1HE CARIBBSAI^ AREA 



POTENTIAL FISHERY INDUSTRIES 



There are so many factors involved in the prosecution of a fishery industry that it 

 is difficult to classify the order of their interdependence. Quite obviously there must 

 be a fishery resource capable of producting certain items of value. There also must be, 

 somewhere, a market for the products. Between these two factors is a large array of im- 

 portant contingent factors that permit raw fish in the sea to be caught, cleaned, trans- 

 ported, preserved, converted into products of canmerce, stored, distributed, and sold to 

 the consumer. The entire chain of functions in fish-handling must be accomplished with- 

 in cost limits that are determined by the price the ultimate consumer will pay for the 

 product. 



In the United States, the availability of fishermen, boats, gear, processing equip- 

 ment, fast transportation, cold storage, finance, business enterprise, consumers, and 

 wholesale and retail outlets equj.pped to handle fresh or preserved products, has made 

 it possible to exploit virtually all of the fishery resources. In the Caribbean, on the 

 other hflnd, relative scarcity of most of these has made it very difficult to establish 

 fishery industries, even when it has been apparent that there is a reasonably large 

 difference between the cost of purchasing fish from the fishermen and the price that can 

 be expected fro.n the consumer. The fishery industries have tended to take the sin^lest 

 forai possible, with a minimum of speculation and a limited investment of funds. Sail 

 power has been relied on for water locomotion, and fishing operaticms in general are con- 

 fined to operations near markets. Boats, gear, and transportation are cut to the minimum 

 required to permit the fishermen to earn their living from day to day, and investment in 

 processing equipaent, markets, and merchandizing equipment has been kept at a minimum. 



The circumstances of nature and history that have formed the Caribbean fishery in- 

 dustries have established them on a basis of high costs and limited production. Only 

 the local reef (or bottom) dwelling species of fish — the snappers, groupers, goat-fishes, 

 parrot-fishes, grunts, porgies, etc. — have been available for year-round capture with the 

 simple types of boats and gear available to the Caribbean fisherman. Only a few of the 

 migratory fish that appear spasmodically in season have beai reaching the markets in the 

 region. The bottom-dwelling species do not congregate sufficiently to permit their cap- 

 ture in large quantities. They can be reached in their native habitat only with hand- 

 lines and stationary traps lowered from the surface,' The catch-per-unit of fishing effort 

 is, therefore, very low. The few fish captured must be sold at fairly high prices to pro- 

 vide subsistence for the fishermen and replacements for gear. 



In the Iftiited States the bulk of the fisheries are reliant on seasonal supplies of 

 fish. Utilization of the "runs" in the States is made possible by an extensive system of 

 preservation facilities. This permits large stocks to be accumulated saufely during periods 

 of abundance. These stocks are thereafter gradually directed into year-round trade. 



If more facilities for handling fish were available in the Caribbean area there would 

 be a larger trade in fishery products than actually does exist. Ifhether the increased 

 trade in fish alone would justify the installation of the facilities is a matter for con- 

 jecture, however. 



The lack of facilities for preserving perishable food products of all kinds has been 

 a powerful deterrent to the growth of all food production in the Caribbean area. The pro- 

 spect of unloading peak production on glutted markets is discouraging to commercial fish- 

 ermen and farmers alike. In some localities, at least, the installation of cold storage 

 and canning facilities for fish should be justified commercially. The installation of a 

 system of refrigerator plants to collect perishable foods in localities of abundant pro- 

 duction and distribute it in the centers of population might also be feasible. Some such 

 system as the latter might well prove to be essential to the large-scale production of 

 foods in the Caribbean. 



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