THE CARIBBEJIN AflE^ 



Ice is us\ially available in some quantity. It varies in price from 50^ to $1.00 per 

 100 lbs. It is not used, however, if fish can be delivered in good condition viithout it. 

 Cold-storage space can be secured for holding fish in most ice plants, but only in Cuba and 

 Costa Rica has space been constructed especially for fish. Freezing and storage facilities 

 have been built in Cuba for engeiging in trade in frozen spiny lobsters, and on the Pacific 

 side of Costa Rica a large cold-storage plant has been operating for several years, freezing 

 and holding tuna for the California tuna-canning industry. 



A few fish trucks are used, some of which are insulated. No railway cars have been 

 especially equipped for fish transportation. Transport vessels are virtually unknown. Boxes 

 holding ice and 100 to 200 pounds of fish are universally used for shipping. Ihese are carried 

 in any manner possible — by truck, rail, and boat* Fish is carried to market by airplane from 

 Barranquilla to Bogota in Colombia and from Amapala to Tegucigalpa in Honduras. In the British 

 West Indies it is carried in baskets on the heads of Negro women, as they peddle it on foot 

 through the countryside or carry the day's purchases home from market. Street vendors may 

 carry their fish stocks on their heads, on muleback, in small insulated pushcarts, or strung 

 from a pole balanced on one shoulder. 



Prices vary from place to place, being influenced particularly by the abundance of fish, 

 condition of the market, and prices of other food products. P>rices are almost invariably 

 lower than those for meats. As fishing operations usually take only a few fish a day, the 

 prices are fairly high, however, usually yielding the fisherman 6 to 10 cents per pound. 

 Retail prices are normally too hi^ to enable the common laborer to purchase any but the 

 cheapest varieties of fresh fish, 



Bnergency conditions in the Caribbean area some time ago forced many governments to 

 establish i..axim)iin retail prices for fish. Today, almost without exception such prices have 

 been established throughout the Caribbean. Generally products are divided into classes en- 

 titled to various differences in price. In Jamaica, a government purchasing agency buys fish 

 at the landing ports at established minimum prices, transporting them to Kingstown, where they 

 are sold at or below the established maximum prices. Private buyers purchase fish in compe- 

 tition with the local government, but the system guarantees the fishermen as large a return 

 for their labor as is possible under existing prices to the consumer. 



Earnings of the fisherman have increased in most of the Caribbean area since the beginning 

 of the War. In most localities the established prices have been higher than those of normal 

 times. Prices of supplies and gear have increased, however, and it has been increasingly 

 impossible to obtain gear replacements. Many fishermen have discontinued fishing when their 

 gear has worn out. Others have left their usual fishing to take jobs in other lines of work. 

 Construction projects connected with the War have offered very enticing waiges to the low-income 

 fisherman. At many points, dislocation of normal industry has made nany men available for fish- 

 ing, but lack of gear and boats have prevented much of an increase in catch frcm this cause. 

 Continued decline in catch appears inevitable if gear replacements are not made available. 



Normally there are about 160 million pounds of fish caught, per year in the Caribbean Sea. 

 One hundred million of these are taken in Venezuelan waters and 15 million in Cuba. The popu- 

 lation of the area also consumes about 150 million pounds of imported fishery products a jear. 

 These food supplies provide much of the flesh-building proteins used by the 35 to ^VO million 

 people of the Caribbean. The average per-capita cons\in?3tion of fish (on the basis of whole, 

 round fish) is about 20 pounds. While many of the people in the area consume little or no 

 fish, others rely on tlriis food for almost their con^lete supply of flesh proteins. Yearly 

 consumptiion vaided from less than one pound per person in parts of Central America to 180 

 pounds per person in the French West Indies. 



The high consumption of imported fishery products is explained by the con^^arative cheap- 

 ness and high food value of dry-sslt codfish, the predominant import item. This product has 

 for years been the world's cheapest source of flesh proteins. The grade of salt-cod usually 

 sent to the Caribbean contains about 2 1/2 times the protein content of fresh beef round, 

 pound for pound, and it sells normally for a much lower unit price. It is also adaptable to 

 transportation, sale, and use without refrigeration to the extent made necessary by conditions 

 of merchandising in tne Caribbean. 



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