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INTERNATIONAL A eee: EXHIBITION
AND 15 CHARING CROSS’ SW

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OFFICIAL PUBLICATIONS 5.

The following Handbooke a upon on ube oe he y
International Fisheries Exhibition are already pipe hed i
or in active preparation :— | i: ae

NOW READY, ao
Deny 8wo., in Illustrated Wrapper 1s. each ; or bound tn cloth 25. cash, } on
THE FISHERY LAWS. By FREDERICK PoL.ock, Barrister-a
Law, M.A. (Oxon.), Hon. LL.D. Edin. ; Corpus Christi Pioteee of | Juri
prudence in the University of Oxford.
ZOOLOGY AND FOOD FISHES. By Georce B, roma
Demonstrator of Biology, Normal School of Science, and Royal School of M ines,
South Kensington. i.

BRITISH MARINE AND FRESHWATER FISHES,
(Lilustrated.) By W. SAVILLE KENT, F.L.S., F.Z.S., Author of Official Guide- i
books to the Brighton, Manchester, and Westminster Aquaria, eS

APPARATUS FOR FISHING. By E. W. H. Hotpswortn, Pe 3
F.L.S., F.Z.S., Special Commissioner for Juries, International Fisheries 4
Exhibition ; : Author of “Deep Sea Fisheries and Fishing Boats,” ‘‘ British —
Industries—Sea Fisheries,” &c.

THE BRITISH FISH TRADE. By His Excellency SPENCER a |
WALPOLE, Lieut.-Governor of the Isle of Man. a |

THE UNAPPRECIATED FISHER FOLK. By James G. ae
BERTRAM, Author of ‘‘ The Harvest of the Sea.” > a

THE SALMON FISHERIES. (Lilustrated.) By C. Es. FRYER.
Assistant Inspector of Salmon Fisheries, Home Office.

SEA MONSTERS UNMASKED. (//lustrated.) By HENRY LEE, ‘
|e Do i oa

THE ANGLING CLUBS AND PRESERVATION SO--
CIETIES OF LONDON AND THE PROVINCES, By J. e WHEELDON, — me. |
late Angling Editor of ‘‘ Bell’s Life.” ee ¥ |

INDIAN FISH AND FISHING. (Jiustrated.) By FRANCIS

Day, F.L.S., Commissioner for India to International Fisheries Exhibition.
IN THE PRESS.

TIMES. By W.M. ADAMS, M.A. (Oxon.), late Fellow of New Collane x
FISH CULTURE. (Iilustrated.) By Francis Day, F.L.S., Courth S
missioner for India to International Fisheries Exhibition.
FISH AS DIET. By W. SrepHEN MITCHELL, M.A. (Cantab.)
ANGLING IN GREAT BRITAIN. By WILLIAM ‘SENIOR ‘er Red
Spinner”).
EDIBLE CRUSTACEA. By W. Savitz Kent, F.LS., F.ZS.

Author of Official Guidebooks to the Brighton, Manchester, and aa Ee
Aquaria.

THE LITERATURE OF SEA AND RIVER FISHIN! cn |
By JOHN J. MANLEY, M.A. (Oxon.) ; “a te |
SEA FABLES DISCLOSED. By Henry Lez, F.L.S. et |
FOLK LORE OF FISHES: their Place in Fable, Fai niry |
Tale, Myth, and Poetry. By Puri ROBINSON.
THE OUTCOME OF THE EXHIBITION. By AD

TRENDELL, of the Inner Temple, Barrister-at-Law, Literary Superinte ende
the Fisheries Exhibition. * a

LONDON :
WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LimiTep,
INTERNATIONAL FISHERIES EXHIBITION, & 13, CHAR R

XL
u

* t4 D242

@ 2lnternational Fisheries £ Exhibition

BS} at LONDON, 1883

mI AN FISH

AND

FISHING/

BY

PieeeNctis DAY, F.L:S.

oe?
COMMISSIONER FOR INDIA TO THE INTERNATIONAL FISHERIES EXHIBITION

ILLUSTRATED. fm eS
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“ey LIBRARIES _&
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LONDON

WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED
INTERNATIONAL FISHERIES EXHIBITION
AND 13 CHARING CROSS; S.W.

1883

INDIAN FISH AND FISHING,

ONE great purpose which many persons have anticipated
from the International Fisheries Exhibition is a full investi-
gation into the condition of fisheries in general ; the causes
which have conduced to their prosperity or deterioration,
with the suggestion of rules for their future administration.
At present British fish economists are divided into two
schools, which may be thus defined :—

I. That Government should permit our marine fisheries
to be untrammelled by legislative restrictions, everyone
should be permitted to help himself to fish as he pleases
under the belief that the stock in the sea is inexhaustible.

II. That Government regulations in the working of sea
fisheries is advisable in order to prevent undue destruction
of the spawn and young fish, on the supposition that our
inshore fisheries, as well as those of some trawled forms, are
being unduly depleted.

The following pages on the “ Fisheries of India,” mainly
relate to the condition they were in a few years since as
ascertained by personal investigations. Some of the
obstacles under which they laboured have been removed,
while others, it is hoped, are shortly to be remedied ; but
the result of the incidence of the salt-tax on marine fisheries,
and the want of restrictions on fresh-water ones, are well
,demonstrated. |

The length of the sea-board of India and Burmah has been

B

2 INDIAN FISH AND FISHING.

computed at about 4611 English miles, throughout the whole
of which extent the waters are more abundantly stocked with
fish than are those around the British Isles; either due to
the greater reproductive powers of the species, or more
probably to the less amount of depredation committed by
man. While predaceous fish-consuming animals, as por-
poises, sharks, rays, skates and sea perches, are far more
numerous in the tropics than in these more northern climes.
But it is a remarkable fact that due to some cause these
fisheries which should afford a plentiful supply of food along
the sea-coast are practically nearly unworked, except near
large centres of population, or where cheap salt can be pro-
cured wherewith to cure the captures. This food-harvest,
up to within the last few years, has been comparatively un-
touched even while famines were devastating the contiguous
shores.

Maritime fisheries, irrespective of affording food, ought
likewise to be serviceable, as producing isinglass, fish oils
and manures, as well as necessitating the purchase of
materials for boat-building, the manufacture of nets, hooks
and lines, the carriage of produce, &c. The principal modes
made use of for utilising fish for food along the sea-coasts
of India and Burmah may be considered under the following
heads: (1) Fresh fish, how far it can be conveyed inland?
(2) Dried fish and its varieties. (3) Cured or salted fish,
and how prepared ?

Flow far can fresh fish be conveyed inland? In examining
this question, if the employment of ice or salt is omitted,
the distance sea fish can be carried inland, while fresh,
depends upon several circumstances. The season is one
important factor, as during the hot months putrefaction
commences very rapidly, while some forms, especially the
immature, the herrings, and the siluroids or scaleless fishes,

INDIAN FISH AND FISHING. o 3

decompose more quickly than others ; and the same result
follows close packing, or want of protection from the full
force of the sun’s rays. Usually, fish are not landed until
after sunrise, while those brought on shore of an evening are
generally kept where they are until the next morning,
coolies being averse to travelling after dark. On the other
hand, facilities of carriage may exist, as railways, water
communications passing inland, or arrangements made for
this purpose. As a general rule, inland places having no
special facilities for carriage do not receive uncured sea fish
in a wholesome condition upwards of ten miles from the
beach where they were landed. Should, however, the fish
be first opened and cleaned, some salt rubbed in, and care
taken in their conveyance (as warding off the sun’s rays),
they may be carried considerably further. But salt being
very expensive is very seldom employed for this purpose, or
else a very slight amount is used, and putrefaction has often
set in prior to the fish being disposed of for human food.
While ice is only prepared or stored at large centres of
population, and at such localities a ready market exists for
all the fisherman’s captures.

What varieties of dried fish exist in India? In many
places along the shores of British India, especially where
the salt-tax is rigorously enforced, it is usual for the purpose
of laying in a store for future supply or for inland trade,
simply to dry fish in the sun. This can be done with
smaller and thinner forms, as A mbassis, Equula, the Bombay
duck (Harpodon nehereus), many of the herrings and small
varieties or immature forms, but not so well with the larger
fish ; however, even from these last, slices may be cut and
sun-dried. In some localities small fish are first buried in
the sea-sand, in order to obtain a little saline substance, and
subsequently sun-dried. In damp weather such articles

B 2

4 INDIAN FISH AND FISHING.

rapidly decompose, while in the hot months they are attacked
by innumerable insects.

Lastly, how are fish salted? The processes employed
are chiefly divisible into the two following :—(1) Those
cured with monopoly salt, or salt which has paid the Govern-
ment tax - and (2) those prepared with salt-earth, or
spontaneous and untaxed salt. I propose first referring to
salt and its cost, for wherever the fisherman or fish-curer can
obtain this condiment at a cheap rate, there marine fisheries
flourish ; where it is dear, his occupation is destroyed, except
for the purpose of supplying daily wants, and a small
surplus for salting or sun-drying. This will be most easily
explained by referring to a few districts in detail. .

The amount of salted and dried fish exported by sea
from Indian ports was as follows (the value is given in £,
computing one rupee at two shillings) :—

F
Five Years From Sind. Brom Sonn Ste = Consmantien
ending Value in £. Value in z Valneanre Coast.
: Value in £.

1857-58 8,472 |Noreturns./No returns.) Noreturns.
1862-63 13,064 AG 205272 he
1867-68 18,725 6,969 48 , 207 1,753
1872-73 22,944 14,921 90,849 4,513

The duty in Sind upon salt was 2s., or less, a maund of
822 lb. avoirdupois, during the entire period comprised in
the foregoing table. |

The first great increase in salting fish in that province
occurred in 1860-61, in which year the duty was raised in
the contiguous Presidency of Bombay from 2s. to 2s. 6d.
a maund. The next spurt of this trade, in Sind, was
in 1864-65, when the salt-duty in Bombay was again raised
from 2s. 6d. to 3s.a maund. Possibly the importations into

INDIAN FISH AND FISHING. 5

that Presidency from Sind would subsequently have been
even more considerable, but Government decided, in 1867,
to admit all salt-fish from foreign ports, where no salt-duty
exists, into British India free of duty, to the immense
advantage of the Portuguese settlements and the Meckran
coast, but completing the ruin of Indo-British fishermen
and fish-curers, unless they were advantageously located.

In olden times, salt was allowed duty-free in British ter-
ritory, for salting fish; but this enactment was repealed
(year not ascertained), because the excise officers found that
it assisted smuggling, and so necessitated keeping up a
larger preventive staff than would otherwise be required.

The annual sales of Government or monopoly salt in the
various districts on the Malabar coast of Madras, along
with the value of the salted and dried fish exported by sea,
are shown in the following table. The figures demonstrate |
that but very little, if indeed any, taxed salt was employed
by the fish-curers ; while in the native state of Cochin, the
sale of salt in ten years, ending 1872-73, owing to aug-
mented duty, was reduced by two-thirds, and it is a signifi-
cant fact that it was during this very period the great
increase in the amount of exported salt-fish began. In the
contiguous British district of Chowghaut, although in the
year 1872 £1067 8s. worth of salt-fish were exported, only
£4060 worth of monopoly salt was disposed of among the
entire population.

The reason why the sale of taxed salt is not in propor-
tion to the amount of salt-fish exported, appears capable of
the following explanation. Due to a legal decision the
people had become entitled to collect salt-earth in order to
cure fish for their own consumption; but, there being no
law restricting their disposing of any surplus they possessed,
a large trade in selling salt-fish sprang up. This induced

INDIAN FISH AND FISHING.

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INDIAN FISH AND FISHING. 7

an increased demand for fish; the fisherman’s trade became
well paid, and a very large amount of animal food found its
way into the market which would otherwise have been lost.
That this is most probably the correct explanation is shown
by examining the condition of the fisheries on the eastern
coast of the Madras Presidency at the same period. On
this side of the Presidency the right to gather salt-earth
was not recognised, but, observed one official, the practice
of salting fish must be increasing, considering that the price
of the fish, which formerly cost 2s., has been reduced to
Is. 3a. or Is. 6@. But it appears probable that this reduced
value of the fish was due, not to the increased prosperity
of the fishermen, who were evidently in a miserably poor
state, but that the absence of salt wherewith to cure fish had
diminished the demand for the article, and fishermen had to
be content with a lessened price.*

In the Madras Presidency the salt-tax in 1859 stood at
2s. a maund, but has since been raised as follows :—1859-60,
2s. Q@.; 1860-61, 35.; 1864-65, 35. 45@.; 1869-70, 4s. ;
1875, 6s.; now 4s. The incidence of this tax resulted ina
very small amount of salt-fish being prepared with monopoly ~

or taxed salt for local consumption, and a little for export

* The Madras Revenue Board (May 14th, 1873) observed that the
fishermen numbered throughout the Madras Presidency 394,735
persons ; that the answers elicited by the questions put by Dr. Day,
&c., have directed the attention of the Board to the subject of the
influence of the salt-duties on the trade of fish-curing, and they see
reason to think that a great practical hardship exists, which they would
advocate immediate endeavours to alleviate. That this is being done
will be shown by the following extract of a letter from one of the
Members of the Revenue Board at Madras, who observed on
November 8th, 1882, “ The industry (of salting fish) is really com-
mencing at last : 400 tons more were salted this year than last, and
80 more yards for curing are to be opened in a month or two.” The
amount cured in the Madras Presidency was 1734 tons in 1882.

8 INDIAN FISH AND FISHING.

to Ceylon ; but the amount of this condiment employed by
fish-curers cannot be great, as it makes no perceptible
figure in the quantity of salt disposed of. During the last
few years the system of bonded enclosures, within which
fish may be cured with free salt, has been tried at Madras,
and it appears to be working so successfully, that it is
hoped it will be found practicable to introduce it to all other
parts of British India. |

In Bengal, excised salt appeared never to have been
employed for fish-curing, and the fisheries were in a neg-
lected state; or, as observed by the collector of Balasore,
“Fish sold in the markets are so stale that no European

would touch it, and most of it is putrid. . . . The people in ©

this district do not salt their fish, they dry it in the sun,
and eat it when it is quite putrid. They like it in this way,
and there is no reason why they should be interfered with.”
Salt was then (1870) subject to a duty of ten shillings for
822 lb. weight. Further to the eastward, in Burmah, the salt
duty was one shilling for the same quantity, sun-dried fish
a rarity, the fisherman’s trade flourishing, while salted fish or
crustacea, in the form of mga pee, invariably formed part of
every meal among the indigenous population.

The amount of salt which must be employed in order to
properly prepare a given quantity of fish is about as fol-
lows :—In Sind 20 1b. of monopoly salt is added to 82? lb.
of fish ; on the western coast of Madras, as Tellicherry,
28 lb. of salt is used to 822]b. of small fish, as mackerel,
herrings, &c. It appears that, for the purposes of trade,
one part of monopoly salt is necessary to about three parts
of fish. However, at Gwadur, in Beloochistan, where this
condiment is very cheap, a larger proportion of it was used
than in either Sind or in India. Fish cured with salt-earth,
or spontaneous but untaxed salt, require a much larger

INDIAN FISH AND FISHING. 9

amount of this antiseptic than they do of monopoly salt, or
nearly three (upwards of 23) parts of salt earth to one part
of fish. This cost of salt, it will be perceived, must have a
direct bearing upon the usefulness of the fisheries ; where it
is cheapest (other things being equal) the fisherman’s trade
will be most developed. Along the coasts of Beloochistan,
where there was. no salt-tax (1873), large communities were
entirely supported. by fisheries, their captures being cured
and exported for the Indian or Chinese markets. The
same remark applied to the Portuguese settlements of Goa,
Daumaun, and Diu, the salt used there costing about three-
pence per 82? lb. weight, whereas in the contiguous British
territory it stood at the salt-pans at about four shillings.
Hence the foreign fishermen were able to freely use this
condiment; the cured article was preserved in a superior
manner, more wholesome to the consumer, and able to be
carried further inland.

The following return shows the amount of dried and salt
fish (in maunds) despatched inland from Bombay and other
stations on the Grand Trunk Peninsular Railway, for ten years
ending 1881, and shows how the trade is developing :—

1872—21,837 Maunds.
1873— 22,839 9?
1874—20,608 _ ,,
1875—25,, 563 29
1876—23,690 ,,
1877—25,718 ,,
1878—33,916 29
1879 Fie 885 29
1880—42,0Ir ,,
188I—45,192 ,,

A few years since, fisheries thrived along the Beloo-
chistan coast and the Portuguese settlements, due to the
excise on salt being not excessive or entirely absent. In

fe) INDIAN FISH AND FISTING:

the Bombay Presidency, the fisherman’s market became
restricted to the sales for immediate consumption, or else
for sun-drying, or, as the Collector of Tanna observed,
“Whether fish is dried as above, in preference to its being
salted, is a question I have been unable to ascertain. It is
very probable that it has been resorted to in the place
of curing by salt, consequent on the excise duty levied on
salt.” Wherever salt-earth could be obtained free of duty,
along the western coast of Madras, there the fisheries thrive,
the fish-curer requiring a large supply of fish. Along the
east coast of Madras, the collection of salt-earth was more
or less prohibited, and the fisherman’s trade, except near
large towns, the reverse of flourishing. But in Bengal the
fisheries are, or were, worst off, the only curing fish obtained
being sun-drying. Lastly, in Burmah, where salt is cheap,
the fisheries were thriving. Before concluding this portion
of my subject, I would observe that it is not to be supposed
that fish cured with salt-earth are of the best quality ; on
the contrary, it imparts a bitter and unpleasant flavour, and
is believed to engender disease. But the poor cannot be par-
ticular respecting the taste or smell of their food—expense
being usually the most important consideration. Salt-earth
costs about $d. a basket of 144 lb. weight, depending upon
its quality ; but, as I have remarked, it requires treble the
amount to what is necessary if excised salt is used. But
824 lb. of monopoly salt was taxed 3s. 74d. at this time ;
now 4s5.; whereas 246 lbs. of salt earth cost from 3d. to 1d,
and this is evidently the reason of the latter being preferred
by fish-curers for the purpose of preparing fish for the
trade ; for if monopoly salt, at its present rate, were used,
the article, at least to the general public, would be beyond
their means, and simply unpurchaseable. The reason why
the plentiful harvest of fish in the sea remains ungathered

INDIAN FISH AND FISHING. II

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—

12 INDIAN FISH AND FISHING.

as a rule do so by means of nets, stakes, or with hooks and
lines. Deep-sea netting is not carried on to any great
extent, partly because of the insufficiency of a market to
render such remunerative, and likewise owing to the expense
which would be necessary in obtaining the requisite nets,
and the cost of building seaworthy boats. Fishermen are
not to be classed among the richer classes, but have to
borrow money, which is lent them at exorbitant rates of
interest, wherewith to supply themselves with the requisites
for their work. As an instance, in Sind a net suitable for
sea-fishing would involve the outlay of £40 or £50, while it
does not usually last more than.a year. A boat costs about
£100, and ought to be serviceable for several successive
seasons. The money having been borrowed, the fisherman,
who is the borrower, disposes of his captures at half the
market rates to the money-lender, still this leaves a profit
due to the existence of a good market for the fish-curer’s
trade.

Along the coasts of Sind large nets for sharks are
employed in the comparatively deep sea ; while off Malabar
during the mackerel and sardine seasons, drift-nets, having
a mesh suited to the size of the species it is desired to
capture, are used for taking these two descriptions of fish,
as well as for the seir fish (Cydcwm) and horse mackerel
(Caranx), but not expressly for any other sorts. Also inthe
vicinity of large towns, or where a great demand exists, stake
and other nets are somewhat largely employed. In some
places fishing by hooks and lines is much pursued: not so
in others. The modes of capture may be divided into two
descriptions: first, the larger hooks used for sharks and
other predaceous forms when they are connected bya chain
to a strong cord; secondly, the smaller kinds of hooks used
in catching sea perches, maigres, polynemi, and other

INDIAN FISH AND FISHING. 13

eatable or valuable species. Occasionally artificial baits are
also made use of. For embarking upon these last descrip-
tions of fishing, a large capital is unnecessary, at least in
such districts where catamarans or rafts are employed.
When line fishing is carried on off coral reefs, as at the
Andamans, large numbers of hooks are lost, due to the
hooked fish dashing into or below the coral, when the lines
become severed. In certain places, as at Kurrachee, for
line fishing, moderately sized boats are employed, prawns
being considered the most killing bait. In some boats
captured fish are opened, cleaned and salted while at sea,
and in others the whole of this process is carried out.on
shore. This is especially the case along the western coast
of India, because the fisherman can obtain salt at Goa
or other foreign settlements at 43d. to 6d. a maund (82?
Ib.), take it out to sea, capture and salt his fish there, and
then run in and dispose of them at a British port.

The salt-water fisheries of India and Burmah are carried
on by means of various contrivances from the most primitive
to elaborate labyrinths ; alsoin many other ways in the deep
sea. Without entering upon a detailed description of each,
with the variations noted in the several districts, perhaps it
may be better to briefly advert to the chief characteristics
observed.

First, there are tidal fisheries, the most primitive type of
which is when pounds are constructed, or tidal ponds made
use of, where the fish which enter with the flood are left
impounded on the ebb occurring ; from such a place they
sometimes have to be removed by scoop, lave, cast, or other
nets ; or a very rough stonework may be employed to bar
the outlet to the fish, but through the interstices of which the
water is able to escape. Bamboo, rattan, reed, or other

screens constructed in various ways may also be used to

14 INDIAN FISH AND FISHING.

preclude the escape of the imprisoned fish. Slightly in
advance of these pounds, frequently constructed at the head
of an estuary, are wicker-work labyrinths placed at right
angles to the shore, or else acting like a pound in permitting
the fish to enter with the flood, but precluding exit with the
ebb. 7

Probably as the supply from pounds became insufficient,
stake-nets were constructed where suitable currents exist,
and these are now among the chief means of obtaining a
supply of fish along some portions of the coasts of India.
The stakes which are employed are usually made of the
stem of some species of palm-tree or jungle wood, and up
to as much as 100 feet in length. They are placed at right
angles to the shore, and driven perpendicularly into the mud
to a depth of twelve feet or more, and at a distance of about
twenty-five feet apart, while to them nets, mostly con-
structed of hemp, and of a bag or funnel shape, are fixed.
These bag-nets are up to great lengths, as forty yards, and
are composed of meshes, diminishing from two inches
between knot and knot, to half an inch at the apex. Into
these nets the fish are carried by the tide or currents which
exist even far out to sea, while fishermen are waiting to
secure the captures. Trammels are also employed.

Another mode of sea-fishing is by means of a stationary
dip-net; this in Malabar is worked from a frame-work
situated upon the river-bank, where the tide ebbs and flows ;
an addition to this is used in China, where the dip-net is
worked from a boat or a platform. Slightly in advance of
these fixed nets are purse-nets, fixed in bamboo frames and
capable of being dragged up narrow pieces of water, or lave-
nets set in triangular frames, and which can be worked by a
single man up shallows, or a row of fishermen can employ
them along suitable places on the coast. Next we find the

INDIAN FISH AND FISHING. 15

cast-net, which can be carried from one spot to another,
as requirements dictate; occasionally several are joined
together, thus constructing a drag-net. There are simple
nets with floats, which are either without sinkers or with
them ; some employed near the shore have a bamboo at
either end. There are purse-nets and bag-nets, some with,
others without, pockets ; some for drifting, others for being
dragged or fixed; as well as special nets for various
purposes, some of which have more complicated arrange-
ments, while the size of the mesh is constructed in accordance
with that of the fish it is intended to capture.

One of the most primitive forms of implement for the
capture of fish, and which is extensively employed in the
East, is cone or bell-shaped, made of pieces of split bamboo
or rattan, the lower end of this cone being open, while at its
upper end is a small orifice through which the fisherman
can pass his hand and remove the captures. In many
places rows of fishermen, each armed with one of these
primitive implements, work a tideway, and often with good
results, especially among grey mullet and small fish; or
the upper end of this cone may be closed, forming a handle,
while a rope-handle is affixed to the larger extremity, and
it is thus employed as a scoop. A similar cone, but closed
at its narrow end, and having a second one inserted into the
larger extremity, when laid flat constitutes a trap which can
be used in weirs or elsewhere. From these have sprung a
most varied assortment of wicker traps, many resembling in
structure rat-traps ; some are baited, others simply inserted
in tideways for the purpose of taking fish or crustacea. An
enumeration of all forms would be endless. Triangular
lave-nets used by a single fisherman are also constructed
of split bamboo as well as of net.

In some places on the Andaman Islands, the fishermen

16 INDIAN FISH AND FISHING.

to this day can obtain fish by diving, the use of spears, or
shooting with bows and arrows; these latter having the
shaft in two pieces attached together by a piece of string.
. The upper end of the shaft is made of reed which will float
in the water, and as soon as the game is struck, the arrow
separates into two parts (these being connected by string),
and the fisherman obtains possession of the floating portion,
and thus secures his prey. Hooks and lines are used in
many places, and also artificial bait of the most primitive »
description in imitation of flying fishes (Plate IV., Fig. 3),
and which is towed at the stern of boats when it is desired
to take seir and other large fishes. In many parts crustacea
are scarcely fished for, except as bait for line fishermen; in
other localities, as Cochin, Madras, Calcutta, and Burmah,
they are extensively captured. In taking crabs, an iron
hook is inserted into the cavities of rocks where they exist,
and by it they are removed.

The sea fishermen belong to the servile class or Sudras,
according to the ancient legislators of Hindustan, and in
most parts of the coasts of India still maintain that they
were, in times now past, divided into two distinct classes—
(1) those who captured fish in the deep sea, or beyond
their own depth; and (2) others who fished from the shore
and in the backwaters and creeks. But that now, owing to
the depressed condition of the fishing trade, the deep-sea
fishermen (except where salt is cheap or a good market
exists) have taken to the less expensive occupation of
plying their work in-shore, and earning a portion at least of
their living by engaging in other pursuits. In several parts
of India, more especially in the Madras Presidency, they
have customs of a patriarchal nature, but which are more
strictly observed on the Coromandel than on the western
coast. In Sind the fishermen termed Mohanees are a

INDIAN FISH AND FISHING. 17

Mussalman tribe, composed of immigrants from Arabia,
or the descendants of Hindus possibly converted by their
conquerors to Islam. The divisions are each under their
own chief, who is hereditary, and his business is to settle
caste disputes and other trifling matters, also to conduct
the religious ceremonies connected with marriages and
deaths. In Bombay, as in the Deccan and Carnatic, they
claim to be a sub-division of the Mahrattas ; while in the
Madras Presidency, headmen to the fishing castes exist; in
some localities they are hereditary, in others elective ; or,
should there be no headmen, matters are laid before certain
wealthy individuals of their own caste, whose decision is
final. In places where the fishermen are native Christians,
the priest is frequently appealed to in order to settle such
disputes as arise.

In olden times the fishing castes were commanded by
their own chiefs, who appear to have been constantly ready
to engage in military expeditions. The Samorin, in 1513,
sent a deputation to Portugal, and his ambassador, who
turned Christian, was knighted, under the name of “John
of the Cross,” by John III. On his return to Malabar, he
was banished from the Samorin’s court, as a renegade from
the faith of his fathers. In 1532 he joined the fishermen,
by whom he appears to have been installed as their chief,
as he headed a deputation of eighty-five of them to Cochin,
soliciting the assistance of the Portuguese against the Ma-
homedans. ‘The whole of the embassy are said to have
become converts to the truths of Christianity, so a Portu-
guese fleet was sent to their relief, and 20,000 are reputed
to have immediately consented to be baptized. Ten years
subsequently, Xavier instituted a church for these people.

It appears probable that the present organisation of the
fishing classes is the remains of some ancient system, for

C

18 INDIAN FISH AND FISHING.

on no other supposition can the existence of individuals
holding such extensive sway be accounted for. The village
or patriarchal system of an elective headman to such of
his caste as inhabit each street and hamlet, is what is seen
elsewhere among other classes ; so likewise is the hereditary
headman over several villages. But among the fishermen
there exist priestly chiefs, two of whom in the Madras
Presidency are to be found on the Eastern coast, one being
at Madras and the other at Cuddalore, the territory of the
former stretching up the Coromandel coast, while that of
the latter reaches towards Cape Comorin. A third is
found in South Canara, where he exercises spiritual control
over a large district, and it is by no means improbable that
others may exist. These chiefs, whose offices are hereditary,
claim or receive fees and fines from those of their caste
living within their jurisdiction, and they are the final
referees in all cases of caste or family disputes.

The next grade is also hereditary. These mere petty
chiefs or headmen only hgld sway each over a few villages ;
their duties are the same, and some of their fees seem to
have to be transmitted to their superior. On one of these
headmen dying without heirs, a new one is elected by the
people of the caste. Lastly, the fishermen have the elective
headman, who is chosen by the residents of a single hamlet ;
his duties are to decide disputes, to be present at marriages
and religious ceremonies, often to fix the work, and assist
in certain Government duties; his emoluments appear to
be very trifling. |

Passing on to the condition of the fishermen (as it was a
few years since) in Sind, they have to pay a tax of Ios. a
ton yearly on their fishing boats, while the rate at which
they borrow money for the purpose of procuring boats and
nets I have already alluded to. Here these people are

INDIAN FISH AND FISHING. 19

well off. At Guzerat, in Bombay, the fishermen are poor,
and the precarious living they make often induces them to
accept service as sailors, labourers, or anything that ensures
them a steady competence. Although following out the
condition of the fishermen in various districts must have
rather a sameness, it will be necessary to do so in order to
clearly see whether these people are really in a prosperous
or in a poverty-stricken condition ; whether, in short, it is
the case that they are in the utmost misery, not due to
their own laziness, but as a result of British legislation
imposing prohibitory duties on salt. In the Junjura dis-
trict, the fishermen supply themselves with boats and nets ;
six or ten club together to obtain a boat and net, dividing
the produce ; here they have decreased in numbers, at
least, up to the year 1873 when my inquiries terminated.
At Broach they are also said to have diminished. The
same report comes from Kaira. In Rutnagiri the practice
of salting fish has decreased during the last fifteen years,
in consequence of the increase in the price of salt, but the
maetmen are said to have increased. If, however, the
practice of curing fish has decreased, while the number of
fishermen has augmented, such must be due to a greater
demand for fresh fish, or else the fishermen, from increased
numbers, must be worse off than they previously were, or
be engaged in other occupations as boatmen. However,
the official from Kanara gives a similar reply. The Com-
missioner observed that at present no larger number of
men are engaged on fisheries than are required to provide
sufficient for local consumption. ‘The practice of curing
fish has to a great extent diminished, owing partly to the
falling off in the amount usually captured, and also the
duty charged on salt in British territory.

In the Madras Presidency, we are informed that, in the

C2

20 INDIAN FISH AND FISHING.

Tinnevelly Collectorate, the fishermen, as a rule, were a
very miserable lot of people, and excessively poor. The
way in which they work is by a system of advances made
by traders, a few of whom reside in each fishing village,
and supply all the requisites for fishing, as well as the
boats, taking one-third of the captures as their share. In
the Nellore district, although no one claims exclusive rights
to the sea fisheries, the inhabitants of the different villages
are exceedingly tenacious in order to prevent fishermen
from other localities plying their occupation within what
they believe to be their limits; this, however, is by no
means restricted to this district, but is common throughout
most portions of the sea-coast of India. In the South
Canara district, where the use of spontaneous salt is, or
rather was, not prohibited, the number of sea fishermen is
stated to have increased of late years. This augmentation
has been computed as high as I5 per cent. The same
symptom of prosperity was reported all down the Malabar
coast. At Ponany there is an annual increase in the
number of fishermen. At Cannanore the owners of boats
and nets supply them to these people, as well as advance
certain sums of money. The money-lenders sell the
captures, half the proceeds going to either party ; if, how-
ever, the take is insignificant, the boat and net owners
surrender their share to the fishermen. A like plan
obtains at Tellicherry, where the fishermen have framed
rules for their own guidance, one of which is the right of
the first discoverer, among a lot fishing together, to a
school of fish: he is allowed to capture them without
hindrance from the others, even though at the time when
the fish were discovered he was not prepared to launch his
net. Passing out of the districts where the free collection
of salt-earth is permitted, another change for the worse in

q

INDIAN FISH AND FISHING. 25

the condition of the fishermen is reported. In Madura it
is said that, on the whole, the sea fishermen have increased,
but that the aboriginal fishing castes have decreased, owing
to emigration or their becoming sailors. At Ootipadaram
the native official estimates the daily earnings at threepence,
taking all the year round, and excluding costs, and at
‘Munjery at from three-halfpence to ninepence, while at
Tenkarei their earnings are computed at from threepence
to one shilling a day. In the Tanjore Collectorate, they
are reported to have decreased in some places, but remained
stationary in one locality. A little better report comes
from Madras, but there the fishermen are also employed as
boatmen, which is very profitable, while the vicinity of
large stations affords a ready sale for fresh fish. Without
tracing out the condition of these people in each district on
the coast, it will be sufficient to say that they are poor and
miserable, but not so badly off as in the Bengal maritime
districts, where they appear to be quite poverty-stricken,
unless near large towns. Passing on to Burmah with its
cheap salt, we find the sea fishermen well off.

If we survey the reports from all the sea districts of
India, we find the fishermen well off in Sind, while, unless
in the vicinity of large towns, they are miserably off in the
Bombay Presidency. Along the western coast of Madras,
with its untaxed salt-earth, these people prosper ; but once
round Cape Comorin, where the collection of spontaneous
salt becomes a penal offence, they become, as observes the
Collector of Tinnevelly, a very miserable lot of people, and
such is the same account all up the Coromandel coast,
except where there are large towns. With poverty we find
them reported to be decreasing in numbers, due to cholera
or other diseases, emigration, or accepting service as Lascars

in coasting vessels. These are a people who in olden times

22 INDIAN FISH AND FISHING.

were among the most prosperous of the inhabitants along
the coasts of India ; who, when the Portuguese first landed,
were able to bring large armies into the field ; whose occu-
pation is now but too little considered by some of our
Indian officials—as an European civilian remarked, that
sympathy ought not to be wasted on fishermen, for they are
an independent, careless, and drunken set of men. This
gentleman appears to have placed upon official record what
are probably the feelings of many who are unacquainted
with. the state of this trade, for by careless and independent
is probably meant idle, which idleness is due, first, as I
have already explained, to the incidence of the salt-tax ;
and, secondly, that when salt is unobtainable, did they
exert themselves, the market would become overstocked.
The result of the investigations I conducted in India led
me to conclude that wherever a good local demand existed
for fish, the fishermen were in a prosperous condition.
Wherever salt was dear, the fish-curers’ trade was restricted
or destroyed, and as a result the fishermen were in
a depressed state. That fish salted with taxcaiien
monopoly salt is a luxury for the rich, the sick, and for
export: that such as is prepared with salt-earth keeps
badly, and predisposes to disease. That in many localities
where the salt-laws were rigidly enforced, the poor had to
consume their fish putrid, or simply immerse it in sea-water,
and then dry it inthe sun. In short, it was patent to most
that the depressed condition of the fishermen and _ fish-
curers’ trades was to be found in the incidence of the salt-
tax, and that those who deprecate any interference with the
poor fishermen, on the ground of their miserable state of
destitution, must be unaware of their real condition. One
cannot suppose such advisers to be oblivious of the dis-
tresses of those among whom they reside, or would desire

INDIAN FISH AND FISHING. 23

to feed the poor on putrid fish, on the consideration that
the realisation of the salt-revenue is of much greater im-
portance than the lives, health, and comfort of their fellow-
creatures. Assisting fishermen with money, boats, and
nets would be insufficient to place the sea-fishermen and
fish-curers’ trade in a healthy state, while if it is in a
healthy condition such advances are unnecessary. Expen-
sive salt is beyond the reach of the majority of the fish-
curers, it is ruinous to their trade, and in the ruin of the
fish-curer the fishermen must eventually participate. It is
to be hoped that the endeavours now being made to re-
introduce prosperity among this numerous class will be
productive of the greatest benefits, not only to themselves,
but by augmenting the food for the general public.

Fresh-water fisheries differ in many respects from marine
ones ; while, wherever any quantity of fresh water exists in
the East, there we are almost certain to find fish ; and this
from a sea level to nearly the summit of the highest moun-
tains. Consequently, fishing is had recourse to, in various
manners, in rivers, irrigation canals, lakes, tanks, ditches,
inundated fields, and swamps. The importance of such
fisheries is not solely in a ratio as regards their productive-
ness, but also in accordance with the character.of the
adjacent people as to whether they are or are not fish con-
sumers ; while the sparsity or the reverse of the population
has also to be taken into account.

Should no regulations be in force for the protection of
inland fisheries, and other circumstances be equal, that dis-
trict which is most densely populated by man will be least
so by fish. Individuals can more readily live by fishing
than by agriculture, as the trouble of capturing the finny
tribes is considerably less than that of tilling the soil. But
unregulated capture is simply catching food without a

24 INDIAN FISH AND FISHING.

thought respecting future supply. Fish have been endowed
with certain means of increase and protection—the number
of their eggs may be enormous, and sufficient to counter-
balance natural waste. The operations of man, however,
are in excess of natural waste, consequently such a destruc-
tive agency requires to be kept in some check. In India
certain forms of fish keep guard over their eggs, and likewise
over their fry, in order to afford them protection from their
enemies.

When man increases, watery wastes (wherein the fish
had been protected by grass, reeds, bushes, and the roots
of trees) become drained and cultivated ; predaceous man
increases his means of destruction; an augmented popu-
lation, possibly assisted by the unscrupulous manufacturer
or miner, pollute the previously wholesome water, and a
diminution of the finny tribe becomes apparent to the
investigator.

With an increasing fish-eating population, an increased
supply of fish is a self-evident necessity, and this must be
provided for by augmented captures or dearer prices, the
latter acting as a check on the poor, by more or less placing
it out of their reach. ‘This latter result may, consequently,.
eventuate in gradually diminishing the physical strength of
the people by decreasing their food, a proceeding which will
scarcely bear examination. It is clear that a greater supply
must be met from one or two sources, either from fisheries.
which previously have been insufficiently worked, or by
overworking such as exist, by means of capturing, for
present use, those which ought to be left for a future season.
Even if the extent of the water is so great, and the con-
tiguous inhabitants so few, that this result need not be
anticipated for several generations, still, populations under
good systems of government have a natural tendency to

INDIAN FISH AND FISHING. 25

increase. Means of carriage generally improve with time,
and should neither regulation nor care of the fisheries be
attempted, disastrous results must eventually be arrived at,
unless the finny tribes by means of artificial propagation
are kept up to the required numbers. Fish appear to have
but few friends but many enemies, and investigations as to
their condition but too frequently end in giving increased
licence to their captors. We see interested parties and
philanthropists (so-called) exclaiming against the hardship
to the poor in not allowing every available fish to be
secured. The majority of our law-makers are content to
allow the fish to shift for themselves, and to leave the
fishermen to be controlled simply by their own consciences.
To-day’s market it is hoped will be supplied, sufficient for
this season it is believed may be obtained, so to-morrow’s
wants are left to be met as they can, until the time arrives
when depletion of fisheries becomes obvious, when, if the
fault cannot be laid upon meteorological or other conditions,
something has to be attempted.

The fishermen of the fresh waters of India and Burmah
are divisible into two main classes—first, such as follow this
calling as their sole means of livelihood; and, secondly,
such as engage in it only occasionally, and as a subsidiary
occupation. Who, then, are these Indian fishermen? Here,
even within the limits of a single, or at least of a few
generations, great innovations have crept in, for in the time
of native rule, fishing was in the hands of distinct castes,
but now it is only here and there that one comes across
some remnants of these people, living in small communi-
ties, and frequently in the greatest poverty. At Comba-
conum, in Madras, there is a tradition that the fishing
castes resident there were originally brought from Conja-
veram as palanqueen-bearers ; while, at Broach, in Bombay,

26 INDIAN FISH AND FISHING.

two sub-divisions of these people are named in accordance
with the villages from which they originally migrated.

In native States, fish have obtained great consideration,
more so perhaps in ancient than in our own times. Thus
in Mysore, in the time of Hyder Ali, very stringent fishery
laws existed ; whereas, at the present day, about two-thirds
of the population of some divisions of the country occa-
sionally add fishing to their other occupations, nearly every
villager possessing a fish-net or trap, to be employed as
occasion or opportunity arises. Now fisheries are open to
all; a fisherman’s calling is no longer a profitable one,
mainly due to the fisheries being depopulated. When
whole districts were let to contractors, they were not
so short-sighted as to permit an indiscriminate destruction ;
but now everybody does as he likes, when he likes, where
he likes, and how he likes. Thus it has come to pass that
among the animal productions of India, fresh-water fish
meet with the least sympathy, and the greatest persecution,
many forms having to struggle for bare existence in rivers
which periodically diminish to small streams, or even
become a mere succession of pools, or in tanks from which
the water totally disappears. They have their enemies in
the egg stage, in their youth, and during their maturity ;
but among these man is their gretest foe, as anyone who
desires a fish diet captures these creatures whenever and
wherever he gets the chance, irrespective of season, age, and
size. In certain districts they simply appear to exist solely
because man and vermin have been unable to destroy them.

Fisheries may be let to a contractor, and if their extent
is large he takes partners or sublets portions ; sometimes
he employs servants, who are paid partly in money, or food,
clothing, and lodging, and partly in a share of the captures.
In some districts the fisheries, or a portion of them, are

INDIAN FISH AND FISHING. 27

declared free, but a licence fee is charged to the fishermen.
Or the general public is permitted to take fish for home
consumption, but not for sale. Lastly, no regulations at all
may exist, due to the general poverty of the fisheries,
peculiar difficulties in their capture, or the general impecu-
niosity of the inhabitants.

When the public have, more or less, depleted fisheries,
the fishermen become poorer and poorer, unless they turn
to other sources of obtaining money; at first, no doubt
pleased at the remission of rents, and the removal of
all restrictions upon fishing, they employ redoubled energy,
and thus augment their immediate profits: But soon the
general public find that nothing precluded their fishing in
any way they please ; the markets become glutted, and the
price may fall from the want of purchasers. But after two
or three years fish become scarcer; fishing is no longer
remunerative ; removing the rents from fisheries and throw-
ing them open to the public will not decrease the price of
fish. The rates ruling in India are comparative to what
obtains for meat and other articles of animal food. Fisher-
men, living on free fisheries, do not dispose of their captures
below market rate any more than farmers who possess
rent-free farms sell the produce at less than their neigh-
bours, while perhaps one of the widest spread fallacies
of the present day is, that permitting fisheries to be free of
rent and unrestricted by regulations, is beneficial to the
fishing population. If the fisherman benefits, the purchaser
does not, and their misapplied energy eventuates in nothing
but small fish remaining. The young have to be raised
from ova of such as are merely one or two seasons old,
while the younger the parent the smaller the eggs, and this
is probably one mode in which races of fish deteriorate.

The rivers which have Alpine sources, as such which

28 INDIAN FISH AND FISHING.

descend from the Himalayas, have, exclusive of springs, two
most abundant sources of replenishment. During the hot
months this is derived from melted ice and snow, while during
the monsoons the rains assist; we may then have the hill
rivers forming torrents, rising rapidly, and as rapidly subsid-
ing, while they possess no contiguous tanks into which the
fish can retire. These animals are often peculiar, or endowed
with means of existence differing from such as live wholly
or mostly in the waters of the plains. Many of the fish are
provided with adhesive suckers, situated behind the lower
jaw, or placed on the chest, which enable them to fix them-
selves against rocks, and so prevent their being washed
away by the stream.

Through the cold months, and generally until the setting-
in of the south-west 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
insignificant 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 throw-
ing a weir or bund across a river, and diverting a large amount
of its water down a main irrigation canal. These weirs are
usually built as stone walls across the entire breadth of
rivers, and consequently impede both the upward and down-
ward passage of fish that are endeavouring to migrate, while
should they be sufficiently high, they entirely stop them.
Where large under-sluices are present, 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-passes, not only is ascent towards the

INDIAN FISH AND FISHING. 29

breeding-grounds intercepted, but fishermen take the oppor-
tunity of capturing the fishes which are detained here. Stand-
ing 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
cascade which descends over its summit; but to them the
wall is an impassable obstacle.

The irrigation canals may be said to be streams obtained
by diverting a large amount of water from a river into a
new channel, and this, of course, would be taken from above
the weir ; consequently, all fish descending the river become
diverted into the irrigation canal. If these canals are con-
structed for navigation as well as for irrigation, the fish can
pass along them; but if due to falls, they are unsuited to
navigation, then the fish can descend them, but are unable
to re-ascend. They thus become vast fish traps, wherein
all the finny inhabitants are destroyed whenever the canals
are run dry in order to examine their condition in order to
see what annual repairs are necessary. Passing off on
either side of these canals are lateral irrigation channels,
which are employed to directly water the crops, and at each
successive replenishment of these, another shoal of fish
passes to inevitable destruction. Unprovided with gratings
at their entrance, and only kept filled on alternate weeks,
all the fish which enter invariably perish. The same
destructive process exists throughout India wherever irri-
gation is carried on.

As the yearly rains cause inundations of the country by
the overflowing of the rivers and tanks, fish move about in
order to find suitable localities for breeding in, and the small
streams and their outlets resemble the net-work of irrigation
channels. Many species ascend them to spawn, but find, at
every turn, appliances invented by man ready for their

30 INDIAN FISH.AND FISHING.

destruction. Persons may be watching to intercept them,
engines or traps may be fixed in their course; or, should
any breeding fish succeed in effecting their ascent, means
are taken to ensnare them on their return, whilst the fry are
destroyed in enormous quantities—a proceeding which has
been declared not to be waste because they are eaten.

Then there are tanks, some of which are, others are not,
in connection with running water. Should they entirely
dry up during the hot months, only such fish as bury them-
selves in the mud will survive to the next rainy season.
As a rule, the owner of a tank, if it is employed also for
fish-culture, leaves one portion (the deepest) in order to
retain sufficient water to keep the finny residents alive,
while, during the hottest weather, boughs of trees or tatties
are placed over this locality to mitigate the heat.

The fishes which inhabit the fresh waters of India, Burmah,
and Ceylon, may be divided into (1) those which enter from
the sea for breeding or predaceous purposes ; and (2) such
as, more or less, pass their lives without descending to the
salt water.

An exhaustive account into the strictly fresh-water forms
would doubtless be interesting scientifically, but hardly so
to the fisherman or general reader; consequently I shall
restrict myself to observing that the fisheries alluded to
contain about 369 species, appertaining to eighty-seven
genera. Of the spiny-rayed, or Acanthopterygian order, we
have nineteen genera, the members of which are most
numerous in the maritime districts and deltas of large
rivers, while their numbers decrease as we proceed further
inland. Feware of much economic importance, if we except
the common goby, spine-eels (J/astacembelide), the snake-
headed walking fishes (Ophzocephalide), and the' labyrinthi-
form climbing-perch and its allies. Among these forms,

INDIAN FISH AND FISHING. 31

the semi-amphibious walking fishes deserve especial notice,
owing to their great economic importance. When pollu-
tions or poisonous substances find access to rivers, or mud
is carried down in such quantities as to choke the gills of
most forms, these Ophiocephalidz are almost unaffected,
for breathing atmospheric air direct, the presence or
absence of fluviatile contamination is not of such material
eonsequence to their existence. They are able to live
until the poison has passed down-stream and the waters
are again purified. Of the sheat-fish, or scaleless silu-
roids, we have twenty-six genera; the mouths of these
forms are provided with sensitive feelers, which, serving
as organs of touch, assist them while seeking their prey
in turbid waters. All that are of sufficient size are
esteemed as food, although, owing to their propensity
for consuming unsavory substances, their wholesomeness
appears, at times, to be questionable. The next three
genera, gar-pike (Selone), Cyprinodon, and Haplochilus,
are of but little value, but the thirty-five genera of carps
and loaches are of the greatest possible consequence, afford-
ing a large amount of food to the population of the country.
The remaining four genera, consisting of the curiously
flattened (Votopterus, and three forms of eels, are of but
little mercantile importance.

The various modes in which the reproduction of these
fishes is carried on is a most necessary investigation, and in
briefly considering such, we must inquire into what migra-
tions they undertake for this purpose? Whether the
parents are monogamous, polygamous, or are annuals
dying after the reproductive process has been accomplished 2
The time of year when spawning occurs? Whether such
is or is not deleterious to the parent? The size of the eggs,

their colour ; whether they float or sink; are deposited in

22 INDIAN FISH AND FISHING.

running or stagnant waters? If they are covered or left
uncovered in their nests? If the male carries them about
or protects them? Can their germination be retarded by
artificial means or natural causes, as by the action of cold
or their immersion in mud?

That anadromous forms, as the salmon or shad of Europe
or the hilsa (Clupea palasah) of India, pass from the sea
to the fresh waters to deposit their eggs in localities most
suitable for their reception, is well known. If we examine
into the migration of Indian fishes for breeding purposes in
fresh waters, we find such takes place under three conditions,
viz. :—(1) anadromous forms from the sea to the fresh waters,
as already adverted to; (2) such species as may be con-
sidered pertaining to the mountains, or else deposit their
ova in the rivers of the hills; (3) such as are restricted to
the plains, but which likewise undertake certain changes of
locality at these periods. Of the migratory hill fishes, the
various forms of large barbels, Barbus, termed Mahaseers,
furnish good examples. In the Himalayas they ascend the
main rivers, but turn into the side streams to breed ; while
on the less elevated Neilgherry mountains in the Madras
Presidency, the same phenomenon occurs, but with this
difference, that they deposit their ova in the main streams
because such are small, and perhaps due to their never being
replenished with snow-water. Occasionally the fish are too
large to ascend these mountain rivers, when they would
appear to breed at the bases of the hills ; whether it is from
the offspring of such that this genus has extended through
the plains it is not my purpose to inquire in this place.
When the rivers commence being in flood, adults are able to
ascend to feeding grounds which were previously inaccessible
tothem. Having spawned, they keep dropping gently down
stream, during which time the amount of water is diminish-

INDIAN FISH AND FISHING. 33

ing ; thus the ova, when hatched, are completely cut off
from the locality where their parents reside, precluding the
possibility of their devouring them. The fry, consequently,
have the heads of the rivers to themselves in perfect security,
and each torrent becomes transformed into a small stream
intersected by pools, where they can remain until the next
rains enable them to descend to the larger rivers. Of the
migratory fishes of the plains, we may observe many forms
of carp, and this is more particularly perceptible where
impassable weirs exist across the rivers; here they may be
perceived attempting to jump over the obstruction, and so
common is this phenomenon that the natives of India hang
baskets, cloths, even native cots turned upside down, or
anything equally suitable, over the sides of the piers, and
into this the fish fall.

In Asiatic waters we have monogamous and polygamous
forms of fish and other phenomena as to breeding, which
deserve attention. The walking, or snake-headed fishes,
Ophiocephalide, of India, and other amphibious genera, are
perhaps the best known of monogamous fishes; some of
them reside in ponds, others prefer rivers, where they take
up their residence in deserted holes, which they find in the
banks. The pond species delight in lying at the grassy
margins, where the water is not deep enough to cover
them ; and here they are able to respire atmospheric air
direct. The striped walking-fish constructs a nest with its
tail among the vegetation, and bites off the ends of the
water weeds ; here the ova are deposited, the male keeping
guard ; but should he be killed or captured, the vacant
post is filled by his partner. The hissar, Callichthys, of
South America, is likewise monogamous, constructing a nest
which it also defends. The majority of fishes unquestion-
ably are polygamous, as has been repeatedly observed, and

D

34 INDIAN FISH AND FISHING.

perhaps as distinctly among the salmon as any other form
in a wild state, and likewise in sticklebacks resident in
aquaria ; while, doubtless, fishes which migrate in shoals
for breeding purposes, as the mackerel, herrings, or some
forms of carp, are all polygamous.

The time of year at which spawning is effected varies in
accordance with the locality and the family of fish. This
again appears to be further susceptible of modifications in
accordance with the temperature of the water, and many
other local causes, while there are some fishes which only
breed once a year, others more frequently. I must@itere
premise that some fishes do not appear to feed during the
season of depositing their spawn, as the salmon, the shad,
and-the siluroid Avzn@. In India an anadromous shad
termed “Pulla” in the Indus, “Ulum” by. the diame
“ Sable-fish”’ by the Madrassees, “ Palasah” by the Telingis,
“Hilsa” or “ilisha” in Bengal, “ Nea-tha-louk” by ithe
Burmese, breeds in rivers as already described. In Sind
they ascend the Indus in February to spawn, descending in
September. In the Cauvery, in Madras, they pass up
when the first burst of the June monsoon fills the river, and
continue doing so for the succeeding four months. In the
Kistna, which has a far greater velocity, but, similarly to
the Cauvery, is filled in June, they defer their ascent until
September, but it is not until the end of the month, or com-
mencement of October, when the waters are subsiding, and
their velocity decreasing, that the majority arrive ; whereas
in the neighbouring river, the Godavery, in which the current
is less rapid, these fishes ascend earlier to spawn, being
most numerous from July to September. In the Hooghly
they continue ascending throughout the June monsoon, and
many are found still in roe in September. The main
bodies of these fish ascend the large rivers of India and

INDIAN FISH AND FISHING. 35

Burmah generally when the June monsoon commences, but
not always at the same period, such apparently at times
being dependent upon the rapidity of the current and other
causes. That it is not solely due to the presence of rain-
water flooding the river is evident, because those of the
Indus and Irrawaddi are mainly caused by melting snows
at this period, and likewise in the latter river these fishes
push on to Upper Burmah, to which country the monsoon
scarcely extends, but where the inundations are due to
snow floods. Probably the cause of the majority of fishes
at these various periods ascending the different rivers to
Spawn may be due to their having been bred there, while
inherited instinct causes them to select the most suitable
times, when the shallows are covered with water, and ascent
is rendered practicable.

It is evident that members of the same family, genus, or
even species, may spawn at very different periods, due to
local or climatic causes. There are also fishes which deposit
their ova twice yearly, if not more frequently ; these are
generally fresh-water forms, and not rare, especially in tropical
countries ; as an example, we have the walking-fishes.

Whether spawning exercises any deleterious effect upon
the parent fishes, two replies may be given, as in some
cases it renders their flesh unwholesome, while in others it
does not cause their character as to food to be much
altered. The shad in the East are excellent eating up to
the period when they have deposited their eggs, subsequent
to which they become thin, flabby, and positively unwhole-
some. Fresh-water fishes that deposit a smaller number of
eggs, or perhaps do so more gradually, or twice at least
during the year, do not invariably appear to be so dele-
teriously affected by breeding.

The size of the eggs, their colour, and whether deposited

Dea

36 INDIAN FISH AND FISHING.

in fresh waters or in the sea, are all questions requiring
attention. The forms which produce the greatest number
of eggs are often those which live in large communities and
spawn once a year. In an Indian shad I found 1,023,645
eggs. But. other fishes have likewise numerous eggs. I
observed 410,500 in a barbel (Lardus sarana) ; on the other
hand, some have large eggs, as a few of the sheat fishes,
and a genus of carps (Bardlius). In such as spawn at least
twice a year, and likewise protect their young, the number
of eggs is less than what generally obtains in other genera ;
thus in a walking-fish (Ophzocephalus), 1 found 4700.

Respecting the colour of fish eggs, they are very diversi-
fied ; in some fresh-water siluroids they are of a light pea-
green, as in the scorpion fish, Saccobranchus fossilis.
Regarding the localities where fish deposit their eggs, these
are exceedingly various, as might be anticipated, owing to
some sinking in the water, while others float. The gar-fish
(Belone), and the flying-fish (Exvocetus), have filaments
springing from their eggs for the purpose of attachment to
contiguous objects; others are covered with a glutinous
secretion. In fresh waters eggs may remain at the bottom,
either covered or uncovered.

Among the marine siluroids (Arzzv@), in some forms the
male carries about the large eggs in his mouth until
hatched ; or it may be that he only removes them from one
spot to another to avoid some impending danger. However
this may be, I have netted many along the sea-coast with
from 10 to 20 eggs in their mouths, and in one example
was a young fry just hatched. In none of these large males
was there a trace of any food in their stomachs.

Bloch, at the end of the last century, made many experi-
ments as to the feasibility of fish being artificially hatched,
and also whether it could be possible to convey the ova

INDIAN FISH AND FISHING. 37

in safety for any considerable distance. He proposed
placing the eggs of pond-fish in mud, similar to that
existing in the locality from whence the eggs were pro-
cured, and he believed that when the mass had dried, they
could be thus removed without injury, from one pond to
another. His proposal was based upon the theory that
frequently on dried-up ponds being refilled with water,
young fish appear, and which could only be due to the
eges having been present in the mud, but with their germi-
nation suspended. In India, as ponds dry up, some of the
fish contained therein descend into the mud, where they
zstivate until the next year’s rains set in. As these com-
mence, and the mud liquefies, fish are perceived diverging
in all directions, up every watercourse, no matter how
small, or how lately it may have been dry, while in a few
days fry are distributed everywhere. Where the eggs
come from which have produced these fry is a very in-
teresting subject for investigation. Have they remained
inside the mother fish, and did she deposit them as soon as
the rains set her free? I cannot accept this theory, because
I have witnessed fish removed alive from the mud, but
they had no ova; and secondly, because the fry are so
soon hatched after the setting in of the rains, while none
of these fish are ovi-viviparous. It seems more reasonable
to suppose that the fertilised eggs are embedded in the
mud, and, as soon as the rains occur, they become hatched
out, and this would give us reason for attempting to ascer-
tain whether ova of pond fishes imbedded in mud could be
successfully transported long distances.

We know that germination of fish eggs can be retarded
by cold. In fact, by the use of ice, those of trout and
salmon have been safely conveyed to Tasmania and else-
where, and from America and Canada to Europe.

38 INDIAN FISH AND FISHING.

From the information collected between 1869 and 1873,
it appeared that the fisheries in our Indian Empire in olden
times were royalties, mostly let out to contractors, who
alone in their respective districts possessed the right to sell
fish, while they, as a rule, permitted the people, on pay-
ment, to capture sufficient for their households. It was, in
fact, a licence on payment, resumable at will. Remains of
this custom still exist in Lahore, while the leasing of
fisheries is even now in force in many portions of India.
Along the Himalayas, in the Kangra and other districts,
the petty rajahs adopted a different method. To some
persons they gave licences to supply the fish markets, of
which they virtually made them monopolists, while others
obtained licences for fishing with small nets for home
consumption, but not for sale. In Burmah, under native
rule, a similar plan was carried out. There were no free
fisheries ; but inhabitants had the privilege—or perhaps
right—to fish for home consumption on the payment of a
fixed annual sum to the contractor for the district in which
they resided. It is believed, under native rule, the erection
of fishing weirs was permitted in several of the streams in
the Himalayas, but not to the extent that they are at the
present day. In some districts landowners even now raise
an income from the fisheries, claiming a third of the
captures or a certain amount of money. Some of cur
officials consider that, as Government has permitted indis-
criminate fishing, the exercise of long practice has converted
such into a communal right.

As British rule has gradually superseded that of the
native princes, so the modes in which fisheries were leased
has become widely different, and in permanently settled
estates, unless a stipulation to the contrary exists, they go
with the land. In some localities it has been decided that

INDIAN FISH AND FISHING. 39

the adjacent villagers or people possess certain communal
rights with respect to them, due, it seems most probably, to
a misapprehension. Although it may have been proved
that the landowner never received more than one-third of
the produce, this does not demonstrate that the other two-
thirds were public property, but that such expressed the
share accruing to the fisherman in return for his labour in
capturing the fish. It is the rule in India and Burmah to
remunerate by the proceeds—sometimes the working fisher-
man has to dispose of his share to the contractor or lessee
at a given rate; more rarely the fish are sold, and he
receives a proportion of the returns, or he may be paid in
kind. In the manual of the Madura district, it is remarked
that a letter of 1713 states that the fishery of a single tank
produced occasionally as much as 2000 crowns; and that
sums so realised were invariably applied to the execution
of repairs. In some localities the British Government
leased fisheries, or imposed a tax on the implements of
fishing, or a capitation tax upon the fishermen, but without
interfering with the manner in which the fisheries were
conducted. By degrees the tax on fishing implements was
taken off, but the fishermen still became poorer, and in 1849,
at least in Madras, many leased fisheries were thrown open
to the public, resulting, as they were not regulated, in
unlimited licence, and thus an intended boon eventuated in
their depopulation. In Burmah, the practice of employing
fixed engines in irrigated fields and watercourses very
largely increased when the native régzme became abolished,
as did also the custom of throwing weirs across creeks and
minor streams.

Free fisheries have been permitted, due to several causes,
such as the difficulty in making them sufficiently remuner-

ative to bear taxation or the incidence of rent ; this may be

40 INDIAN FISH AND FISHING.

owing to the rapidity of the current, the paucity of fish as
in some hill streams and depopulated rivers, the depths of
tanks, the presence of foreign substances in them, or the
poverty of the general population. How general and indis-
criminate fishing ruins fisheries, without any commensurate
benefit accruing to the public, I have already stated. In
these deteriorated but public fisheries, as soon as the
monsoon has set in, and the fry are commencing to move
about, women and children are daily engaged in searching
for them in every sheltered spot where they have retired for
security, as, not being able to face strong currents, or live
in deep waters, they naturally resort to the grassy but in-
undated borders of rivers and tanks. Every device that
can be thought of is now called into use; nets which
will not permit a mosquito to pass are employed ; even the
use of cloths may be frequently observed. Neither are
the agricultural population idle. They construct traps of
wicker-work, baskets, and nets ; these traps permit nothing
but water to pass, and a fish once inside is unable to return,
as they resemble some of our commoner kinds of rat-traps.
So soon as fish for the purpose of breeding commence
passing up the small watercourses at the sides of rivers and
streams, these implements of capture come into use ; breed-
ing fish are taken, and the few which surmount the obstruc-
tions find the traps reversed, so that, although they have
ascended in safety, it is by no means improbable that their
return to the river will yet be cut off. In Burmah a large
triangular-shaped basket is employed in places where
trapping is difficult, and a pair of buffaloes having been
harnessed to it, such is dragged through the localities
inhabited by the fry. Even when there are no restrictions,
fishermen often find it advantageous to ply their occupation
in concert. Sometimes large bodies of villagers proceed at

INDIAN FISH AND FISHING. 4l

certain seasons of the year to rivers which can be easily
bunded, having done which, they kill every fish they are
able.

In investigating what is the minimum size of the meshes
of the nets in general use.in India and Burmah (excluding
Sind), where no regulations exist declaring what such should
be, I received the following replies from ninety-one native
officials, who refer to such in inches :—

Native Size in inches between knot
officials. and knot of meshes.
5 eee See anon oe See
5 gee ey ae fe ac, es. VelOWs INCH.
18 3 inch
5 e ”
24 els
I 5 ”
5 eS
18 Bo
4 = ye
= aa ”
3 26 ”?
i er

a

bo]

And out of seventy more returns, fifty-three officials com-
pared the size of the mesh to a grain of wheat, mothi, mucca,
gram, dholl, lamp-oil seed, barley, tamarind seed, a small
pea, a peppercorn, a large needle, a bodkin, quill, coarse
muslin, will ensnare a gnat, or hardly anything will pass.
The remaining seventeen described the smallest size as
follows :—Size of finger or thumb, five; of half ring-finger,
two; as big as a broomstick, one; size of half rupee, one ;
of a four-anna bit, one ; of a quarter of an anna, one; of a
two-anna bit, five ; of a pie, one.

The size of the mesh must to a certain extent be made
to suit the water to be fished and the fishes to be captured ;
thus very small meshes are unsuited for rapids. The figures

42

INDIAN FISH AND FISHING.

INDIAN FISH AND FISHING. 43

here given show (1) the size of the mesh in a drag-net em-
ployed during the rains in Orissa. As the water subsides
and the fishermen are able to wade up to their waists, the size
of the mesh is increased (No. 2) ; and as the waters begin to
clear, No. 3 comes into use; and in the cold months No. 4.
Young fry commence moving about at the first freshes.

The fixed engines employed in India.and Burmah (see
Plate I.) are mainly divisible into two forms—(1) those
manufactured of cotton, hemp, aloe fibre, coir, or some such
material ; and (2) others constructed of split bamboo, rattan,
reed, grass, or some more or less inelastic substance. “Those
which are manufactured of elastic substances include all
stake-nets, but when the meshes are of a fair size, they are a
legitimate means, when properly employed, for the capture of
fish, but are occasionally to be deprecated, especially when
used solely to take such as are breeding. But in some of these
implements the size of the mesh is so minute that no fish
are able to pass. There it stands, immovably fixed across
an entire waterway, capturing everything, the water being
literally strained through it. In one instance, in the Punjab,
a whole drove of mahaseer were observed to be captured
by natives fixing a net across a river, and then dragging
another down to it, thus occasioning wholesale destruction,
and ruining the rod-fishing for the succeeding season. This
plan is a very common procedure throughout India, as is
also constructing earthen dams across streams, leaving a
channel or opening through their centre, where a purse-net
is fixed, and arrests every descending fish. The largest
numbers are taken towards the end of the rainy season, for
as the waters fall, countless lakes and pools of all sizes are
formed on the low iands in the vicinity of rivers. These,
which during the floods were lateral extensions of the
stream, now become lakes, having one or more narrow out-

44 INDIAN FISH AND FISHING.

lets into the river ; across each opening nets are stretched,
or a weir of grass constructed, and every fish which has
wandered up becomes a certain prey to the fishermen.
Fixed engines constructed of non-elastic substances are
still more destructive to fish than are such as are made
of net, and which are more liable to be injured. Their
forms are exceedingly numerous, their sizes infinite, while
the interstices, between the substances of which the weirs or
traps are composed, appear everywhere much the same,
whether examined in the ghats of Canara, the Yomas of
Pegu, the Himalayas, or on the plains of India or Burmah.
Still, local influences must occasion certain modifications,
while some are solely employed for taking large fish, others
for fry, and a few are employed for both. In hilly dis-
tricts, as the monsoon floods subside, and the impetuosity
of the mountain torrents has decreased, they can be erected
without being liable to be washed away. Up the hill
streams (as I have already observed), some of the most
valuable of the carps ascend to breed, but now there are
but few that are not weired, and the parent fishes have the
greatest difficulty in reaching their spawning grounds.
Some, however, surmount the obstacles which oppose their
ascent, a few deposit their spawn ; this completed, the rains
are now passing off, the force of the current lessening ; and
these parent fish commence descending, trying to regain
their low country rivers. I omit in this place how spearing,
snatching, or snagging, netting, and angling are carried on,
only referring to how fixed engines are employed. Weirs
are now erected every few miles, through which the waters
of the hill streams are literally strained, while each is fitted
with a cruive or fishing-trap. The probabilities are that the
great majority of the mahaseer which reach the rivers of
the plains are the last year’s fry that have fortunately

INDIAN FISH AND FISHING. 45

escaped destruction during the dry months, and with the
first floods have obtained a free passage, due to the
- standing weirs having been swept away. Wicker traps are
likewise constructed across convenient rapids; here few fish
can pass without entering, while these are examined twice
daily. Or should there be no rapids, such are artificially
formed by laying large stones in a V shape across a stream,
while at the apex of this a trap is fixed. Or a mountain
stream is conducted down a slope over a large concave
basket, so that all descending fish are pitched into it, and
speedily suffocated by the rushing water or other falling
fish, which act like a succession of blows, preventing their
ever rising again. Hill streams in some places, as in the
Doon, are frequently diverted for the purpose of taking
the fish. From March to the commencement of the rains,
streams are dammed and turned. In these mountain
districts the torrents, where they burst from the hills, form
three or four beds, all of which are full during the rains,
but subsequently only one. One year one of these beds
will be used, another year another bed, and so on. The
poachers select a spot where the stream and an old bed
are in close proximity: both have good pools in their
course. They fix their nets across the stream about a mile,
or even more, below the selected spot, first nets with large,
and subsequently those with small meshes. These nets
are kept to the bottom by means of heavy stones. When
the nets are ready they dam up the stream and open
a water-way into the old bed. The force of the water soon
cuts a deep channel for itself, and thus the late bed of the
river is left dry except in the deep holes, while all fish
attempting to come down stream are stopped by the net.
Large fish are carried off, the fry are left to die as the
pools dry up. This process is repeated lower down the

46 INDIAN FISH AND FISHING.

stream, and after a month or so they begin again at the top
of the hillside as before.

In addition to the larger weirs and traps, there are minor
sorts most extensively employed, especially in the plains—
some to capture breeding fish ascending up the smaller
watercourses during the rain to deposit their spawn, others
to arrest them and their fry attempting to descend the
stream as the flood waters recede; and there is not a
district, except perhaps in Sind, where this mode of capture
is not carried on. And some officials now speak of the use
of these contrivances as communal and prescriptive rights,
and hold that their prohibition would be an interference
with private property.

Moveable fishing implements are of two varieties, (1)
those manufactured of cotton, hemp, aloe-fibre, coir, or of
some such material, and (2) others made of split bamboo,
rattan, reed, grass, or other more or less inelastic substances.
Large drag-nets (see Plates IIT. and IV.), having fairly-sized
meshes, are used mostly during the dry months, and em-
ployed for the purpose of obtaining fish from pools in rivers
into which they have retired awaiting the next year’s floods.
But the moveable nets which occasion the most damage
are those with small meshes, and principally employed for
taking the fry of the fish as they are first moving about ; they
may be cast-nets with fine meshes, wall-nets dragged up
some small watercourses, purse-nets similarly used, and even
sheets may be thus employed. In some places several
cast-nets are joined together, to stop up all passage of fish
along a stream, while others are employed above this
obstacle ; or several fishermen surround a pool, each armed
with a cast-net, and these they throw altogether, giving the
fish but little chance of escaping. In Sind the fishermen
float down the Indus, in certain suitable localities, upon

INDIAN FISH AND FISHING. 47

a gourd or hollow earthen pot, while the net is let down
beneath them ; as a hilsa fish (C/upea zlisha) ascends up the
muddy and rapid stream, it strikes against the dependent
net, which is made to contract like a purse by means of
a string that the fisherman holds in his hand.

Irrespective of the modes already detailed as in common
use for capturing fresh-water fish in India and Burmah, there
are a number of what may be termed minor plans likewise
in force (see Plate IV.). Sheets have already been remarked
upon as employed for taking the fry which have ascended
small watercourses, or are found in shallow water, while they
may also be used as dip-nets, being sunk in an appropriate
place, and raised by strings attached to the four corners, as
_ soon as the little fish have been enticed above. Or onthe
sheets bushes may be placed; here the fry seek shelter
from the rays of the sun, and the whole concern is lifted
bodily up. A little grain or bread is likewise found useful
as a bait. Two pieces of rattan may be employed, crossing
one another in the middle, where they are tied together:
the ends are then bent downwards in the form of two
arches. Here a net is attached, and this the fisherman
presses down upon the fish, which are then removed by
the hand. In some places they may absolutely be so
frightened as to permit themselves being readily taken ;
thus ropes to which at intervals are attached bones, leaves,
stalks of kurbi or jowaree, or pieces of solar (pith) or small
bundles of grass, are stretched across a stream; two
persons, one at either end, constantly jerk this rope, causing
the fish to dart away towards nets that are fixed to entrap
them. Snares of the most varied descriptions are almost
universally employed ; but in some localities angling may
be said to be almost unknown, especially in Orissa, or
districts where wholesale poaching is preferred as easier

48 INDIAN FISH AND FISHING.

and more successful. One method of using hooks is
perhaps as cruel as could well be devised. A number are
securely fixed to a line at regular intervals of about three
inches for employment in a narrow pass in a hill stream.
When used, the rope is sunk from eighteen inches to two
feet below the surface, and held by a man on either
bank ; others drive the fish towards this armed cord, and
as they pass over it, the line is jerked for the purpose of
hooking it. In some places dexterity has been arrived at
by constant practice, and many fish are thus captured.
The desire is to hook the game by its under surface ; but,
as might be supposed, although in some cases the hooks
penetrate sufficiently deep to obtain a secure hold, such is
by no means invariably the case. The struggles of the
wounded creature frequently are sufficient to allow it to
break away, often with a portion of its intestines trailing
behind it. If its gill-covers have been injured, respiration
may be wholly or partially impeded : crippled, it wanders
away to sicken and die in an emaciated state: while,
should it be captured before death has stopped its suffer-
ings, it is useless as food, unless to the lower animals.
Baited hooks are in some places fastened to lines, which
are tied to bamboos fixed in the beds of rivers, or to bushes
or posts at their edges, and so managed that when a fish is
hooked the line runs out. Ora somewhat similar plan is
to have a cord stretched across a river, floated by gourds ;
to this the short lines which have the baited hooks are
attached, but so that they are not long enough to reach
the bottom ; these are visited every few hours. In some
districts night-lines are baited with frogs. Spearing fish
by torchlight is extensively practised in the Punjab and in
the Presidency of Bombay ; or they may be speared during
the daytime in the cold months of the year, when they are

INDIAN FISH AND FISHING. 49

not very active. Two persons usually engage in this occu-
pation; the one punts the boat along as noiselessly as
possible, while the fisherman stands at the prow, silently
pointing to the direction to be adopted, and uses his spear
when he gets a chance. Shooting fish with guns is carried
on in Oude, and occasionally elsewhere. This is more
especially employed for the snake-headed walking-fishes
(Ophiocephalide), which are frequently seen floating on the
surface of the water, as if asleep. They may be ap-
proached very closely, but the game usually sinks when
killed, and has to be dived for, or otherwise obtained.
Crossbows are also employed for a similar purpose in
Malabar. In Mysore—observed the native officials of the
Nagar division—fish are taken by nets, traps, hooks, cloths,
by the hand, by baskets of different shapes, by damming
and draining off the water, by shooting, by striking them
with clubs, with swords, or with choppers, by weirs, and by
various descriptions of fixed engines ; in short, by poaching
practices of every kind, as well as by fishing with rods and
lines, and poisoning pools of water by milk bush, tobacco-
leaves, Indian hemp, and many poisonous kinds of jungle
fruits. This is generally carried on during the dry seasons
of the year, when the pools in the rivers are still, and
hardly any current exists. It is very easy to collect the
poisons, throw them into a pool, and await the fish floating
intoxicated to the surface. These fish are sold in the
markets. Even fishes’ eggs do not escape the general hunt
to which the persecuted finny tribes are subjected in these
days, the ova being collected and made into cakes, which
are considered a delicacy.

The boats employed for fishing purposes (see Plate II.)
are too numerous and varied to permit of description in this

place. The dug-out, or boat ofa solid tree, is common. The

E

50 INDIAN FISH AND FISHING.

coracle is also known; while the fast-sailing fishing-boats
of the Konkan, termed Muchvas. (an excellent model of
which is in the Fish Exhibition), are evidently improve-
ments on the dug-outs of the Maldives. One curious boat
from Chittagong, but which is also employed: throughout
Burmah, and the East, is fitted up with a bamboo platform
on. one side, behind which a bamboo, having palm-leaves
attached, projects into the water. Thus fish are scared,
and spring on to the platform, which is partly submerged,
and on: into the boat, while a net fixed on the opposite
cunwale precludes their clearing the boat.

There are certain vermin in the East which are destruc-
tive to fish, some when in the immature, others when in
their matured state. Commencing with the crocodiles,
two distinct genera have representatives in the waters of
India. The true fish-eating crocodile (Gaviatis. gangeticus);
with its long and slender snout, attains upwards of twenty
feet in length, and is a resident throughout the main
courses. and affluents of the Indus, Ganges, Brahmapootra,
and Mahanuddi rivers, but absent from Burmah, and most of
those in Bombay and Madras. ‘This species is usually
timid of man, excepting when he invades the locality where
it has deposited its eggs. Their diet appears to mainly
consist of fish, turtles, and tortoises. In 1868, I found it
was one of the sights of Cuttack to watch these enormous
reptiles feeding in the river below the irrigation weir which
impedes the upward ascent of breeding fish. The long
brown snout of the crocodile would be seen rising to the
surface of the water, holding a fish crosswise between its
jaws; next, the finny prey was flung upwards, when,
descending head foremost, it fell conveniently into the
captor’s comparatively small mouth.

Crocodiles, similarly to predaceous fishes, generally

INDIAN FISH AND FISHING. 51

swallow the finny tribes head first, because, if they are
of the spiny-rayed forms, their spines are thus pushed
backwards, lie flat, and do not injure the creature which is
swallowing them. Were they taken in tail first, this would
erect the spines, and wound every animal which should
endeavour to swallow them. Doubtless some forms, while
in transit, wriggle themselves round, and get fixed in the
gullet of their captors, as the father-lasher of our coasts.
These reptiles are very prolific. Thus the overseer in
charge of the Narrage weir in Orissa, in the year 1869,
came across a brood, and within three hours shot sixty-
nine. When at this place I obtained a young one that had
become entangled by its teeth in a fishing net, and asked
the fishermen if they ever destroyed them. Astonishment
was depicted on their faces, and they protested against the
supposition that they had ever been guilty of such a mean
action. Their argument was that both classes belonged to
the fish-destroying races, therefore on the principle that
hawks do not pick out hawks’ eyes, they consider it would
be wrong to cause their deaths. As to the destruction
they occasioned, they admitted it, but also observed that
they would do as much if they were able. It must not
therefore be hoped that fishermen will assist in clearing
rivers of these monsters ; neither will the native sportsman
throw away a single charge of powder and ball on such
unremunerative game, which he could not sell, and would
be unable to eat.

The common crocodile, Crocodilus palustris and C.
porosus, ate found in most parts of India and Burmah.
These reptiles, although oftem termred man-eaters or snub-
nosed crocodiles, assist in depopulating the waters of ‘fish,
and it has appeared to me that it is mostly when they find
an insufficiency in the finny supply and carrion that they

E 2

52 INDIAN FISH AND FISHING.

turn their attention to man and the larger mammals.
Every traveller in the East must have seen these logs of
wood, as they appear to be, lying for hours at the sides
of rivers or on rocks above the surface of the stream, and
which sink so noiselessly into the current as almost to
make one believe one’s eyes had been deceptive, for how |
could anything so large have so quietly disappeared. In
1868, when at Cuttack, the crocodiles’ appetites were not
appeased by the fish they obtained, so they commenced
consuming human beings, horses, and cows, varying their
diet with an occasional goat or sheep. Doubtless, in large
rivers, as the Ganges, these reptiles have their redeeming
qualities, being the natural scavengers and consumers of
carrion. Human beings are now no longer permitted to
piously place their dying relatives by the side of the sacred
stream, fill their mouths with mud, and leave them to be
carried away by the waters or adjacent crocodiles ; neither
are corpses interred in the current of that holy river. If
fish are insufficient, and the crocodiles are not to be
destroyed, from whence are these reptiles to obtain their
subsistence? The common law of self-preservation will
induce them to feed on the cattle of the neighbouring ©
country, or on such human beings as unwarily approach
too near to the waters in which they reside. This is no
fancy sketch, but I will merely adduce two instances that
came under my notice in 1868. At Cullara exists a hole
or pool in the Nuna River to which these monsters resort
during the dry season, and a short time prior to my visit,
they had succeeded in carrying off five adult human beings,
while near the Baropa weir two women and one horse were
taken by crocodiles in a single month.

Otters are likewise very destructive, especially in the
hilly districts, and when they have exhausted the fish, they

INDIAN FISH AND FISHING. 53

turn their attention to the frogs. In fact, the large frogs
(Rana tigrina) are evidently considered great delicacies
by these animals, for when kept domesticated they even
Seem to prefer them™ to fish. In some tfivers, as the
Ganges and Indus, the porpoise (P/atanista) is a large fish
consumer.

When mentioning animals which compete with man in
destroying fishes, there are some families that must not be
omitted, although I only propose casually to allude to
them. Birds which eat fish are exceedingly numerous, not
only in the true swimming and wading forms, but even the
Indian pee-wit may be observed in the dry months taking
its share of the smaller examples of the finny tribe that are
more or less exposed to view in the drying-up pools.
Snakes luxuriate in irrigation canals, and revel in luxury at
the bases of the larger weirs. In that across the Coleroon,
when the water was low, I was plainly able to see these
reptiles lying in wait for the fishes attempting to ascend.
I should suppose I never saw less than twenty any evening
I examined this weir on its down-stream face. ‘Tortoises
and turtles are fish-consumers, while most fishes prey upon
their weaker neighbours or their eggs. Near Ganjam,
a native official informed me how he had ventured out one
night to see how murrul—the walking-fishes—were cap--
tured.. The fisherman was provided with a long flexible
bamboo as a rod, and as a bait used a live frog. Hardly
had the frog splashed into the water, when a moderately-
sized murrul seized and swallowed it. Desirous of ob-
serving what would next occur, the fish was left on the
hook, as a bait for anything else. Before long, a large
water-snake was seen swimming towards it, and soon had
the fish enclosed in its capacious jaws, and in this fashion
all three were pulled together out of the water. Frogs

54 INDIAN FISH AND FISHING.

appear to relish fish-eggs, and to be by no means averse to
occasionally devouring the fry.

Considerable discussion occurred respecting the condition
of the fresh-water fisheries in India, some high officials sug-
gesting that a falling-off in the quantity is no reason for
legislative interference, unless it could be demonstrated that
a danger existed of annihilation. The Viceroy summed upthe
question in the following suggestive sentences :—“Is the
present plan of non-interference likely to ensure to future
generations the fullest possible supply of this food staple ?
Ts it even such as to ensure their inheriting a supply equal
to that which now exists ? The Governor-General in Council
apprehends that both these questions must be answered in
the negative, and that not only is there no prospect, as
matters now stand, of an increased supply hereafter, but
that, owing to the absence of precautionary measures and
reasonable restrictions, the existing supply is diminishing.” |

Were poisoning of the fresh-water forms to be prohibited,
the sale of fry be rendered illegal, and traps and nets placed
under control, an immense increase in the amount of the
fresh-water fish would be a certain result. Here I must
refer to an experiment which has been made in India for
the purpose of protecting fisheries. If no destructive waste
was existing prior to the commencement of protective
measures, no augmentation of the fish would have become
apparent ; if, however, very beneficial results have ensued,
there does not appear any reason why such should not
be extended elsewhere. In South Canara, Mr Gea:
Thomas observed that it may be doubted whether poisoning
rivers or the wholesale destruction of fry is most injurious
to fisheries ; while prohibiting the finer and closely-woven
bamboo cruives has been that the most ignorant, and there-
fore the most obstinate opponents, have been convinced by

INDIAN FISH AND FISHING. ss

the testimony of their own senses, and have exclaimed, to
use their own words, “ truly the river is everywhere bubbling

d

with fry ;” and, what is still more to the point, their practice
has not belied their words, for they have taken to fishing on
grounds that were before considered profitless. Two years’
discouragement of poisoning, and one year’s discouragement
of fine cruives, has worked such a change that it has been
_ demonstrated, beyond cavil even of the ignorant and of the
most interestedly opposing, that marked advantage can be
reaped from the adoption of these two simple measures
alone.

What rules have been instituted in order to mitigate
the condition of the fisheries I have been unable to ascertain.
An Act (VII. of 1875), however, has been passed for Burmah,
for the protection of the fisheries; while Mr. Buckland,
Member of the Revenue Board in Calcutta, remarked
(November, 1879) that the following figures show the
_ progress which is being gradually made at Goalundo, at
the confluence of the Ganges, and Burhampootra, where
hilsa fish abound :—Fish cured 1875, 1,362 maunds; 1876,
ass, 4077, 10,800 5 ~1878,* 14,000. - He concludes that
“there is, therefore, some reason to hope that Dr. Day’s
proposal may bring some good fruit after a while.” While
at page 6 I have referred to some results obtained in
Madras.

I now propose considering what proportion of the people
of India and Burmah use fish as food, or, rather, can do so
without infringing caste prejudices ?

In the Punjab, comparatively but few of the inhabitants
are prohibited by their religion from consuming fish, but

* This shows an increase of 1,043,215 lbs. of fish in a year in one
locality, where in the first of the four years nearly 112,073 lbs. only
were prepared.

56 INDIAN FISH AND FISHING.

there are many Hindus who reject it, as well as the rural
population of some districts. But of those residing in towns,
and in hilly ranges, it appears that, if the Brahmans are
excepted, the consumption of fish is only limited by the
paucity of the supply and the cost of the article. In Sind,
fish is generally eaten by the population of the province,
whether Mussalman or Hindu, unless a Brahman. In the
North-West Provinces, containing about 28,000,000 of popu-
lation, out of twenty returns received from native officials,
seventeen give more than half of the people as not forbidden
by religious scruples from eating fish. In Oudh, the
majority of the people appear to eat fish, but the supply is
unequal to the demand. In the Bombay Presidency, the
majority of the inhabitants of the inland districts are con-
sumers of fish when they can procure it. In Haiderabad,
Mysore, and Coorg, more than half the population are fish
consumers ; in South Canara, 89 per cent. ; in Madras the
majority, the exceptions being Brahmans, goldsmiths, high-
caste Sudras, the followers of Siva, Jains, &c. In Orissa,
more than half the people ; in Bengal proper, from 90 to 95
per cent.; in Assam and Chittagong, almost the entire
population ; and in Burmah, in the form of nga pee, its use
is universal. ,

As Buddhists, the Burmans profess a religious horror at
taking the lives of lower animals, but being immoderately
fond of fish diet, they console their consciences (while
indulging in it) with the idea that the deaths of those
animals used by them as food must be laid to the account
of the fishermen, and cannot in any way be attributed to
the consumers’ fault. The walls of their temples have
pictures of the terrible tortures the fishermen will have to
endure in a future state of existence. In some of these
interesting representations are large fires being stirred up by

INDIAN FISH AND FISHING. 57

devils, while other evil spirits are dragging more fishermen
in nets towards the burning fiery furnace, helping on some
by striking fish spears into them from behind, and hauling
them forward by hooks and lines fixed to their mouths
towards the place of punishment.

But it may be asked are these Poongees’ (priests)
practices in accord with their teachings? By no means, as
the following example will show. At Yahdown, on the
banks of a branch of the Irrawaddi, a fisherman (Een
Thoogyee), built a Kyoung, or monastery, as his great hope
was to be termed a K young taga, or founder of a monastery,
a highly-prized title amongst the Burmese. Poongees came,
and Poongees went away, but they did not care to remain,
and partake for any lengthened period of the hospitalities
of their host and disciple. At last one old priest appeared,
who seemed to consider the quarters as desirable. To him,
in great trepidation, the owner put the following question,
“Why, my father, do not the Poongees approve of my
monastery, for none but yourself have remained over the
going down of two suns?” “Because, my son,” replied the
holy man, “do you not break the law by depriving the fish
Gelite?” 2“ True,” he answered, “but were I not to do so,
how could I supply your table with fish, or how could I live
were I to give up my employment?” The only reply he
could obtain was, “Better to fast while keeping the law,
than to feast whilst breaking it!”

With sorrow the disciple took the priest at his word, and
for three days refrained from fishing, giving his preceptor
merely vegetables for his diet. On the fourth morning,
when the same fare appeared, the Poongee observed, “My
son, when you fish the river, does your net extend all across,
permitting no fish to escape; or is a portion of the river
free for those which select to pass to one side?” “Not all

58 INDIAN FISH AND FISHING.

across, but only one-third of the way,” he answered. “ Well,
then, my son,” said the priest, “I have been seriously con-
sidering the subject, and have arrived at the conclusion that,
if you leave room for the fish to ascend or descend the
stream, and they will not avail themselves of it, but rush —
headlong into your net, the fault is theirs and not yours.
Even Gaudama blessed the hunter who met him when he
was hungry, and supplied him with venison. This was
accounted as a meritorious act, although he must have
killed a deer to obtain it. So go, my son, and procure me
some fish, for I am hungry.” From that day the priest
consumed his fish in quietness, and refrained from inquiring
from whence it had been procured.

Investigating how the local markets were supplied with
fish up to 1873, the replies from native officials gave the
following results. In the Punjab one in ten markets was
sufficiently supplied, in the North-West Provinces one in
three, in Qudh one in four. In Bombay the amount was
stated to be insufficient in all, and the same reports came
from Haiderabad, Mysore, and Coorg. In Madras, near
the sea, the quantity of fish was sufficient, but only in one
in ten of the inland markets. In short, merely one-tenth of
the bazaars were reported as fully supplied with fish, and
of these one-fifth obtained them from the sea-coast.

Fisheries, to a more or less extent, exist in the Indian
Ocean, as well as up to the mouths of the larger rivers, in
backwaters and estuaries ; while parallel to certain places,
especially along the coasts of the Madras Presidency, vast
mud-banks are present in the sea, having such a thin con-
sistence that many kinds of fish are able to obtain abundance
of food there as well as a suitable locality in which to
deposit their ova. The most casual observer cannot fail to
perceive how numerous are the varieties and vast the

INDIAN FISH AND FISHING. 59

number of the finny tribes in the seas of India, but from
some cause—whether due to the legislative enactments and
local obstructions, or native apathy and impecuniosity—the
harvest has, up to within the last few years, been com-
paratively untouched; an enormous amount of food still
remains uncaptured, while famines are devastating the

contiguous shores.
FRANCIS DAY.

Aa.

Io.

Il.

12.

EXPLANATION OF PLATE 7

Dollika—A trap made of split bamboos, used in shallow water
It is plunged suddenly into. the water. From the Godavery.

FHloncha.—A fishing scoop. From Nuddea.

Malai.—A fishing trap set in stone weirs, with the large end
down stream.

Ghonee.—A trap with a double screen of finely split bamboos.
From Bengal.

Section of above.

Khora.—A trap used in irrigated fields, for catching fry in
channels where there is no current. From Bengal.

Aineh.—Is set in streams frequented by small fish. From Bengal.

Dhaur.—A jf\-shaped trap, with a loose screen of pointed bam-
boos. From Bengal.

Hloochna.—Trap for catching fry.
Dhowree.—A trap used in shallow streams. From Cuttack.

Doob.—Small trumpet-shaped trap, with narrow orifice, let into a
short cylinder. The cylinder is taken off in order to remove
the fish.

Koramenalu Vuchit.—A trap of -net-work placed amongst
rushes in tanks for murrel (Ophiocephalus marulius). From
Godavery.

A vase-shaped basket, with small opening, for carrying fish. |

' ‘. - PLATE.!

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19.

20.
20a.
204.

21.

' EXPLANATION OF PLATE II.

Fishing-boat, fitted with a bamboo platform projecting into the
water on one side, and with a net placed obliquely on the
other. The fish are frightened on to the bamboos, and in
leaping into the boat are prevented from clearing the other
side by the net.

Parachal.—A coracle, or flat-bottomed boat, used in rocky tor-
rents in the Bowani river, Coimbatore. .

Bombay fishing-boat (Muchwa), built of Malabar teak.

Canoe dug-out, or donga, made of the stem of Borassus flabet-
liformis or tar palm; the soft portion of the palm-stem is
excavated, and the broadly expanding base forms the prow.

Head of paddle belonging to the Muchwa.
Anchor made of wood, and weighted with stone or brick.

Bombay fishing-boat (Tony), made of Malabar teak.
pata Masulah boat : the planks are sewn together.

Fishing-vessel from Tuticorin.

22. Burmese snake-boat, for passengers.

eo

PLATE.2

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25.
26.

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28.

29.

30.

Ally

22,

33:

34.

35.

2 \casting-nets.
24.

EXPLANATION OF PLATES

A landing-net from Moorshedabad.

Choba.—A plunge-net, used chiefly in shallow water to capture
fish which lay half-concealed in the mud. From Poona.

A shrimping-net. From Poona.
YVethuvala.—A hand-net. From the Gedavery.

Akhu.—A scoop-like net for catching small fish. From the
Konkan.

Stake-net—can be raised or lowered according to the depth of
the stream.

Palona jal—The base forms a scraper to which the net is per-
manently attached, and which has sockets for the receipt of the
side bamboos. From Cuttack.

Mazi aN drag-net, attached to a bow-like bamboo, having a
weight fastened to each end and a cord fastened to the middle.
It is dragged along the bottom like a dredge.

Chach jal.—A hoop supporting a bag-like net 3 ft. in length,
with a septum about 11 inches from mouth leading into the
lower portion of the net. From Chittagong.

Poluha jal.—A conical net, used by means of a framework of six
bamboos tied together at the apex, and kept in position by a
hoop. The fisherman climbs on to this framework, and if in
shallow water stands on the hoop, he then loosens the cord by
which the net is fastened to the bamboos, and the net falls to
the bottom. A feeler (which may be the rudder of his boat) to
ascertain whether any fish are under the net, and if he finds
one the spear is used.

A dip-net, with weights.

PLATE.3

aN

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SS
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SENN wa

EXPLANATON OF PLATE IV.

36. Kharo jal.—A large dip-net worked by means of a complicated
arrangement of bamboos and a boat. To raise or cover the
net, which is supported by a bamboo fixed to the side of the
boat, a man steps backwards or forwards on the lower of the
two bamboos which join the tripod of bamboos on the shore
to the upright bamboos on either side of the boat. With one
hand he holds on to the upper bamboo, and with the other
raises or dips the net by means of a string attached to the
-bamboo which is fixed into the side of the boat.

37. Artificial bait in use among the Divi Islanders.
38. Malabar puffing tube, with darts used for killing fish.

39-46. Various kinds of spears used for killing fish, turtles, or
tortoises. j

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PRINTED BY WILLIAM CLOWES AND SONS, LIMITED,
STAMFORD STREET AND CHARING CROSS. ye

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2.—Running Ashore . + « « o « CoLIn HUNTER.
3.—A Fisher Girl QU CS Wee at the en pas dae, WV RESON
4.—Fishing Boats off Hastings . . Davip Law.
G:—Going for Balk be. ee Otto LEypE, R.S.A,

6.—Boat Building on the Yare . . C.J. Warts.
7.—Preparing for Sea—Hastings . C. P. SLOCOMBE.

8.—Ramsgate Harbour . . . e« « J. P. HESELTINE,
9.—Fisherman’s Haven . ». « « + J. MAcCWHIRTER, A.R.A.
tO0.—Stranded—Rye. . . » » ~- » WILFRID W. BALL.

Price 15s. the complete set.

Lonpon : WILLIAM CLOWES & SONS, Limrtep,
INTERNATIONAL FISHERIES EXHIBITION, & 13 CHARING CROSS.

ee A A A Pen |

ro ti

: NOTES ‘ON THES * 0723 5138

PRINCIPLES OF FISHERY LEGISLATION, By Right Hon. G. Su '

FOREST PROTECTION AND TREE CULTURE oN Wat

THE FISHERIES OF OTHER COUNTRIES. y

SMITHSONI neers

| i | iiiilin

OF THE UNITED KINGDOM. By H.R. THE DUKE or wine Gane
THE FISHERY INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES. ty Pr

fessor Brown GooveE, M.A.

OYSTER CULTURE AND OYSTER FISHERIES IN THE NET =i
LANDS. By Professor HUBRECHT.

‘Lzrevre, M.P.

ON THER CULTURE OF SALMONIDAE AND THE ACCLIM
TISATION OF FISH. By Sir James Ramsay Gipson MAITLAND, Bart. _

PISH DISEASES. By Professor HuxLEy, P.R.S. SS ea.

THE ECONOMIC CONDITION OF FISHERMEN, By a ONE

THE FISHERIES OF CANADA. By L. Z. Joncas. oe

PRESERVATION OF FISH LIFE IN RIVERS BY THE EXCL
SION OF TOWN SEWAGE. By the Hon. W. F. B. Masszy MAINWARING. "3

MOLLUSCS, MUSSELS, WHELKS, &c., USED FOR FOOD oR BAT i

By CHARLES HARDING.

COARSE FISH. CULTURE. By R. B. MARSTON.
ON THE FOOD OF FISHES. By Dr. F. Day. -

LINE FISHING. By C. M. MuNDAHL, nice
FISH TRANSPORT AND FISH MARKETS. By His redlletee

’ WALPOLE.

FRONTAGES. By D. HowriTz, Esq.
SEAL FISHERIES. By Captain TEMPLe.
FISH AS FOOD. By Sir Henry THompson.
STORM WARNINGS. By R. H. SCOTT,

ANIMALS BY INTERNAL PARASITES. By Professor Connor, F-R.S., F.L.s
SCIENTIFIC RESULTS OF THE EXHIBITION. By Profe

LANKESTER.

A PATON SL FISHERY SOCIETY FOR GREAT BRI
FRYER ves

CRUSTACEANS. By T. Cornisu.

IN THE PRESS. aie
SALMON AND SALMON FISHERIES. By DAVID Maia Howe,
PILCHARD AND MACKEREL FISHERIES. By T. CORNISH. — ag
FRESH-WATER FISHING (other than Salmon). “By J- Pi Watkeneae ey
ARTIFICIAL CULTURE OF LOBSTERS. By W. Savitik KENT.

THE BASIS FOR LEGISLATION ON FISHERY QUESTS
Lieut.-Col. F. G. Souda, ie

TRAWLING. By ALFRED ANSELL. sade

ON FACILITIES FOR THE IMPROVED CAPTURE A !

NOMIC ‘TRANSMISSION OF SEA FISHES, AND HOW THESE MATT
IRISH FISHERIES. By R. F. Watsun, of Kinsale. Meiers

THE FISHERIES OF IRELAND. By J.C. boone

Sweden, Norway, ee &c., eee took : Pane in the Conference.

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