Xlll 



2S. The Officiathig Beptiti/ Commiasioner, Ainri/X'ir, docs not con- 

 sider trhiit breeding fish are destroyed to any 

 Amriimr Divisio,,.-Au^Yrs deleterious extent ; a Inro-e number of younjj 



of llie Einnlipiin onicials ot Am- i -ii i i ■ ii ■ • ■ • ,1 



litsiir, Sialkot, nndGiirilnspur. ones are kdled during the rains in irrigated 



fields, the smallest mesh employed being- 

 1 inch square. There are no objections to prohil)itiug the sale of 

 the (ly of fish in bnzars ; it could be cnsily carried out. Numbeis of 

 fisli are paid to be dcstroj'oil here in the irrif>iition canals, whenever they 

 aie dried oil', ines|iectivn of size, whilst all (ho holes arc netted. The 

 presence of a few tanks, it is suggested, connected with, but lower 

 than the bed of, the canal, would not only enable many fish to escape the 

 annual shiughter, but be valuable for fisliing purposes throughout the 

 year. T//e 7>rpiify Cnnmii.isioHer, Shlkoi, re]iorts, that he does not think 

 very young fish to any great extent are destroyed in the rivers and nal- 

 las of his district ; but he holds the opinion that the fishermen net (as 

 iinleed do all native fishermen) indiscriminately and without considera- 

 tion as to breeding time, and considers that it would be most necessary to 

 enter a strict prohibition in the licenses against their fisliing at all 

 during breeding months, viz., July and August. Tbc meshes of the nets, 

 since l!^70, have not been used smaller than 1 J inches between knot 

 and knot, and no difficulties exist rcs)iecting regulating the minimum size, 

 which he proposes should be 1 i inches in future. lie wo\il(l advocale 

 that as tlie bazar demand is great at times for the smalU'r or fiy of fish 

 (which are more of a luxury tiian an actual necessary st.nple of food) 

 licenses be given for their sale between Ajnil l.'jth and IMay 15th; and 

 again between September 1st and October 1st, but would prohibit their 

 lieing sold in the markets or elsewhere during any other time. The 

 following opinion of an officer of the district, who has much indulged 

 in fishing, is enclosed : " First, if the proposal (of only permitting the 

 employment of such nets as can be held by the baud) were carried into 

 effect, nothing more need be done in these parts. In the Cliciial), which 

 encloses two sides of this district (north and east), the ' mahaseer' run 

 in shoals, and are thick at one particular spot, and ]ierhaps are not to be 

 found for a distance of 10 miles. They abound chiefly where a tributary 

 runs in, and where the water is usually warmer and there is good feeding. 

 In the spring rains, they ascend these tributaries to breed, returning in 

 the monsoons. If there is no depth of water whore the tributary joins 

 the Clienab, they probably drop in the winter into the deeper pools. I re- 

 member one instance in this district which was brought to my notice in 

 18G9, and shortly after my arrival here. There was a large school of fish 

 collected at the junction of the ' Tavia,' running from Rnjowri (in the 

 Cashmere Illakah) and the ' Chenab'. This could be easily netted, and 

 the conscrpience was, a large net of aliout 40 to 60 yards in length w;is 

 idaced across the stream, and another dragged down the river for abotit 

 100 yards. Thus an innumerable number of fish were caught, and the 

 result was, there was little or no rod fisliing that season, which to a 

 certain extent demonstrates the fact that the ])hice had been denuded of 

 fish. I have drawn the attention of the Cashmere authorities to the evil 

 of tliis wholesale sj'stem of destruction in the triimtaries of the Chcnab 

 within that territory, and I have also prohibited the practice as much as 



