Pacific coasts. As far as known, purse seining has never been 

 triedj and the poor keeping quality of local bait fishes has dis- 

 couraged fishing off Colombia by foreign tuna clippers o 



Colombia has two small plants which prepare canned fish and 

 other products. One plant , belonging to the Empacadora del Prado, 

 is at Barranquilla; the other j owned and operated by the Empaca - 

 dora Santa Marta , is at Santa Marta. Mullet and sardines are usu- 

 ally canned; when bonito is available it is packed in vegetable oil. 



In recent years interest has been shown in developing Colombia's 

 fisheries, but so far, developments have been confined to Caribbean- 

 based inshore operations for supplying fresh fish to Colombia's larg- 

 est communities. 



VENEZUELA 



The fisheries of Venezuela have undergone considerable expan- 

 sion during recent years, but so far only a few tuna have been taken 

 incidentally during inshore trolling operations. Venezuela has been 

 more interested in developing local production of relatively low- 

 priced fishery products for domestic consumption, and an extensive 

 sardine canning industry has been established. Although fishing ves- 

 sels and techniques have been improved, the fisheries have not been 

 expanded to offshore waters where supplies of tuna are said to be 

 abundant . 



BRAZIL 



Although Brazil has a large potential domestic market for fish 

 and fishery products, its fisheries are little developed and of sm.all 

 economic importance. Commercial fishermen and fishery experts agree 

 that a wealth of marine resources exist off the Brazilian coast. 

 Little, however, has been done to explore these valuable resources; 

 meanwhile, large quantities of risli, both canned and salted, are 

 imported. 



Statistical data Indicate that tuna and tunalike fishes coit^jribe 

 no more than a small part of the total fish catch. Large schools of 

 tuna, however, have been reported along the northern Brazilian coast, 

 these schools being especially numerous near the small island of Fer- 

 nando de Noronha, 225 miles east of the hump of Brazil. Albacore and 



153 



