IHE CARIBBEAN AREA — VENEZUELA 



and significatn amounts (ji93,552 pounds) were also exported to the Dutch Vfest Indies, to 

 Trinidad, and even to the United States and Puerto Rico. (Radcliffe, 1922). 



The chief species salted are carite, liza, anchoa, and jurel, but many others are also 

 utilized to a lesser extent. Indeed, the surplus of any catch over the inmediate needs for 

 the fresh market is salted and in the more isolated conmunities practically thg entire catch 

 is 30 preserved. In statistics published by the Servicio de Pesqueria for 194^0, 63 varieties 

 appear as dry salted in varying amoimts. The total recorded production for 194-0 were 

 6,242,000 kilos (13,732,400 pounds). This, however, is an approximate figure and does not 

 include the entire production. Venezuelan authorities state that it represents about 50 per- 

 cent of the total. Therefore, the calculated amount would be about 27,500,000 pounds for 

 1940. 



Ihe fish are landed from the fishing boats and the fisherman and his family immediately 

 start to clean and prepare the fish. Even the youngest assist. The fish are gutted and 

 washed, the gills removed; heads are left on. A series of gashes is itade to allow better 

 salt penetration and salt is rubbed in. The fish are then placed on platforms of bamboo in 

 the sun aind allowed to dry. At other places they are laid on the ground. When partially 

 dried, they are removed and sold, either in the markets or to buyers for sale in the interior. 

 In only a very few instances are the drying platforms shaded. 



The resulting product does not compare in quality to the better grades of salt cod, for 

 the moisture content is higher, the butchering is not as well done, the color is darker, and 

 the odor is not as good due to the oxidation of the oils. In spite of these drawbacks, how- 

 ever, the product is very popular on the Venezuelan market and it was explained that the 

 oxidized oily odor was not judged unfavorably since it indicated, to the consumer, that the 

 fish was "rico" (rich). 



There is no doubt, however, that with technological in^srovements a product acceptable to 

 export maricets could be prepared in large volume. 



Salted fish enjoy a wide distribution in Venezuela's interior and the prices are low 

 enough for many of the less-prosperous groups to enjoy this product fairly often. 



Shark- products 



There has been, for a number of years, considerable activity in fishing for sharks, 

 particularly for the hides vAiich were exported to the United States to be tanned into leather. 

 Subsidiary to this has been the sale of teeth and fins and the preparation of dry-salted 

 shark meat, tlith the discovery of the liigh vitamin-A content of shark-liver oil, great stimu- 

 lation of shark-liver production has occun^ed. That the natives knew that shark-liver oil 

 was beneficial to their health previous to the scientific discovery is witnessed by the fact 

 that many drink it, not only when troubled by illness, but as a general tonic. 



The center of the Venezuelan shark fishing industry is Porlamar, Isla Margarita. There 

 were three companies engaged in 1942 with headquarters on Isla l^rgarita. Another was 

 operating at Cumana with prospects of others entering the field in this region and at other 

 coastal ports. At least 15 motor boats ranging up to 35 feet in length were in use. These 

 boats were equipped with pulpits for harpooning porpoises and block and tackle for hauling 

 in the sharks. Porpoise flesh was the most popular type of bait. The catching apparatus 

 consisted of line trawls (palangres) made up of 3/4-inch galvanized chain as a groundline 

 carrying 20 to 40 large shark hooks on gangions 6 to 8 feet in length which were fastened to 

 the groundline by snap hooks. 



Because of difficulty in obtaining suitable shark hooks from the United States or else- 

 vrtiere, locally-^nade hooks were finding extensive use. The hooks made in the United States 

 were said to be soft and inadequately tempered besides being made incorrectly. Snap hooks, 

 swivels, and chain must all be galvanized. It was reported that several years previously a 



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