Table 5 H-umber of licenses issued- in igUy to 



Pesorl rishermen, Polarmar 



Months 



Tebruary-March 

 Mstrch— April . 

 April-Hay . . 



Scaphanders 



20 

 35 



Dredgers 



361^ 

 1*05 



Naked divers 



1 

 

 



During the same period, the total ntanber of workers engaged in pearling v/as 

 as followsi 



rehruary-March •• 2,77U 



March-April 3»66l 



April-May 3.1^3 



Since the licenses are issued only for each month, we may conclude that the 

 average number of persons employed by the pearl fishing industry is about 3»000» 



Dividing the total value of pearls obtained in 19^7 over this number of 

 peo-ole, one can arrive at the figure of 1,3^8 bolivars as an estimated average income per 

 person derived from pearling. The actual figures of income, of course, greatly differ from 

 an average because of the Tjnequal division of proceeds, as has been described above. Official 

 statistics show that an average annual earning per boat engaged in pearling increased from 

 3,777 bolivars in I9U5 to 12,620 bolivars in I9U7. The increase was primarily due to the 

 increase in price of tiearls, from 0.75 bolivar per carat to an average of 2.5O per carat in 

 I9U7. The increase in the production of pearls from I9U6 to 19^7 was, however, only U3.9 

 percent. 



In 19Ug, only U9 divers were engaged in the pearl fishery on Margarita Island. 

 Of this number, I5 were "empresarios," i.e., those who were primarily concerned v/ith the out- 

 fitting of diving boats rather than with diving. According to information received from the 

 Porlamar office of the Secci(Jn de Pesqueria, ik^ livers were working on Margarita Island in 

 I9I8. The decline in the nxnnber of divers became noticeable shortly after I92I and 1922, 

 the years of the best pearling seasons. 



Most of the divers at present are middle aged persons, while the men of the 

 younger generation are reluctant to become professional divers. In an attempt to overcome 

 tljis difficulty, the Government established a school of divers (Chapter IX, Ley de Pesca de 

 Perlas),but so far the institution has not been functioning because of the lack of appli- 

 cants. If this trend continues, the scarcity of experienced divers may become so serious 

 that it may lead to a complete abandonment of scaphander diving and more intensive develop- 

 ment of dredging. 



The occurrence of freeiuent InternxptionB in pearl fishing is one of the great- 

 est handicaps of pearl industry in Venezuela. Attempts to stabilize the fishery by limiting 

 the duration of the fishery season have not been cofflTjletely successful even when the open 

 season was reduced from 6 to U months only. It is true that under this system it was possible 

 to carry out pearling operations for U consecutive years (see table 1, from 19^5 *o 19^8, 

 inclusive) but the oyster population was so reduced that during the present year (19^9) t^® 

 grounds were closed again. The present pearl fishery laws (Article 6, Ley de Pesca de Perlas) 



18 



