FISHERIES AND MARKET FOR FISHERY PRODUCTS IN MEXICO, ETC. 39 



taking advantage of the scarcity of fresh sea food, even going to the 

 extreme of closing their doors to the public and refusing to sell 

 their fish when by some unavoidable mfluence the prices of the 

 fish drop and the retailer can not get the prices he is accustomed to 

 charge the ultimate consumer. 



Of the shellfish the "langosta," or lobster, has a large sale and is 

 very popular. This lobster is to be found in large numbers on the 

 group of islands, known as Juan Fernandez Islands, including the 

 islands of San Felix and San Ambrosio. These lobsters are usually 

 caught at distances averaging from 1 to 3 miles from shore. In 

 order to keep them alive, they are placed in boats, with screen 

 bottoms, maintained afloat by air tanks, through which water is 

 continually flowing. They are brought to Valparaiso in small 

 fishing schooners and command an immediate sale. The demand 

 for these lobsters is large, much larger than the supply, with the 

 result that the retail price is very high, averaging from 8 to 10 pesos, 

 the kilo of 2.2046 pounds. These lobsters are also exported to the 

 Argentine, where they command a price from 12 to 15 nacionales. 

 This is a very high price, but the class of the lobsters is such that 

 they find a ready sale. To date this industry 'has been exploited 

 only on a small scale, although periodically the newspapers publish 

 notices of the prospective formation of companies that are going to 

 carry on the industry on a large scale. However, nothing as yet 

 has materialized. 



Of the mollusks the small oyster, found in abundance in the 

 southern part of the country, commands a large sale. Artificial 

 oyster beds have been cultivated in this region, and these oysters 

 are brought to the north, where they are sold in the city of Santiago 

 for 60 pesos per box, containing from 150 to 200 oysters. Following 

 the 03'ster in importance is the ''choro," or red clam, which is to be 

 found, in abundance in the north as well as the south of the country. 

 Annually this industry yields approximately 80,000 sacks, which 

 command 34 pesos per sack in the city of Santiago, the sack con- 

 taining 220 pounds. The seaweeds denominated "cochayuyo" and 

 "cuyotallo " are eaten by the poorer classes in considerable quantities. 



The city of Talcahuano has a cold-storage plant for the preser- 

 vation of fish, with a capacity of 8 tons of frozen fish daily and the 

 same storage capacitv. Santiago has a cold-storage plant with a 

 capacity of 8 tons 01 fish daily and storage facilities for 15 tons. 

 Coquimbo and Antofagasta also have cold-storage plants with 

 unknown capacities. 



Codfish are imported into Chile in tins of 5 and 10 kilos each, or 

 11 and 22 pounds. The 1-pound tins are not a size that would sell 

 readily in this market, as the 5 and 10 kilo tins have met with a 

 much more ready sale, and the trade has been cultivated to that size 

 tin. The codfish are shipped in cases of four tins, of 10 kilos each, 

 from Norwegian ports, and eight tins, of 5 kilos each, from Japanese 

 ports. There appears to be some antipathy toward both the Japa- 

 nese and American codfish in this market, due to the repeated 

 arrivals of shipments in bad condition. Both the Japanese and 

 Norwegian cod sell at approximately 50 pesos gold (one peso equals 

 36^ cents United States gold) per case of 40 kilos, or 88 pounds. 

 This is the present market price, but a few months ago the price 

 was up to 85 and even 100 pesos gold per case of 40 kilos. No 



