All the boats use Gulf of Mexico design shrimp trawls. Most 

 are flat, but some are balloon. The travils range from about kO feet to 

 120 feet at the mouth; the average is about 90 feet. Most of the trawls 

 are 2-inch mesh with l8-thread in the wings and body and ii2-thread in 

 the tail. The usual looped chains are used on the foot rope. Generally 

 1 net is expended every 2 months. The rig is the usual Florida type, 

 with the main trawl tov<ed from one outrigger and the try net from another 

 on the opposite side of the boat. 



PROCESSING AND MARKETING 



Shrimp are neither dried nor canned in Ecuador. Processing of 

 shrimp is limited to freezing. The bulk of the catch is frozen headless 

 in ^-pound cartons for export to the United States. For the local market 

 throughout Ecuador the langostinos (large shrimp) are sold whole or head- 

 less (on ice or frozen) and the camarones (small shrimp) are sold whole 

 or peeled and frozen or peeled and cooked. The peeled and frozen small 

 shrimp are packed in 2-pound cartons. In 195U about 800,000 pounds of 

 frozen headless shrimp were produced. 



There are two land freezers, one at Manta and the other at 

 Guayaquil, and one floating freezer. The floating'; freezer operates 

 part of the year in the north and part of the year in the Gulf of 

 Guayaquil. The total daily freezing capacity of these plants is about 

 53,000 pounds and the storage capacity is about 300 thousand pounds. 

 Investment in these plants is about $250,000. At least 90 percent of 

 the total investment in the Ecuadorean shrimp fishery is United States 

 capital . 



Processing cannot be increased very much without additional 

 equipment, v/hich is now being installed in Guayaquil. A shore plant, 

 to operate in conjunction with the freezer ship, will be constructed 

 shortly in Posorja. 



There are five ports from which shrimping operations are 

 conducted in Ecuador: Esmeraldas near the Colombian border, Manta 

 about midway between Esmeraldas and the Gulf of Guayaquil, and Playas, 

 Posorja, and Guayaquil on the Gulf of Guayaquil, The bases of opera- 

 tions for export are Esmeraldas, Guayaquil, Posorja, and Manta. Shrimp 

 are landed only at Guayaquil, Manta, and Playas, and at the latter port 

 the amoimt is small as it is generally only for local consumption 

 within Ecuador. 



51; 



