THE FISHERIES AND FISH TRADE OF PORTO RICO. 
41 
Arroyo turtles are found at all seasons, being most plentiful from September to the 
last of December, during which time they deposit their eggs in the sand of the beach. 
In the latter part of November, 1898, this section was fished by two small vessels 
from the English island of Tortola, who used large-mesh nets to which wooden decoy 
turtles were attached, the nets being set near the coral reefs off the harbor of Arroyo. 
The vessels remained two weeks and it was reported that a fair catch was made. 
A few turtles are caught about the small islands near Hucares, chiefly with gill 
nets. During 1898, 400 pounds of hawksbill turtle shells were taken and sent to New 
York, where the best brought $5 a pound in gold. The nets used about Vieques and 
Culebra islands are 27 feet long, 8 to 12 feet deep, and of 12-inch square mesh. A few 
turtles are taken on the beaches, but the catch is principally by nets, which, with their 
wooden decoy turtles, are anchored near the coral reefs; the nets are visited once or 
twice a day during the turtle-fishing season, which is said to be in May, June, July, 
and August. 
The hawksbill, green sea, and loggerhead turtles are reported more plentiful in 
this vicinity than elsewhere about Porto Rico. The catch, however, is small, only 
75 hawksbill turtles having been taken in 1898. The shell of the hawksbill is said 
to average from 3 to 5 pounds, and brings from 75 cents to $4 a pound in gold at St. 
Thomas. The loggerhead turtle is used only for its oil. The meat of the other 
species is sold for food at 6 cents a pound. 
FISHERY PRODUCTS IMPORTED BY PORTO RICO. 
The population of Porto Rico on October 16, 1899, according to the census taken 
by the United States Government, was 953,243. That fishery products form an 
important portion of the food supply of the island is shown by the importation, in 
1897, of about 33,449,422 pounds of dried, pickled, canned, and other fish, valued at 
$2,123,931. The total imports for the year furnished for each inhabitant an average 
of 35 pounds of fish. The value of imported fishery products, with the duty paid 
on the same during the live years named, was as follows: 
Year. 
Value. 
Duty. 
1893 
$1,325,073.52 
1,649,601.42 
1, 987, 676. 56 
1,815,010.89 
2, 123,931.46 
$87, 677. 16 
94, 834. 50 
122, 087. 99 
117,497.21 
139, 661. 35 
1894 
1895 
1896 
1897 
With the exception of occasional small shipments, principally of canned fish, 
to grocers, this large amount of imported fish is handled by a comparatively small 
number of commission merchants, whose principal business is in sugar and coffee. 
In some cases the merchants own and work plantations, and all of them make large 
advances on crops which they dispose of by direct sales or as forwarding agents, thus 
providing return cargoes to vessels arriving with fish. A number of firms ha\'e 
branch houses at the three leading ports of Ponce, 8an Juan, and Mayaguez, where they 
