PERU £2/ 



The Peruvian shrimp fishery is at the 

 northern tip of Peru. It is limited to a narrow strip 

 about 30 miles long. This area probably will not 

 produce more than 600,000 to 900,000 pounds, heads- 

 off, annually. The fisher^'- started in 1952, reached 

 a peak of about 500,000 pounds, headless weight, in 

 195li, but dropped off sharply after the middle of 

 1955. There are no docking facilities. Supplies 

 must be run through the surf in skiffs or on balsa 

 rafts. Fresh water is scarce. 



DEVELOPMENT OF THii SffiD-iP FISHERY IN PERU 



The Peruvian shrimp fishery started in the latter part of 1952 

 when a Belgian trawler began operations. The development of the fishery 

 was stimulated by high prices in the United States and by a local scarcity 

 of sirordfish and sld.pjack caused by a change in ocean currents. A number 

 of swordfish boats were diverted to trawling for shrimp with 20-to 2U-foot 

 beam trawls. Later most of these boats changed to small otter travrls 35 

 to UO feot across the mouth. 



At the height of the fishery in 195U and early 1955 there vTere 

 about Uo boats fishing for shrimp, and four conpanies were buying shrimp 

 along with other fishery products. Shrimp were a side product, and fishing 

 for these crustaceans took place principally to give the crews employment 

 during lulls in the fisliing for other species. At that time three floating 

 plants and one shore plant were freezing slirinp. By June, 1955j the shrimp 

 catches were so small that the boats were not meeting expenses, and most 

 con53ajiies stopped shrimping operations by September, 1955. In October only 

 two boats, one a German-built trawler handling a UO-foot shrimp trawl and 

 the other a Danish boat using a 2l4-foot beam trawl, were fishing for shrimp. 



COI'-C^nLRCIAL SPECIES AND FISHING GROUITOS 



Three species of peneid shriir^?, 'langostinosi' are taken commercially, 

 Penaeus stylirostris , P. vanname i, and^. occiden tal is . Neither the fisher- 

 men nor the processors distinguish between them. All are called "bianco" 

 or white shrimp. The sea bob, Xiphopeneus r ivet i, and the "tiger" shrimp, 

 Trachy}3eneus byrdi and T. faoo , are also caught"but are discarded because 

 of their small size, "" 



52/ The survey of Peru was made during October, 1955, and this date, unless 

 othen-xise specified, is implied when current events or prices are alluded to. 



ll;5 



