ECOIIOMIC II'TOETMCE OJ PEJffiL FISHEEY 



Peaxl fishery in Panama has "been a snail industry which contrilmted annually from 

 0.3 to 1.3 per cent, or only a minute fraction, of the total value of the country's erport 

 (Table 2) • In the document (Prospectus, Eepuhlic of Panama) from v.'hich these data are 

 q.uoted, the value of -Deaxls and mother-of-pearl shells is shovm together v;ith the value of 

 tortoise. Eyport of the latter is, hov;ever, so insignificant that its inclusion does not 

 materially change the percentage figure. 



Tahle 2 Total value of exports from Panama and the value of the 



exported pearls, tortoise shell, and nother-of-pearl 

 (from the Prospectus, Eepuhlic of Panama) 



Balhoa is equivalent to one U. S. dollar. 



In spite of the snail size of the fishery, its relative importance to the na- 

 tional economy has heen greater than it ma;;' appear, hecause the total production of pearl 

 and shells was exported. In a country in which the value of imports several times exceeds 

 that of exports, every item that majr "be exported "becomes important. Furtherraore, in the 

 economic life of various small communities engaged primarily in fishing, income derived 

 from the pearl fishery has heen a very suhstantial item. Thus, the proceeds from pearl 

 fishing were of great imTXjrtance to the inhahitants of several towns and villages on the 

 Pearl Islands (Fig. 2), in the coastal areas of the Province of Darien, and in the Gulf of 

 Chirio^ui. San Miguel, on the Isla del Rey, v;as the principal pearl-oyster center. It is 

 true that for several hundred fishermen of this community, pearl fishing was only a 

 •oart-tlme occupation, which req.uired no special investment in gear. Oysters were gathered 

 hy naked divers from a depth not exceeding 6 fathoms. When sufficient shells were gathered 

 they were taken hy hoat to Panama, and sold there to wholesale shi-oDers. The inhabitants 

 also caught fish, and engaged in farming on small patches of land cleared in a forest 

 .jungle. Oyster meat provided adaitional protein food, v;hile cash received froia the sale 

 of shells was used for the purchase of clothing, kerosene, and other necessities. With the 

 almost complete disappearance of pearl oysters in recent years, the economic life of this 

 community was greatly upset, for no other source of income was available to the population 

 to compensate for the loss caused by the scarcity of oysters. 



Relative importance of various localities as centers of pearl oyster fishery in 

 Panama nay be determined from the scattered data of the landings of mother-of-pearl shells 

 in the Statistical Bulletins (Boletin de Estadfstica, Republica de Panama). For instance, 

 records for I912 show that the S?lii Miguel district contributed 75-7 per cent of shells 

 landed in Panama (4^,355 kilos out of 59,280) . Next in importance v;as Remedies, in the 

 coastal area of Chiriq.ui Bay and Garachin^, in the Ba;^ of St. Miguel on the west side of 

 the Gulf of Panama. Other districts of nroduction could not be identified from the official 



