THE CARIBBEAN AREA — VENEZUELA 



West-Central Area ; — The next ecological unit to the eastward includes the region from 

 the eastern side of the Paraguana Paiinsula eastward to Las Roques and southward to Cape 

 Godera. The greater area here is relatively barren but the nearby mountain slopes and 

 river valleys support some vegetations. The 100-fathom curve is found rather close to 

 shore and this limits the amount of bottom-fishing area. There is a chain of islands off- 

 shore which have excellent fishing grounds surrounding them. These are not used to any 

 great extent thus far. The shore fisheries are relatively undeveloped since there are no 

 large supplies of shore fish present. The principal species of fish taken in this area 

 are carite, pargo, anchoa, mero, and lebranche. Of these the carite, anchoa, and lebranche 

 are coastal pelagic species with migratory characteristics sind the pargo and mero are bottom- 

 dwelling forms. Itiis indicates that there are two distinct groups of fishery activities — 

 the coastal pelagic and the bank. 



East-Central Area ; — The region frcaa Cape Codera to Punta Penas includes sane of the 

 richest fishing grounds in Venezuela, both partially developed and entirely undeveloped. 

 It includes the fish-canning centers of Cumana and Porlamar and fish-curing activities 

 aroimd Isla Margarita and the GvHf of Cariaco. It includes also the ancient pearl fisheries 

 around Islas Margarita, Coche, and Cifcagua. The coast is practically all desert with mile 

 after mile of surf-swept beach. Oftentimes lagoons line the inshore parts of the barren 

 beaches. The two largest of these lagoons are Tacarigua and Unare. Both are reported rich 

 in fish. The Gulf of Cariaco is surrounded by hills unproductive of vegetation, yet the 

 waters are so productive that thousands of people are supported on its inhospitable shores. 

 Isla Margarita from Colonial times has been a center for fishing — it is still that — and its 

 hardy fishermen bom and bred for generations to the sea-farer's life continue to be success- 

 ful peasants of the sea. The remainder of the coast-line is barren also, with some fisheiy 

 developments at Carupano and Rio Caribe. This section is scarcely touched, however, by the 

 local fishermen, and vast resources of fish and shellfish are known to exist. The principal 

 species taken are carite, anchoa, corocoro, jurel, liza, lamparosa, cabana, arenque, lebranche, 

 and pargo. The carite, anchoa, cabana, jurel, lamparosa, lebranche, liza, and corocoro fonii 

 a significant portion of the dry-salt fish output — while pargo is sold fresh and arenque is 

 canned. The entire area is one of shallow to moderate depths and there are a number of small 

 rocky islands such as Los Frailes and Los Testigos. Considerable areas of mud and sand, in- 

 terspersed with coral structures, form the majority of the types of bottom, but rocky areas 

 and shell bottoms are also to be found. 



Eastern Area ; — Itie coast from Punta Penas to the British Guiana border forms another 

 definite unit. Included in this is the Gulf of Paria, the various mouths of the Orinoco, and 

 a stretch of coast between them. The land portion of the area is practically all swanks and 

 Jungle with numerous channels, choked with mangroves. Only in the northern part does barren 

 desert predominate. The extent of the fishing ar«a is large, with a great many mud and sand 

 shallows. Salinities vary greatly from the mouths of rivers to the open sea, and many types 

 of habitat are found. In many respects the Gulf of Paria region may be ccmpared with Lcike 

 Maracaibo. Included in this region are perhaps sane of the richest potential fisheries of 

 certain kinds of fish and shellfish, for the waters of the Gulf are rich in nutriment. Very 

 little fishing is carried on in the Venezuelan portion of the Gulf but considerable activity 

 is found on the Trinidad side. Inshore, the principal species are those that have a wide 

 salinity tolerance, such as liza, robalo, sabalo, pez espada, bagre, mero, curbina, armadillo, 

 and certain sardinas and anchobetas. In the more strongly saline water offshore, anchoa, 

 carite, sierra, pargo, corocoro, and other species occur. There are numerous, hardly touched 

 but exceedingly rich, bottom-fishing areas in the Gulf, and it is reliably reported that here 

 a party of 2 men in a period of several hours caught 2,100 pounds of groupers and snappers 

 with handlines. T^les, feeding on the enormous schools of small fish, often frequent the 

 Venezuelan side of the Gulf. There are definite indications of an abundance of shrimp in 

 the Gulf of Paria and this resource is practically unused. 



Principal species and distribution 



The fish population of Venezuela is typically West Indian or Caribbean in nature. Ninety 

 classifications of fish are reported in the commercial catch but this is in no way indicative 

 of the actual number of species since some classes such as "bagre" (catfish) may include 20 

 to 30 different species, lioreover, many species are not talren commercially and, therefore, do 



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