64 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 



factories for the manufacturing of nets and fishing tackle. It is also planned to estab- 

 lish stations for fish cultivation on islands given by the Federal Government for this 

 purpose, or on lakes given by the state government, and to institute a cooperative 

 credit system for fishermen. 



SAO PAULO. 



[By E. M. Lawton, consul, September 9, 1921.) 



The State of Sao Paulo borders on the Atlantic Ocean, and the 

 capital city is less than 40 miles from Santos, the principal seaport 

 of Brazil, commercially speaking, the two cities being connected by 

 numerous daily trains and by automobile roads, Santos has a 

 wonderful beach, and the fisheries there supply Sao Paulo city with 

 all the fresh fish needed. 



The consulate at Santos is a separate office from Sao Paulo. It is 

 sufficient to explain that the fishermen there are usually uneducated 

 men who live very humbly near the beach and have only such knowl- 

 edge of fishing as they have learned from infancy. The common 

 practice is net fishing, especially during the months of May, June, 

 and July, the nets bein^ laid by small boats and drawn in by hand 

 from the shore. There is also a certain amount of hand fishing from 

 boats and by nets when the fish are not running inshore. The fisher- 

 men also have a practice of building traps of wood, so arranged that 

 the fish enter the traps but can not get out, and are taken with nets 

 from the inclosed sections. 



Owing to the nearness of the market (Sao Paulo) the greater part 

 of the fish are sold without preparing them in any way. For the 

 interior sections of the State they are usually salted or smoked. The 

 methods in curing the fish are very primitive and consist simply in 

 cleaning the fish, splitting them open transversely on each side, and 

 rubbing in plenty of salt, or in drying them over wood smoke, accord- 

 ing to the taste of the consumer. Fish eggs are also salted or smoked 

 and are sold separately, as they are considered an especially nice 

 delicacy. 



The fishing industry in Brazil is not yet very much developed, and 

 no publications seem to be available to explain scientific methods or 

 give information on the art. The few fishing companies which have 

 been organized along the coast are to be found only in the most impor- 

 tant ports, and even when organized continue to conduct the opera- 

 tion on the plan and by the methods in vogue from primitive times. 

 There is therefore no complete information about the quantity of 

 fish marketed here, but in general it is more than sufficient for this 

 city of more than 500,000 inhabitants. 



There are no exports of fish from Sao Paulo, with the exception tof 

 a small amount of oysters which go to Argentina. A considerable 

 quantity of whale oil is brought to Sao Paulo from the north of Brazil. 

 Fish oil, in general, is produced all alon^ the coast of Brazil and, 

 especially in this district, is used for treating leather. On the other 

 hand, codfish and preserved fish are brought from the United States, 

 Norway, Portugal, Spain, and Italy and a small quantity from Japan. 

 None of these products is reexported in any form, but they are 

 entirely consumed locally. 



For the year 1920, 3,841 long tons of codfish were imported into 

 this consular district, of which the United States supplied 1,905 tons, 

 Norway 983 tons, and Canada 733 tons. For the same period 28,435 



1 



