OUTLOOK FOR PRODUCTION 



As far as white shrinp are concerned, there are no fishing 

 areas of any apparent significance that are not being fished. Hie 

 present areas can be, and undoubtedly will be, fished more intensely. 

 Through increased fishing effort the catch of white shrinp can perhaps 

 be doubled. This means that the annual catch of white shriiip may reach 

 between 5 and 8 million pounds, headless. 



The pink shriif^) occur in deeper and colder waters than do 

 the whites. They are taken in abundance in the Gulf of Panama only 

 during the period of upwellings, usually betireen December and April, 

 when they apparently move into the shalloirer, cooler waters. On 

 occasions during this period, pink shrimp are extremely abundant, 

 yielding catches of as much as 8 tons (heads-on) in 3 or U days. During 

 heavy runs of pinlc shrimp the boats are placed on limits, since the 

 plants are unable to handle the catch. 



E>:ploratoiy fishing in deeper ijater might show that pinlc 

 shrimp could be fished profitably throughout the year, but too little 

 is knoxm about the distribution, liabits, and abundance of this species 

 to hazard a guess as to its productive potential. 



The titi and indio likeiri.se are too little kno^m to allow 

 an estimate as to what their yield mic;;ht ultimately be. Undoubtedly, 

 the production of all three of th3ss S;-naller types can be increased 

 appreciably, provided a profitable market is available. 



FISHERI-EN Wra GE/iR 



There are about 5C0 full-time slirimp fishermen in Panama. 

 The usual crew consists of five men or of four men and an apprentice-- 

 a obtain, an engineer, and tliree hands, or tuo hands and a striker. 

 The fishermen do not belong to unions or come under social security, 

 nor do they oim any of the boats. 



They are paid on a trip-share basis. The trip expenses (ice, 

 fuel, and food) are deducted from tho gross returns, and the remaining 

 amount is divided 6o percent to the boat owner and UO percent to the 

 crew, or 65 percent to tho boat owner and 35 percent to the crew. In 

 either instance, the captain gets 12 percent and the engineer 9 percent. 

 Owners who pay )iO percent to the crew giva the three hands about 6 per- 

 cent eachj those paying 35 percent give 7 percent each to two hands, and 

 the strikfcjr, usually a boy, gets the fish that are caught or is paid 

 something from the sale of the fisli* 



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