[8] 



THE FISHEKIES OF INDIA. 



chest, which enable them to fix themselves against rocks, and so prevent 

 their being washed away by the stream. 



Through the cold months, and generally until the setting in of the 

 southwest monsoon in June, rivers are at their lowest, some at this 

 period (especially in hilly regions) being merely a succession of pools, 

 united by a more or less significant stream, in which limited localities 

 the fish take refuge, and may be easily secured by fishermen. 



Among the artificial causes affecting fisheries in many districts are 

 the irrigation works, which are formed by throwing a weir or bunrl across 

 a river, and diverting a large amount of its water down a main iriiga- 

 tion canal. These weirs are usually built as stone walls across the 

 entire breadth of the rivers, and consequently imx)ede both the upw^ard 

 and downward passage of fish that are endeavoring to migrate, while, 

 should they be sufficiently high, they entirely stop them. Where large 

 uuder-sluices are jDresent, fish can pass up such when open ; but up the 

 long narrow, ones, as constructed in Madras, the strength of the current 

 renders this impossible. The under-sluices are here closed, except where 

 there is an excess of water, as during the monsoon months ; and as the 

 weirs have no fish-ways, not only is ascent towards the breeding-grounds 

 intercepted, but fisherman are permitted to caj^ture the fish which are 

 detained here. Standing on those weirs, one can see the fish jumping 

 against the obstruction, which they vainly hope to surmount; some 

 strike against the piers of the bridge, others fall into the cascades, de- 

 scending over its summit ; but to them the wall is an impassable ob- 

 stacle. 



The irrigation canals may be said to be streams obtained by divert- 

 ing a large amount of water from a river into a new channel, and tliis, 

 of course, would be taken from above the w^eir; consequently, all fish 

 descending the river would be diverted into the irrigation canal. If 

 these canals are constructed for navigation as well as for irrigation, the 

 fish can pass along them ; but if due to falls, they are unsuited to navi- 

 gation, then the fish can descend them, but are unable to reascend. They 

 then become vast fish-traps, wherein all the finny inhabitants are de- 

 stroyed whenever the canals are run dry in order to examine their con- 

 dition and see what annual repairs are necessary. Passing off on either 

 side of these canals are lateral irrigation channels, which are employetl 

 to water the crops directly, and at each successive replenishment of 

 these another shoal of fish passes to inevitable destruction. Unpro- 

 vided with gratings at their entrance, and kept filled only on alternate 

 weeks, all the fish which enter invariably perish. The same destructive 

 process exists throughout India wherever irrigation is carried on. 



As the yearly rains cause inundations of the country by the over- 

 flowing of the rivers and tanks, fish move about in order to find suitable 

 localities for breeding in, and the small streams and their outlets resem- 

 ble the net-work of irrigation channels. Many sijecies ascend them to 

 to spawn, but find at every turn appliances invented by man ready for 



