xlvi 



rules have deprived them of one source of livelihood, viz., the sale of 

 timber cut in the forest. The catching- of fish by poisoning the water- 

 courses, causing the most wholesale destruction of spawn and everything 

 else that should be spared, if put a stop to, will be a first and great 

 step towards the preservation of fish, without causing alarm to the Bhils, 

 which would probably follow any more pointed measure of fish conser- 

 vancy/'' The Assistant Collector observes : " In no country have inland 

 fisheries in small rivers ever proved of any economic or commercial im- 

 portance, except when such fisheries were protected by rights of private 

 property, special legislation, and special police, besides possessing the 

 advantages of markets, transport, available capital, and means of pre- 

 servation. Not a single one of these advantages is possessed by the 

 fisheries of Khandeish and the Deccan, and consequently it is very little 

 matter what becomes of them/'' [Without giving any opinion on this 

 statement, I would point out that the native officials report that three- 

 fourths of the people eat fish, that there are 23,600 fishermen in the 

 district, and the markets are not fully supplied.] The Assistant Collector 

 continues, ' ' in the case of large rivers like the Tapti and Nerbadda, the 

 fish will take care of themselves against any onslaught likely to be 

 made by the miserable Bhils (professional fishermen) of this generation, 

 and perhaps the next will be riper for protective legislation. If, however, 

 Government are bent on protecting the fish, two courses are open to 

 them ; either to apply the Survey Act to water as well as to land, giving 

 out the tenures as far as possible to those now employed in the fisheries, 

 and thus at one stroke rendering all fisheries in the country private 

 property, and applying the most powerful stimulus to improvement 

 known to economists ; or else to give the District Officers power to call 

 the fishermen together, and frame rules for the fisheries separately 

 after the practice obtaining in Ireland, and I believe in Scotland and 

 England/'' [This is all a mistake."] " Disobedience to rules so framed 

 might be made punishable by fine and forfeiture of the instruments 

 and fish/' 



97. The Acting Extra First Assistant Collector in charge of the 

 Punch Mahals reported, on May 6th, 1871, 



Opinions of European officials ^ JL fichprips pxist in thp distriot a* 



in the Punch Mahals. Gl > ' 



there are no large nvers except the Myhee, 



which runs on the western frontier, and only touches two or three 

 villages. In these there are no fishermen who earn a living by catch- 

 ing fish, and the few who reside there generally catch them more 

 for home consumption than for sale. The tank at Godra contains 

 fish of small size. Government in connection with fishing has never 

 exercised any restriction, because, owing to the demand being limited, 

 they are only taken to a small extent, and not for trade. In the 

 villages of Wullubpur and Waree, which are on the banks of the Myhee, 

 and are talookdaree villages, the Thakoos who are proprietors of them, 

 receive a third share of the fish caught within those limits. The Extra 

 First Assistant observed (March llth, 1872) that the district produces 

 few fish or fishermen. There is no fish market whatever, and the very 

 small number of mud-flavoured, worthless fish caught in the tanks 

 and half -dry rivers of the country are really not worth being reported 

 on. 



