miles of main distributaries 

 and the area of the tanks supplied from it ; the average offtake of 

 water through the head-sluice averages in round figures 1,000 million 

 cubic yards. The canal probably contains at any given moment, 

 when full, at least 11 million cubic yards of water which is therefore 

 changed some 90 times during the season so that abundant food is 

 furnished for fish. As the canal is closed every year in the hot 

 weather, fish have no chance of growing to a large size; per contra 

 there can be no predaceous fish. 



A carp, etc., hatchery placed at or near Kurnool could be supplied 

 with water from the canal, and rear in spring a large supply of well- 

 grown carplings for stocking the canal in June. 



212. The other canals, being very much larger and nearer to the 

 sea, may wait upon the results of this experiment, which may also 

 afford data for work upon the Cauvery with hatcheiies at Erode, the 

 Grand anient, and, still better, the great reservoir now projected 



♦ See Appendix I for ii j ossible mode of dealing with Marikairnvt' and other similar 

 reborvoirs. 



