( 99 ) 



bazars might be prohibited without causing any injury, 

 and the prohibition would have the effect of causing larger 

 fish to be brought to market. In Mysor, it is sug- 

 gested (p. civ) that if they might not be disposed of, 

 the people who caught them would eat them at home. In 

 the Nerbada Division two Collectors give their opinions : 

 the first considers such a rule (p. cxxi) would be a 

 beneficial one ; the second, that it would reduce the sales 

 by one-half, apparently overlooking the fact that if half 

 the amount of fish sold are merely fry, what a waste- 

 ful destruction must be taking place ; for, as observed in 

 South Canara of fishes of this size captured for eating, " I 

 saw one day some thousands as fine as a straw within the 

 compass of one earthen pot : they were to form the meal for 

 one labouring man, whereas they might have sufficed to 

 stock a lake or feed a town" (p. Ixxxviii). Objections have 

 been raised to prohibiting the use of a mesh under a certain 

 size : one reason brought forward being, that some 

 species of Indian fish are always of a small size, and 

 you would thus prohibit their capture, to the great 

 loss of this sort of food to the people of the country. 

 Exclusive of the natural answer that these are the young or 

 the food of the larger sorts, so should be preserved other 

 propositions have been advanced. Thus chilwas and moree 

 nets (p. li.), it has been suggested, should not be regulated, 

 or all these fish will escape. The Chief Commissioner 

 of the Panjab observed chilwa nets were not approved of, 

 as such might be employed to take the young of larger fish 

 (p. iij. Chilwas are said to be taken in Peshawur (p. ix). The 

 Deputy Commissioner of Labor (p. xi) observes that this 

 fishing is carried on during July and August, the exact 

 period when young fish are moving about, and it would be 

 an extraordinary coincidence did these fish appear suddenly 

 at this period, and were absent during the remainder of the 

 year; the fact being that the vast majority of chilwas are in 

 reality the fry of larger species of fish. The Extra Assistant 

 Commissioner of Phillur suggests that chilwa fishing might 

 be permitted in the early spring when fry are not moving 

 about (p. xv) ; or in Kangra that taking chilwas^ might be 

 allowed in those streams to which larger species of fish 

 never resort (p. xvi). It has also been proposed that only 

 during certain fixed periods may small fish be disposed of, 

 whilst in Kangra (p. xvi), licensed fish-stalls, under a Govern- 

 ment official, have been advocated. In short, that even were 



