cxc 



whether young or old, great or small. The nets are made with the 

 express object of letting none escape/' The Assistant Magistrate at 

 Balasur also remarked, " all that come to the net are consumed." In 

 the Brahmini River no irrigation weir exists. I commenced my enquiries 

 on it twelve miles from Denkkenal, the Rajah of which place kindly giving 

 me assistance, as did also Mr. Faulkner of the Irrigation Department. 

 The paucity of fish was very apparent : this, I was informed, had been 

 going on for the last seven or ten years, and had occasioned a great 

 f'alling-off of the productiveness of the fisheries, whilst the size of the 

 mesh of the nets had visibly decreased during this period. About 30 

 miles below this portion of the Brahmini I again examined the river. 

 I obtained the assistance of 25 fishermen, who employed long nets ; the 

 flank one had a mesh of two inches in circumference ; the centre ones of 

 4 inches ; their depth was about six feet. In the first haul three siluroid 

 fishes (Rita) were captured, of an average weight of 1J ounces; subse- 

 quently nothing could be taken. Asking the reason which had caused 

 this paucity of fish, the fishermen observed that there had been a 

 gradual decrease of true fresh-water fishes for some -years, so much so 

 that for the last three seasons this portion of the river had not been 

 fished at all. This decrease was attributed to the destruction of the 

 fry of the fish in the rainy season, which they accused the Gokar caste 

 of effecting, they being Keots. I next turned my attention to the 

 Gokar fishermen, and obtained the services of eight. They brought a 

 jQutti with them made of fine split bamboos as already described. 

 I saw 500 fish taken at the first haul at a tank, amongst them were 

 the young of the ruhu, barkur, mrigala, and other species, the largest 

 of which they considered about four months old. They replied that, by 

 means of fixed engines or nets, they captured large quantities of fish 

 during the rainy season. They also remarked that the quantity of fish 

 of all sizes have much decreased during the last ten years, but asserted 

 their present mode of capturing them had existed from time immemorial. 

 The Byturni River was low, and its fisheries were said to be but slightly 

 better than those of the Brahmini and its branches. In the Salundi the 

 amount of fish was but trifling, and were said to have much decreased 

 of late years. At Balasur, the Borabolung is tidal, and no decrease of 

 fish was reported; but there were not many tanks or j/iils in its vicinity; 

 consequently the destruction of small fish during the monsoon months 

 was not so great as on the edges of the Mahanuddi and Brahmini 

 Rivers. In taking a survey of the fisheries of the foregoing district, 

 I cannot help drawing attention to the great richness in the number 

 of species, as I collected 114 distinct sorts : notwithstanding this, there 

 was a general poverty of the rivers in furnishing food to the population 

 at large. Whether rivers, with or without weirs, were examined, a 

 general absence of large fisheries was very apparent, except during the 

 monsoon months, when fish ascend from the sea to deposit their eggs or 

 prey upon their neighbours. Doubtless weirs act deleteriously by imped- 

 ing the ascent of fish and so assisting in their destruction, as well as by 

 preventing the descent of the young to the sea ; but a yearly and general 

 slaughter, carried on by every conceivable means and throughout the 

 whole country during the rainy or breeding season, is probably the chief 

 cause of the injury. 



