18 U. S. BUREAU or FISHERIES. 



CENTRAL AMERICA. 



GUATEMALA. 



GUATEMALA CITY. 



[By Arthur C. Frost, consul, October 19, 1921.] 



The fishing industry in Guatemala is of purely local concern and 

 very limited in scope. Fish are caught both on the Atlantic and 

 Pacific coasts and are sold for the most part in the near-by markets. 

 Shipments into the interior are of neligible importance. 



Red snapper, Spanish mackerel, shrimp, and crayfish are caught in 

 Guatemalan waters, the total catch in the principal ports amounting 

 to no more than a few hundred pounds a day. Hook and line and 

 hand-drawn seines are employed in obtaining fish in Guatemala. 

 The catch is eaten fresh, except for a small amount of shrimp which 

 is sun dried. No fish are exported or reexported from this country. 



A limited amount of salted, pickled, and smoked fish is imported 

 into Guatemala, but the market is necessarily small. An abundance 

 of fresh fish is to be had on either coast, and Guatemala City, which is 

 the chief commercial center and consuming point of the Republic 

 can obtain fresh fish from the Pacific port of San Jose, a distance of 

 75 miles. 



The people of Guatemala eat very little preserved fish, and fresh 

 fish is rarely an article of diet for people living in the interior. Pre- 

 served fish is eaten by the Guatemalans, as a rule, during Easter 

 week only. The consumption during this week probably exceeds 

 the entire quantity used during the rest of the year. Fish products 

 are imported principally in the first calendar months to provide 

 especially for the Easter season. 



The total white population, native and foreign, of this Republic is 

 only about 60,000, and this class constitutes the sole users of imported 

 fish products. The foreign population eat preserved fish of various 

 kinds throughout the year, but the consumption is of slight com- 

 mercial importance. Retail prices of canned fish are two, three, or 

 even four times as much as those prevailing in the United States 

 because of ocean freight, inland transportation, and heavy duties. 



The principal fish imported include canned salmon, sardines, 

 anchovy, oysters, kippered herring, caviar, cod, and other salted fish. 

 The United States, France, England, Sweden, and Norway are the 

 chief sources of supply. Codfish sold in the capital comes from San 

 Francisco, New England apparently having no share in this trade. It 

 is sold in cardboard packages of 1 or 2 pounds, and also in 1 or 2 

 pound bricks which come packed in wooden boxes, 40 pounds net and 

 50 pounds gross. Pickled fish is imported from Alaska to a very 

 slight extent. It comes in barrels, containing 400 or 500 fish, net 

 weight 600 pounds, gross weight 700 pounds. Kippered herring and 

 sardines are the principal smoked fish imported and are sold in cans of 

 1\ pounds, 1 pound, and smaller sizes. Smoked herring is imported 

 from Alaska, Norway, and England. Sardines, lobster, caviar, and 

 other specialties are imported to a limited extent from the United 

 States and Europe, principally for use by the foreign colonies. In the 

 case of certain products, such as sardines, there is a preference for 

 European varieties on account of taste or supposed superior quality. 



