UI'lGLAoSIFIiJ.D 



June 7, 1948 



Report Ho« 4 » 5 



experiments are being made with others, mainly the fgreen 

 snail J from the East Indies « v.^ien the shells first are 

 brought in they are graded according to sizSj sorted, and 

 soaked in water for seven days in order to extract all the 

 heat from them prior to cuttingo There are at present 

 seventv-flve cutting machines, some made in the company's 

 own shops s, some imported from Asmara, Eritrea - where buttons 

 frc^ Red Sea shells are being cut and finished o Under full 

 operation some 500 » 600 people are employed - cutters » 

 sorters, feeueiSp coolies, etCc » but operation is irregular c 



After cutting, the button forms are shipped out in bags 

 of about 150 gross each, four bags to a case. 



..u . Raymond Ro feinstein, of London, is the head of the 

 organization, and the local managers are MTc Robert Ceribelli 

 General Manager, and Mr. lolimeni Giovanni, vvorks tonagero 



Outlook of the Industry 



This sudden interest in Gulf of Aden fishing awakened in 

 the British Government may be looked upon as one of the 

 measures Britain, in her post-war financial straits, is search- 

 ing for in order to build up her export trade, develop more 

 of an Empire self-sufficiency, develop her colonies financially, 

 and aid them in the strengthening of their insufficient pro- 

 tein diet (vizc, India and liiast .ifrica), last year the Fisher- 

 ies Adviser to the British Secretary of State made what was 

 termed by the local authorities as a "flying trip through the 

 Colonies", and when asked where, to his knowledge, might 

 England find the best fishing grounds, he emphatically replied, 

 "The Gulf of Aden", liince then thre has been appointed to 

 Aden a Fisheries Officer, a political officer - who necessarily 

 has command of the /o-abic language. and two small power boats 

 for research and charting work, Throughout there seems to bo 

 an air of great enthusiasm o 



Local merchants have put inquiries to this Consulate con- 

 cerning fish reduction and processing equipment made in the 

 United States, have requested information from American govern- 

 ment agencies, for they believe there to be a potent industry 

 lying dormant hereo The British Government has done cannery 

 research in the towns of Mukalla and iiSh Shihr, and have dis- 

 covered that the fish oil and vitamin yeild is of a calibre 

 high enough to profitably merit productionc The fxshing indus«= 

 try along the southern i\rabian coast is still under survey, for 

 it is late in the season, and tMe southwest monsoons are here. 

 However, Great Britain is planning to continue this survey .n 

 September, and soon thereafter there should be evidence of what 

 is to be done about the fishing industry in the Gulf of ^en. 



UNCLiUiiilflSD 



