FISHEEIES AND MARKET FOR FISHERY PRODUCTS IN MEXICO, ETC. 2 5 



possible, consistent with safety. As the greater proportion of fish 

 products imported come from the United States, it would seem that 

 there is not a preference for foreign goods. The English products 

 are preferred by their own nationals, and some of the high-class French 

 and wSpanish products are liked on account of the quality of the oil 

 in which the fish are preserved. It is not, however, believed that 

 American fish packers need fear foreign competition in Costa Rica. 

 The only practical manner of increasmg the consumption of Ameri- 

 can fish products in Costa Rica is to have salesmen call on the princi- 

 pal importers as part of a more extended trip through Latin America. 

 They could then appoint agents and determine which is the best 

 method of advertising their goods. It is further suggested that in 

 order to obtain large initial orders salesmen should time their visit 

 before Lent, as that is the period of the year when the largest amount 

 of dried fish is consumed. 



PANAMA. 



COLON. 



[By Julius D. Dreher, consul, September 7, 1921.] 



In this consular district fish are caught with hook and line and also 

 with nets to supply in part the local demand of the market in Colon, 

 but no fish are cured here. The only fishery product exported from 

 Colon is tortoise shell, which was exported in 1920 to the value of 

 $49,562. 



Fishery products were imported in 1919, according to the latest 

 statistics available, to the amount of $113,255, for the entire Republic 

 of Panama. Of this amount the United States furnished products 

 to the value of $103,353, or 91.3 per cent. The remainder, $9,905, 

 was furnished by other countries, as follows: China, $4,312; England, 

 $2,876; Japan, $1,932; other countries, $785. The products imported 

 from China were special articles for Chinese residents of the Republic. 

 The fish products entered at Colon amounted to $38,226 and at 

 Bocas del Toro to $30,026, a total for this consular district of $68,252, 

 or 51 per cent of the total for the country. The official statistics 

 do not show the reexport of any fish products. 



PANAMA. 



[By George Orr, consul, December 20, 1921.] 



Edible fish are quite plentiful in the waters of Panama, but the 

 fishing industry has not been developed further than the direct sale 

 of fresh fish to the consumer from the boats of the fishermen or the 

 public market. A number of the inhabitants are fishermen by oc- 

 cupation, but the supply of fresh fish obtained is altogether inadequate 

 to the demand, and considerable quantities of dried and canned fish 

 are imported annually. There are no local dealers in fresh fish other 

 than the fishermen at the beach or in the market and no industrial 

 establishments engaged in the preparation of fish products. 



Official statistics of imports puolished by the Statistical Bureau 

 of the Republic of Panama are not available for any period later than 

 the first six months of the year 1920. Import statistics show 90 per 

 cent or more of shipments of fish received as having come from the 

 United States. The proportion of such shipments actually originat- 

 ing in Nova Scotia or Newfoundland and transshipped thi-ough 

 Anierican ports to Panama can not be readily determined, though 

 it is probable that considerable quantities of cod, mackerel, and 



