Commercial Shark Fishing in the Caribbean Area 67 



locality. Inquire from your local Agricultural Depart- 

 ment. 



Fish meal must be kept absolutely dry and in as cool 

 a place as possible. It should be packed tightly and not 

 exposed to the air more than necessary. 



To make good fish meal remember: 



(1) Use only fresh material. Do not waste time with 

 decaying stuff. 



(2) Keep everything clean and sanitary. Wash out 

 the boiler and the drying tray at least once a day. 



(3) Get all the oil and water out that you can before 

 drying. Although the oil is really useful stock food, some 

 people do not know this yet and will not buy meal with 

 a high oil content. 



(4) Dry thoroughly. You will not get paid for water 

 you leave in, and it will tend to make the meal become 

 mouldy and spoil. At the same time, do not let the meal 

 scorch and become too dark. 



(5) Store in a dry place and do not expose to air any 

 more than you have to. 



Part 2. Fertilizer 



Shark-scrap fertilizer is really poor-grade fish meal. 

 To prepare it, therefore, you should follow the same pro- 

 cedure as that described for fish meal in Part I of this 

 Section. In general, all the handling precautions which 

 were given for fish meal will apply. Fertilizer, however, 

 need not be quite so carefully prepared; it can be sun 

 dried instead of on a drying pan, although this is not 

 recommended. Some authorities consider that oil is bad 

 in fertilizer, so you should keep the oil content low. 



There should be a keen local market for this kind of 

 fertilizer if it is properly handled. Since it sells for from 

 50% to 60% of the price for fish meal, it is obviously to 

 your advantage to make meal wherever possible. If, how- 

 ever, the scrap material is not absolutely fresh and good, 

 you should make fertilizer. 



