THE FISHERIES AND FISHERY PJSOURCES OF VENEZUEIA 



INTRODUCTION 



The fisheries and fishery resources of Venezuela were studied as a part of a survey 

 of the entire (Caribbean area inade by a Mission of the United States Government under a 

 cooperative arrangement between the United States Department of the Interior, Fish and 

 Wildlife Service, and the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American Affairs. The 

 Mission was under the direction of Reginald H. Fiedler, Chief of the Division of Fishery 

 Industries, Fish and Wildlife Service, United States Department of the Interior, and the 

 field party in Venezuela consisted of Milton J. Lobell, Fishery Engineer and Clarence R. 

 Lucas, Fishery Economist of the Service, 



The Mission visited practically all of the localities in Venezuela irtiere extensive 

 marine fisheries are ctaiducted. In addition, fresh-water fishery developments at Lake 

 Valencia and near Merida were studied. 



Note: llany persons aided the work of the Mission in Venezuela. Great credit must 

 be given to Dr. Ivan D. Maldonado, Director of Ganaderia and of the Servicio de Pesqueria, 

 and to his staff. The Venezuelan Commission of Inter-American Development, headed by 

 Dr. Oscar l!achado, spared no effort in assisting the work. The United States Diplanatic 

 Mission, headed by Dr. Frank Corrtgan, made particularly strong efforts to further the 

 work and extended every possible assistance. The Standard Oil Company provided various 

 services in the field. Mr. William Rielps and Dr. Guillermo Zul'iaga helped immensely 

 with observations gained by their extensive sport-fishing experience. Mr. Frank Storms 

 of the Ingersoll Rand Company made available a great fund of information and supplied 

 letters of introduction to persons in the field. In the fishing industry, Mr. Rafael 

 Pardo of the Conpania Anonima Asociacion de Pescadores de Margarita, Sr. Alejandro 

 Oropeza of the Conroania Cubagua de Conseirvas, and Sr. Francisco de P. Aristeguieta of 

 the C. A. Industrial de Pesca, provided extensive assistance to the party. Besides these 

 persons, hundreds of fishennen, port officials, and others helped. 



The Mission could not have been a success without the aid provided by these persons, 

 and to them we extend our thanks. 



FISHERY RESOURCES 



As a general rule, tropical seas do not support large local populations of fish. 

 There are, however, a nuiiter of notable exceptions to the rule, and these are caused by 

 certain known factors. Concretely, the marine waters of Venezuela provide an excellent 

 example, for it is well kno\vn that enor.nous numbers of fish in a variety of species exist 

 in this region. Some of these species now form a basis for con53aratively large-scale 

 fisheries. So far, there have been no signs of depletion of the species fonning the 

 commercial catch. 



Oceanography 



Currents ; — Perhaps the most important factor affecting the productivity of Venezuelan 

 waters is the oceanic currents. The north and south equatorial currents unite in about 

 mid-Atlantic and a large part of the combined stream flows into the Caribbean Sea through 

 the passages between the Windward Islands, between Trinidad and Tobago, between Grenada and 

 Trinidad, and to a lesser extent through the Gulf of Paria. After passing into the 

 Caribbean, the currents pass westward and then to the northward and westward, finally 



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