|HE WEEKLY TIMES OF CEYLON 
INTRODUCTION OF FISH INTO 
KANDY LAKE. 
a. 
Dip Into Past History. 
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Interesting but Unsuccessful 
Proposals. 
(From Our Kandy Correspondent.) 
The question of the selection. of a 
suitable kind of fish for the Kandy 
Lake is on© with an interesting and 
almost fascinating history behind it 
and carries one back some thirty years 
— to be exact,, 1887 — when Lieut.- 
Colonel Byrde held the office of Secre¬ 
tary of the Municipal Council. 
Daring the last, thirty years, the ques¬ 
tion has come up often, in various forms, 
before the Council for discussion, as old 
files would show, but although persistent 
efforts were made to benefit the town of 
Kandy by the conversion of the lake into 
a fishing place for anglers, which would 
considerably add to the amenities of the 
town, no suitable fish could be obtained 
which would thrive in the Lake. In 1907* 
the introduction of carp was begun, but 
it proved a failure. There was a great 
deal of correspondence on the subject with 
Dr. Willey, then Director of the-Colombo 
Museum, who was commissioned by Gov¬ 
ernment to make a biological and statis¬ 
tical inquiry into the then condition and 
future prospects of the inland fisheries 
from the standpoint of food supply. It 
was his opinion that the expert of the 
Ceylon Fishing Club should be consulted 
us to what fish the lake should be stocked 
with. However, now that them is'a sug¬ 
gestion to introduce trout into the hike, 
and as it is very likely that it will 
materialise, it would not be out of place 
to record its past history. A Committee 
has been appointed to go into the ques¬ 
tion, and on h is Mr. H. F. Tomalin, Con¬ 
servator of Forests. whose unflagging 
energy in this direction is well-known. 
Vi - -•yiu. Le Mesuejer’s Efforts. 
The idea originated with Mr. C. J. Le 
Mesurier, who was then Assistant Govern¬ 
ment Agent of Nuwara Eliya. In 1887, 
he inquired if the Kandy Municipal Coun¬ 
cil would contribute towards the cost of 
his experiments for introducing trout into 
the Island. If the experiments lie pro¬ 
posed to make were successful, he pro¬ 
mised to put some trout into the Kandy 
lake. The Council replied that in the 
absence of any definite information it 
was not prepared to entertain the ques¬ 
tion, but inquired what the experiments 
were likely to cost and what contribution 
would be expected from them towards 
meeting the cost. Not a bit disheartened, 
Mr. Le Mesurier wrote back to the Coun¬ 
cil stating that the experiments would 
cost, approximately Its. 1,000, of which 
he had already collected Rs. 900. The 
' Vdtlncil, alter much deliberation, voted a 
sum of Its. 100 on the 16th March, 1887, 
as their contribution towards the cost of 
the trout experiments. Some trout was 
obtained, and Colonel Byrde on May 13th 
of the same year reported that at the 
request of Mr. Le Mesurier he sent some 
coolies to Nuwara Eliya to bring down 
the fish imported as an experiment. 
Twenty sin 11 trout were sent down in a 
specially prepared vessel but only^ one 
of them was alive on arrival in Kandy. 
That one, too, died soon after, apd the 
idea of the introduction of trout into the 
island, so far as the Kandy lake was 
.concerned. Was altogether, abandoned. 
The imported trout, however, thrived well 
iu Nuwara Eliya, and for a time the 
Kandy Lake was forgotten. Meantime ex¬ 
ceedingly good sport was to be had at 
Nuwara* Eliya. which at once came be¬ 
fore the public for the variety of enter¬ 
tainments it afforded the holiday seeker. 
In 1901. however, the question came up 
again and a notice was sent round to 
prominent residents that it would be de¬ 
sirable to stock the lake with carp from 
Nuwara Eliya. The cost was Rs. 10 per 
thousand, and Mr.-J. W. B. Davidson had 
promised to supervise the transfer of the 
carp tp Kandy if the proposal met with 
generous' response. Mr. Wace, then Gov¬ 
ernment Agent of the Central Province, 
very kindly undertook to bring the matter 
favourably before the Municipal Council 
and secure their support. Among those 
who signed the notice and contributed 
towards the cost were Messrs. R. A. G. 
Posting, H. P. Barret, the well-known 
Crown lawyer, J. R. Wight of the Na¬ 
tional Bank. l)r. Craib, Dr. F. Anderson 
Smith, Medical Officer of Health, Messrs. 
.T. B. Carruthers. T. 0. Huxley, F. A. 
Rad deb, J. Paillie, H. A. Beaehcroft, H. 
G. Watson, and G. C. S. Hodgson. The 
sympathy of the Council was also enlisted 
and “Prussian” carp was introduced into 
the lake. 
Dr. Willey. 
In 1908, Dr. Willey was on the look¬ 
out for a suitable tract of virgin water 
where experiments in fish culture could 
be carried out. He was informed by- 
Mr. A. H. Pertwee that the Kandy Lake 
was perfectly adapted .for that purpose. 
He added that no fishing was carried on 
there as it was full of tortoises, which the 
natives revered. Dr. Willey then wrote 
to* the Council requesting that in future 
the fishing rights in the Kandy Lake be 
absolutely reserved and that steps fie 
taken immediately not to destroy but to 
clear the lake of the tortoises and to pre¬ 
vent their return by fixing wire nets in 
the places which would otherwise afford 
ingress. Dr. Willey also sent in an ex¬ 
haustive report as to the chances of the 
experiment being successful. Lake tor¬ 
toises. ho said, were omnivorous' aud the 
chief danger to be feared was that they 
"would prey upon the spawn of the fish, 
and unless the fish introduced into the 
laker spawned, the culture could hardly be 
considered an economic success and the 
removal of the tortoise from the lake was 
absolutely necessary for successfully con¬ 
ducting the experiment. The introduction 
of 500 carp was too small in proportion 
to the area of the Lake and Dr. Willey 
was of opinion that no opportunity to in¬ 
crease that number should be lost. He 
also recommended the appointment of a 
fisher warden for the Lake, who should be 
asked to keep records. In conclusion Dr. 
Willey expressed the hope that from 
thenceforth unremitting attention would 
be given to ihe Kandy Like and that care¬ 
ful records be tej>t so that the question 
of its suitability for the work in hand 
might not remain permanently open but 
might be settled within five years. Al¬ 
though Dr. Willev was not in favour of 
introducing the olive carp from Nuwara 
Eliya, the Council agreed to vote a sum 
of Rs. 200 for experimental purposes in¬ 
cluding the provision of Rs. 62.50 for a 
wire netting barrier across the entrance 
to the moat to prevent the tortoise in the 
moat from getting back into the lake. 
Permission was also obtained from the 
Fishing Club to employ their expert, Mr. 
H. Scott, to inspect the lake and report 
on the desirability of the experiment being 
continued. He was of opinion that the 
experiment might be continued and would 
be worth while from a sporting, but not 
from a financial, point of view. Although 
at the time it was doubtful whether the 
temperature of the water in Kandy was 
not too warm for trout, the Fieliing Club 
was asked for 100 rainbow trout which 
hrd been promised long before for the 
Kandy reservoir. It declined to supply 
the trout except on the condition that if 
the experiment was successful the Ceylon 
Fishing Club, which had its headquarters 
in Nuwara Eliya. should have control over 
the licensee issued for fishing in the 
Kandy reservoir. The Council could not 
accept that condition. Referring to this 
in the Administration Report of the Kandy 
Municipality for 1908, Mr. J. P. Lewis 
says : “So the matter rests at present, 
but it is hoped that later Colonel Gordon 
Reeves and Mr. Pertwee may be able to 
assist the Council with advice and practi¬ 
cal suggestions as to the introduction of 
-various species of fish from India. So 
far “experts” have been of little assist¬ 
ance to the Council, except to tell ns 
what we knew already. Our hope now is 
in the amateurs. ’’ 
Mr. Tomalin Takes The Matter Up. 
The scheme for the introduction of fish 
into the lake found an ardent supporter in 
Mr. H. F. Tomalin, who, early in 1916, 
look up the matter again and applied to 
the Director of Agriculture, Mr. R. L\. 
Lyne, for gourami fish from the Gardens 
to stock the Kandy Lake and reservoir. 
Mr. Lyne wrote back stating that the 
Municipality could have the fish removed 
while he also added a note that Mr. 
McMillan, the Curator of the Gardens, did 
not, for various- reasons, consider that 
Gourami fish would be the most suitable 
fish to stock the reservoir ami the lake. 
A sum of Rs. 50 was accordingly voted by 
the Council .for the catching and removal 
of the fish from peradeniya and Mr. C. 
A. LaBroov brought in a motion before 
the Council whether it would be desirable 
to have the reservoir stocked with gou- 
raini. Dr. G. P. Hay. Medical Officer of 
Health, was asked for his opinion, and he 
reported that it would he advisable that 
the reservoir should be stocked with gon- 
rami fish from the point of view of com¬ 
bating malaria as the fish would eat the 
eggs, larvae and pupae of mosquitoes. 
An Eleventh Hour Disappointment. 
When everything was ready, the Dir¬ 
ector of the Museum stepped in and in¬ 
formed the Council that owing to the 
small number of fish available, transpor¬ 
tations of gourami from Peradeniya were 
only being made to ponds that were suffi¬ 
ciently small to allow frequent observa¬ 
tions to be made on the progress of tin 
gourami. As the Kandy reservoir was 
too large for such a purpose, he regretted 
that he could not recommend to the Dir¬ 
ector of Agriculture to supply fish from 
Peradeniya. This blasted all the hopes of 
the Council and it appeared that the 
scheme was for ever doomed, but Mr. 
Tomalin was not to lie beaten. He said 
he would endeavour to get a consignment 
of labeo from Madras aud also recom¬ 
mended strongly to the Council that steps 
should be taken to kill the tortoises in 
the lake. That proposal also dropped 
after some time and then it was suggested 
to fill the .lake with trout from Nuwara 
Eliya. Mr. Philip Fowke, Secretary of 
the Ceylon Fishing Club, on the 5th July 
last year wrote to the Chairman or' tin 
Municipal Council that he gathered from 
a conversation he had with Air. Price 
that it was the intention of the Munici¬ 
pality to introduce trout into the lake. 
Mr. Fowke was of opinion that if the 
Council made in application to the Cey¬ 
lon Fshing Club it would not 'be refused 
always provided that suitable precautions 
were taken for the protection of the fish. 
It was a moot point as to whether the 
rainbow trout, the kind the Fishing Club 
had. would live and thrive at the Kandy 
elevation. Personally he was sure that 
there was a good chance of their doing 
well in the reservoir but not in the lake 
with its sun exposure and consequently 
hotter waiter. The. main difficulty, he 
added, would be in transporting the fish 
from Nuwara Eliya to Kandy and, if that 
was to l*e done, it 4 should be carried out 
in the South-West season as the waters 
would be cooler and remain at a more 
even temperature. The experiment was 
worth while trying in view of the great 
pleasure it would afford to many. Air. 
Fowke’s letter was circulated among the 
members of the Council and Air. Toma¬ 
lin was of opinion that the experiment 
might be tried although he was not sure 
that it would be successful owing to the 
question of temperature. Mr. Tomalin 
