FISHERI4EN Afffi GEAR 



In Lake Maracaibo, near the town of Maracaibo, about 1^0 

 fishermen work part-time on shrimp. The men operate from dugouts, 

 usually four to a dugout, using small beach seines and cast nets. 

 V/hen shrimp become scarce in this area, some of the fishermen move 

 to Laos Island near the mouth of the lake. The shrimp taken by 

 these fishermen are the young of the vihite shrimp. 



A trawler was recently given a temporary permit to ex- 

 plore fishing possibilities in Lake Maracaibo and nearby waters. 

 Reports of this operation indicate abundance, at times, of small 

 (50 to 75 to the pound, headless) white shrimp near the mouth of the 

 lake and of large and jumbo white along the southwest shore of the 

 Gulf of Venezuela; they are not found in significant concentrations. 



There are about 16 trawlers working out of Punt a Fi jo and 

 Puerto Cabello. These boats are from about h^ to 125 feet long. 

 Most are owned by an Italian company and are manned by Italians. 

 Trawling is both for fish and for shrimp. The trips are of 3 or 1; 

 days duration. During this time the boats fish the entire time, both 

 day and night. Most of the shrimp are caught at night. The catch 

 is iced down in small boxes holding about 22 pounds each of fish or 

 shrimp. Shrimp caught by these boata are sold fresh, heads-on. They 

 are carried in ice by trucks to Caracas and as far east as Puerto de 

 la Cruz and Cumana. 



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