PROCESSING AND MARKETING 



The catch of the trawl fleets of both coasts is always headed 

 at sea and iced down in the holds of the vessels. A relatively small 

 amount is frozen and packaged at sea, aboard freezer boats. On the 

 west coast of Mexico the shrijrqj caught in the bays and estuaries with 

 cast nets are generally landed whole and not iced. The shrimp are 

 headed at the landing places, iced, and trucked to the shore freezers 

 for freezing and packing. In the estuaries between Mazatlan and San 

 Bias, where small shrimp are caught at night in weirs called "tapos" or 

 "cierras," the handling varies. Shrimp destined for canning or freezing 

 are iced whole in the trucks which transport them to the packing plants. 

 Those destined for drying are immediately boiled whole in brine and 

 spread on the ground to dry. 



Figure lib. — Dipping shrimp from weir near Escuinapa, 

 Mexico. Normally fishing is done at night but on 

 occasions shrimp runs occur during the daytime. 



105 



