Dammed Waterways and a Colonial Legacy: Statutory Law-Making in the Conservancy of Indian Fisheries, 1867-1897

Through an exploration of events that unfolded from the earliest calls for conservancy of Indian fisheries under the British colonial government in 1867 to the passing of a statutory law in 1897, we argue that colonial law-making was a non-linear and complex evolutionary, rather than transformational process. The basis and blueprint for a statutory law in India can be traced to similar concerns in the over-exploitation of riverine fish in Britain as well as to the implementation of Indian forest laws at about the same time. Moreover, the process had to deal with personalities and their claims for recognition while the colonial government sought legitimacy to exert control over resources by appointing highly competent and commended individuals. Concerns over food security as well as the possibility of resistance of the local population could have impelled the need for caution in implementing statutory laws, which may have ultimately resulted in a delay of three decades before the Indian Fisheries Act was finally passed in 1897.