INDIAN FISH AND FISHING. n 



is not due to the apathy of the fisherman, or the unwilling- 

 ness of the general public to be consumers of fish, but is 

 solely a result of the cost of salt, and that due to the Indian 

 salt-tax, a condition of things which it is hoped is being 

 slowly ameliorated. 



Having thus briefly adverted to how the fisherman's and 

 fish-curer's occupations are injured by the incidence of a 

 heavy salt-tax, I pass on to the fishermen and their con- 

 dition, as it was a few years since. Doubtless, should no 

 sufficient market exist for the produce of their industry, 

 some of these people must cease fishing, and engage in 

 other pursuits ; while those who remain to make a livelihood, 

 as did their forefathers, seek the cheapest way and easiest 

 method by which such may be accomplished. A very little 

 acquaintance with the habits of fish suffices to teach the 

 fisherman that the smallest kinds and fry are taken with the 

 greatest ease ; as, preferring the vicinity of the shore, and 

 seeking their food in shallow waters, they are more readily 

 captured in weirs, or with fixed engines and traps, than are 

 the larger, more predaceous, and deep-sea forms. But by 

 destroying or driving away the small fish, Crustacea, and 

 minute animal life, the food is being diminished which 

 previously decoyed the larger and more predaceous forms 

 in, thus scaring away what would otherwise be the natural 

 supply. The fisherman's business is to supply personal 

 requirements and family wants ; consequently, if he obtains 

 as^ much of the finny tribes as he can find a market for or 

 otherwise employ, no injury is inflicted by his proceeding. 

 For, so long as salt is not available for the purpose of curing 

 any surplus, meeting the small local demand for fresh fish 

 is all that is really requisite. 



The deep-sea fishermen- — or rather, those who ply their 

 occupation outside the shallow waters of the littoral zone — 



