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ESTUARY FISHING, 



SOME REMARKS ON ITS DECADENCE, AS AN INDUSTRY, IN 

 THE KONKAN, WESTERN INDIA. 



BY 



W. A. Wallingee. 

 (Read before the Bombay Natural History Society on 4th October 1906.) 



The average District Officer, who has his regular and ever increasing 

 amount of work to do in this country, finds himself with very little spare time 

 for the detailed study of any Natural History subject. I have seen it some- 

 what thoughtlessly stated, in a responsible newspaper, that these Officers 

 ought, in consequence of the opportunities and time at their disposal, to 

 contribute more than they do at present to scientific knowledge. The con- 

 ception of the writer as to the amount of " spare time " available is, it is to 

 be feared, in a vast majority of cases, only too inaccurate. It is necessary to 

 make these few preliminary remarks in justice to myself, for while no 

 energy has been spared to try to arrive at impartial truths, I am bound 

 to admit that I have not been able to spare the time necessary to make 

 this paper sufficiently exhaustive and accurate to be, in the strict sense 

 of the term, of scientific value. Nevertheless there are some leading 

 facts — and facts are always of some value — in connection with estuarine 

 fish and estuary fishing on the coast in the immediate vicinity of the enormous 

 Bombay Market ,which, after thiee years experience and attention, seem worth 

 cecording — if only as a basis for further investigation. I feel the more em- 

 boldened to address this Society on a subject which has been of peculiar 

 interest to me, in that many of the deductions arrived at are, to a great ex- 

 tent, supported by the writing of such an eminent ichthyologist as Dr. Day. 

 [ cau only hope, in the absence of a better exponent, that I may have sufficient 

 ability to state the case, as it appears to me, with enough care, judgment and 

 moderation to carry some little conviction. My object is to raise interest in 

 fish preservation in the true ultimate interests of an enormous class of men, 

 and of the consumer. It is necessary to disabuse many, of the unfortunately 

 popular idea that, as the fishing industry has gone on for generations, there is 

 nothing to stop it now. This is a very dangerous standpoint to take up. 

 Fishes require conservation and the thoughtful and educated consideration of 

 man, not, it is true, so urgently as the trees and forests of the country, but 

 even more urgently, I submit, than its fauna. 



It is better, more politic and infinitely safer, even in the absence of direct 

 evidence to the contrary, to assume that harm is being done, than to quietly 

 rest contented under existing conditions. I have a feeling that some very 

 eminent authority must have expounded this more or less elementary hypothe- 

 sis, but I have not been able to locate it. That there is to-day an enormously 

 interesting and profitable field for further enquiry into the subject of the life 

 history of the large species of Indian estuary and fresh water fishes cannot be 



