but the cost of production was excessive and the Government still ha.a 7 tons 

 of the product on hand* 



The operating efficiency of the cannery is almost as bad. Fresh sardines 

 are purchased at from one to two rials a kilogram (l«75 rials a kilo at pres- 

 ent), A kilogram of fresh sardines produces on the average a]30ut one-half kil- 

 ogram of the canned product • The Government is selling oann^i iafdines at 60- 

 70 rials a kilogram but the factory fails to show any profit*, THf large num.ber 

 of administrative employees and the lack of competent technical supervision is 

 said to be mainly responsible for this situation** 



Working Conditions among the Fishermen 



As stated above, there are approximately 8000 m^en engaged in fishing off 

 the coast of f'outhern Iran, Together with their families, this means tliat about 

 30,000 people of that area are dependent upon fishing for a livelihoods These 

 people are engaged in fishing about nine months out of the year# During the re- 

 maining three months m.ost of them are employed in ..the date harvest • They are 

 extrem.ely poor, lacking even the tools needed to practice their profession. It 

 will be apparent that even if the total annual catch were divided equally among 

 these fishermen they v/ould have for sale only about 1000 kilos of fish# At most 

 these would bring 2 - 3000 rials on the market o Under such lew iricome condition 

 it is said that these people live largely on fish and dates throughout the yearo 



Rate of "Exchange 



The official buying and selling rate for U. S. dollars is 32 rials and 

 32«>5 rials respect ivelyo The free irarket rate on December 29 was about 65 rials 

 to the IJ. S» dollar > ' ' ^ 



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EDIBLE FISH IN THS PERSIAN GULF 1/ 



As comjaercial fishing in the Persian Gulf is negligible and the vast fish 

 resources of the Gulf have long gone untapped, the gathering of infoimation 

 locally on edible fish in the Gulf has been difficult. In addition, since the 

 fishing industry is a minor one, no statistics are kept on fishing operations* 

 The fishing done by the peoples living on the shores of the Gulf is principally 

 the labor of individual fishermen on a small scale for local cons^amption. 

 Although edible fish are abundant, the m.ain reason that commercial fishing has 

 not been developed as it has in other areas is because of the bad climatic con- 

 ditions. The torrid heat during most of the y^^ar in the G-ulf area, makes 

 refrigeration necessary in fishing craft and in vehicles which transport the fish 

 to markets. To date, fishing has been conducted in small, slow,, .and unref rigerated 

 sailing vessels i^Jhic'h are undesirable from a commercial fisheman's point of view. 



.1/ Prepared by Robert R. Schott, /imerican Vice Consul, Am^erican Consulate, 

 Baf=?ra, • Iraq. March 27, 1948. (Report No. 8). 



6 



