Ixx 



land for producing- food, and indiscriminate farming is not permitted : 

 forests have been ruined in this country by the same ' free forestry' having 

 been allowed as is now destroying the fresh- water fisheries, and much the 

 same objections were raised against preventing the poor people cutting 

 fuel when, where, and how they pleased ; the result is too well known to 

 comment upon. 



143. Lastly, my propositions, in addition to those in paragraph 



138, are to interfere as little as possible with 



Further personal propositions. ,1 ,. , P . 



the natives, excepting to prevent unfair 



fishing. Whether the fisheries are let for this purpose or a net tax is 

 instituted, does not appear so material, as that a certain minimum distance 

 be declared shall always exist between each knot of the meshes of nets, 

 or in the interstices of substances forming weirs, traps or cruives, 

 or in any fixed trap or traps used in the capture of fish. This distance, I 

 would suggest, should be one inch, but this is a detail that might be modified 

 to suit different districts. No fixed fishing weirs should be permitted to 

 exist entirely barring a stream ; a free passage should be imperative. 

 Cruives or wicker traps, or those formed of wire or any other substances 

 used as fixed traps, should only be permitted on a written authority, and 

 the month in which they are permitted to be employed should be stated. 

 In Great Britain they are absolutely prohibited in fresh waters. Either 

 immature fish should be prevented from entering irrigated fields, or a 

 free passage permitted as proposed by the Collector of South Canara. 

 Fence-months in hilly regions I consider highly desirable, during such 

 periods as large fish are ascending to breed or returning to the rivers in 

 the plains. This might be fixed at a period, not exceeding two months, 

 to be selected by the local authorities. 



144. The Madras Revenue Board suggest the appointment of two 

 Proposal of Revenue Board to Inspectors of Fisheries with establishments, 



appoint two Inspectors of but prior to this being carried out, it would 

 Fisheries. appear desirable to decide, whether any mea- 



sures are going to be taken to preserve the fresh- water fisheries of that 

 Presidency, and, secondly, what are those measures to be, if any are 

 adopted ? 



145. In the Proceedings of the Board of Revenue of Madras (May ' 



28th, 1869), with reference to fisheries im 



Proceedings of the Board of t ^ aboye tidd reach it ig obse rved that 



Revenue; their draft rules for , 



fresh-water fisheries. there is scarcely anywhere a numerous and 



distinct class dependant on this pursuit for 



subsistence, though the Godaveri river may furnish an exception. As 

 regards prohibiting the use of nets below a certain size, it appears to the 

 Board impossible to forbid the use of a mesli of less than four inches in 

 circumference (or one inch between each knot of the meshes), for they 

 believe that whiting [Sillago sihama, a marine fish at Madras, is so termed, 

 and here is an objection made which is capable of being proved or disproved. 

 This fish is as wide as high, and its height is one-sixth of its length ; 

 now it is well known no whiting under 10 or 12 inches is fit for the 

 table ; such would only just escape a net with 2 inches between each knot of 

 the meshes] of the average size, and all the smaller mullet [also a sea- 

 fish] could pass through meshes of that size, to say nothing of prawns, im- 

 mense numbers of which are consumed in Madras and elsewhere, and which 



