MFR PAPER 1082

Exploratory Fishing Activities of the EDITOR'S NOTE

UNDP/FAO Caribbean Fishery Development This number of Marine Fisher-
Project, 1965-1971: A Summary ies Review documents the re-
sults of a five-year international
study of the fisheries potential
of the Caribbean Sea.
RO BERT S. WOLF and WARREN F. RATHJEN The area surveyed under this
study was immense, covering al-
most one million square miles.
ABSTRACT-The UNDP (United Nations Development Program)/FAO
(Food and Agriculture Organization) Caribbean Fishery Development
The countries involved in the
Project became operational in 1965. The Exploratory Fishing Section study were Barbados; Guyana;
formed the largest component of the project; it was primarily staffed by Dominican Republic; France in
FAO personnel, but was planned and directed by the U.S. National Marine respect to French Guiana, Gua-
Fisheries Service . Activities from 1965 to 1971 are summarized in this deloupe, Martinique; Jamaica;
publication. Antigua; Montserrat; Sf. Christo-
Beginning in 1966, nearly 2,500 sea days were spent by three vessels in pher, Nevis, Anguilla; Nether-
resource experimentation and exploration . Operations extended from the lands Antilles; Surinam; Trinidad
Central American coastal shelf to the islands and banks off the Greater and Tobago; United States of
and Lesser Antilles and to the coastal shelves of eastern Venezuela , America on behalf of Puerto
Guyana , Suri nam , and French Guiana .
Rico; Grenada; St. Lucia and
Experiments were conducted in attracting and catching pelagic fish by
Sf. Vincent.
the use of longlines , live bait/pole-and-line, trolling, gill nets, lift nets, and
handlines, and in catching demersal fish through the use of handlines, Romantic names, these. Yet
power reels , traps , longlines , trawls , and gill nets . the West Indies are a good deal
Exploratory efforts produced about 1 million pounds (453,597 kg) of more than coconuts and steel
usable food fish . Of this total , about 35 percent consisted of trawl-caught bands and rum . Excluding the
demersal fish , 38 percent of snapper , jacks , and fish of related species , mainland countries of Guyana,
17 percent of sharks , and the remaining 10 percent mostly of pelagic fish . French Guiana, and Surinam, the
Three major resources were delineated . The demersal trawl fishes are island countries in this study, al-
limited to the continental shelf off northeastern South America. The de mer- though occupying wide arcs of
sal snapper and related species exist throughout the project region, but the subtropical sea, have a total
are most concentrated on the edge of the Honduran/Nicaraguan conti-
land area about the size of that
nental shelf off Central America, on the banks of the northern Leeward
of our small State of Maine. On
Islands , and on the edge of the Guyanan/French Guianan contine ntal
shelf. A lesser resource , of sharks , occurs on the continental shelf of these islands live more than 11
northeastern South America, and is concentrated off Surinam . A seasonal million people.
increase in availability of skipjack tuna to live bait/pole-and-line fishing Only one aspect of this study
was apparent during March through May in the Windward Islands . Pelagic has heretofore resulted in formal
species showed a seasonal increase in availability 10 trolling during the publication; yet the remainder
same period in the northern Leeward Islands and during September and of the material gathered pro-
October off Jamaica. Spiny lobsters were taken in good quantity in April vides a solid datum for future
on Pedro Bank south of Jamaica , but were not available on the other studies and development of fish-
gro unds in the project region . A small resource of tilefish was found in eries in the Caribbean Sea.
deep water off the edge of the Surinam continental shelf.
This number of Marine Fisher-
ies Review places in the perma-
nent record a series of investi-
Accomplishments in the Explora- the builder , did actual operations be- gations that directly or indirectly
tory Section of the UNDP/PAO gin. In June 1967 , the MV Fregala affect the welfare of several
Caribbean Fishery Development Proj- was delivered and the three-vessel million human beings and thus
ect during the first year (1965) were fleet was complete. Phase I of the proj- appear eminently worthy of pres-
limited to acquiring staff, ordering and ect was completed o~ 31 August 1969, ervation.
receiving necessary equipment, and and Phase II on 3 I August 197 1.
o perational plan ning. Not until No- The overall project can be described T.A.M.
venber of 1966, after delivery of the as a commerci al feasibility or pre-
MV Calamar and MV A/cyan from investment survey of the fishery re-

1
 Ki ngsto n

Old H arbor

Cope COIllt1roll

URAS

NETHERLANDS
A RU~A ANTILLES
BO AIR

C~ _
<1 C<1 0

V E ~J -

COLOMBIA

Figure 1.-C.rlbbe. n Flah.ry Developm.nt Project R.glon .

2
 t:>'
ST. CROIX ~BARBUDA

Ma yagu ez ISLANDS C> ANTIGUA

lies des Sainte's '; M arie G a lante

\ ) DOMINICA

~MARTINIQUE

<5-
"'S-T-
. -W-C--II-A '<'7
'" -1--:
<)S'
ST. VINCENTO
I . Bcqllia ~
Islas Los Canollan ' Grenadine
BARBADOS
Roqll es U nion Is/and:' Islands
ClIrr -
IOCO l !

Blanqllilla
Los Tcstigos Islan ds
.~:
~TOBAGO

TRINIDAD

E ZUELA

3
 Tabl e 1.-Summary of project exploratory opera lions by fishing method or other claulflcallon . Catch (CA) In thousands of pounds and eff~~

VESS EL & DEM ERSA L DEMER SAL SHARK PELAGI C

FIS H I NG DE MERSA L H AN DLIN E POT OR HANDLIN E & PELAG IC PELAGI C POLE & OTHER
GE AR l T RAW LI NG & REE L TRAP SETLINE TR O LLIN G LONGLINE LINE METHOD SZ
A/cyon CA EFF CA EFF CA EF F CA / EF F CA EFF CA EFF CA EFF CA EFf
1966-67 a a 8.4 17 0.4" a a a a a 199 84 0 .8 55 a a
1967-68 a a 91.6 113 2.0" a a a a 12 a a 1.4 79 a a
1968-69 a a 79 .2 145 a a a a a a a a 0 .5 40 a 0
1969-70 a a 23 .7 14 28 .7 153 a a 5.9 24 a a a a a (l
1970-7 1 a 4 37 .4 16 9.2 50 a a 1.3 26 a a a a a II
A/cyon
Subtotals a 4 240 .3 305 40 .3 203 a a 7.2 62 19.9 84 2.7 174 a
Ca/amar
1966-67 84 .3 37 a a a a a a a a 15.2 59 2 .8 41 a
1967-68 155 .9 198 a a a a a a a a a a a a
1968-69 86 .8 42 a a a a 62.9 75 97 20 a a a 47 0.3 ;
1969-70 14 .1" a a a a a 102 .9 130 a a a a 6.6 48 6.8 3)
1970-7 1 a a 182 57 28 .8 92 a a 5.6 18 a a a a a 13
Ca/amar
Subtotals 341.1 277 18.2 57 28.8 92 165 .8 205 153 38 15 .2 59 94 136 7 1 54

Fregata
1966-67 a a a a a a a a a a a a 16 30 a
1967-68 a a a a a 18 a a a 6 a a 5 .9 96 2.4
1968-69 a a 28.5 179 a a a a a a a a a a 19
1969-70 a a 12 .8 53 a a a a 0 .2 11 a a 11.5 86 a
1970-71 a a a a a a a a 5.8 96 a a a a a
Fregata
Subtotals a a 41 .3 232 a 18 a a 60 113 a a 19 .0 212 4 .3

GRAND TOTALS 341.1 281 2998 594 691 313 165 8 205 28.5 213 351 143 31 1 522 11 4
PERCENT OF
TOTAL 28.5 11.3 25.0 23.8 5.8 12 .6 13.8 8.2 24 8.5 2.9 5 .7 2.6 20 .9 1.0 5 .~

I 1 Septem ber through A ugust 31

2 Bottom and surface longline . bottom and surface gill net han dline drift attraction etc
3 live bait fishi ng was Incidental to pelagiC pole and line fishin g

sources of the region . It was divided
into three sections with over lapp in g
operational scopes:
I. Exploratory fishing.
2. Marketing study and demon-
stration.
3. Fishery officers' and fisher-
men's training .
The Exploratory Fishing Section in-
cluded definition of resources , experi-
mentation with fishing gear and
methods, simulated commercial fish-
ing, and demonstration fishing for
fishermen from participating coun-
tries. On-the-job traini ng was also
pr ovided on t he ves els for fi hermen
trainees .
Resource ex pl o rat io n was co nd uct -
ed in the wa ters o f th e Cari bbean
Sea, from th e edge of the Central
A merican continenta l shelf east to th e
arc of th e Les er A nti ll es (Fi g. I).
Territ or ia l and adjacent water of th e
Centr al A me ri can cou ntries, Colo m-
bia, and Venezuela we re not under
direc t crutiny of the Cari bbean Fi sh-
ery Deve lopm ent Pr oject as th ey were
within th e stud y area of associ ated
pr ojects. In th e Atlantic Ocean adj a-
ce nt to th e Caribbean Sea, so me ex-
pl o rat ions were mad e in th e wate rs
near Hi pani ola. Puert o Ri co. and th e
Les er Antill e . Th e continent a l shelf
off no rth easte rn South Ame ri ca be-
tween M ar garit a Isla nd , Venezuela,
a nd th e border betwee n French Gui a-
na and Brazil was expl ored .
U nder co ntract to FAO , th e U.S.
a ti ona l Marin e Fi sheri es Service
(fo rm erl y Bureau of Commercial Fish-
erie ) was respo nsi ble for planni ng,
organi zin g, and uper vising the explor-
ator y fi shing activities. The Chief of
Expl oratory Fishing and several spe-
ci a li st fi hery consultants were em-
pl oyee of the National Marine
Fi sheries Service .

Figure 2 .- The MV Ca/amar,
one of two 82 -ft FAO multi-
purpose fishing veaaels as-
signed to the UNDP/FAO Ca-
ribbean Fishery Development
Project, 1966-71.
EXPLORATORY
FISHING OPERATIONS
The MV Calamar (Fig. 2) and the
MV Alcyo n are sister ships built for
FAO in Japan . They were regi stered

Robert S . Wolf is the Staff

Assistant for Fisheries , Office
of Fleet Operations, National
Ocean Survey, NOAA , Rock-
ville, MD 20852 . Warren F.
Rathjen is with the Northeast
Regional Office, NMFS ,
NOAA , 14 Elm Street, Glou-
cester, MA 01930.

4
 In d.y. 0' d lr.ct.d ' Ith lng .r. pr . . . nt.d 'or 'K~ proj . CI ..... 1 en d 'i . ~lnll g '"

1()5,
8.1
191 13 5
05 1M
••
832 217 18 4 333 8

137
1 8
72
0
02
07 0
0 244
475
134 1
2().1 1 ,137
189 58 02 0 628 2285 189
208 S5 03 0 19 • 1556 208
18 0 0 0 0 52

918 185 1• 0 154 1 7749 18

30 18 0 0 34 30 .10.11\ l U
160 109 0 26 193 188
216 0 0 0 30' 216
150 55 0 0 300 1!>O
96 0 0 0 58 RESUL TS OF
652 182 0 28 889 680 EXPLORATOR Y O P ERATIONS
2402 584 32 92 IS. 1 1. 197 7 249' f h~ 1 \: d II I uh 10
!20 3 4 9 03 37 128 100 0 100

I InduSlr1al "sh were ceughl ,ncldenlally dUring demersal Irawl ',shlng

, Celches ere Incidental 10 olher directed fishing elton

In anu oreralcd Out of Barhado,> and l'n ..:aLh LrUI,e, a Cleml,t '\:rlll l
K ing\ton . JamaIca . re'>recll\cl) lhew kad..:r" \\ a, rL rl'n'lhk f,'r l' rl"r,ttPl\
arc comhlnatlon \e"ch. adartahlc to oreratll'l1\ and r,,:cl'rd I..eerln 1 ,'n1l.: -
longllnlng, trawling, Il\e hall/pllle - {InK, additional techniC I rer "nnel
and-hne t1\hlng , trap fhhlng. rcel li,h- \\..:re ahllan..l. rnl\ Id..:u Ifllm rr I ct
Ing. and trolling . ')ulticlcnt ,race \\ a, ,tafL counterrart tafl (Ir,'m p rtl I-
rr l\ Ided for fi\hermen t ral nee,> ">recl- rating counlrIL,\I. or l'ther \Illel" tl:d
ficat lon\ arc gl\en hclo\\ agcncll: ( nl\ l!r,\1 \ l'l th" \\ l: I In -
Lenglh (ov rail) 82" (248m) dIC" BellaH \Iannc l.Jhl'r.Jt<'n .
8e m 22 It (665 m)
Orall 115 It (35m) '\; atlon.J1 \Ianne I I\h":flL l:r\ ILl'.
Power 380 hp CtC)
Sp d 10 knots
Indl\ IJual crUl\l:\ rangl:d from .1
1 he 1\ I reliell<1 (F-ig ~) \\J, huilt Ic\\ da\ III 2 month. hut \\~rl' nl'r-
for I -\ I n I- ngland -\ It hl)ugh re'l\- malh rlannL'l.l at I da~ Il r Ih..: largl'r
tered In the etherland, -\nttllc" ,he
operated rnmanl )Ul l I Barhadl)
, e .11,1 1\ a cl)mhmatllln \l: ,d .
adal (.thle I) lra\\ling, gill netllng . red
tj, hlng. and trollm'. and .11,) ha race
fl)r traInee, H l'r 'peclllc.llll)n arc Fi g ure 3-n. . MV Fr . g. t • .
• sa-It FAO multl- purpoo.
L nOI a" ng ...-• ••• 1 .11 gned to th e
8 am U N OP A O C. rl bb • .., Fl l h . ry
Ora Oev. lopm . nt Pt o)..,t . 1 1·71 .
p .... r
~[I

1 he 1l1J.'tcr, 1'1 lh" \ l: ,el \\ l'rl'

IOternatll'n.llh re'rulled r
ncl Othe r than c.lrt 111 , the ~r" \
"n' I' ted I \\ e t Indian rl' nJllo.:d
Ir"111 CI unln" rartl ·lr.l\n. 111 th"
rrl ,,·t 1 ral 111't: pc nl r"nl lIr tl
n nWl1th .10 ':ud and p rf, rm"d 111
"11"r.1 .' I h"rr ,,11 fe\ In III n.
 pecle taken b) tra"'!. handline or evaluation of the pole-and-line fi hing catches ranged from 18 to 30 pounds
reel . and pot . Effort for the e pecies method in the regi o n (Wagner 1974) . (8-11 kg) per fi hing hour for an
"'a almo t one-half of the total. 0 e r Bait fishes were attracted to the average of five lines . Deep trolling as
one-fifth of the total effort ",as devoted vessel with lights and caught primarily practiced in the almon fishery off the
to live balt/ pole-and-li ne fi hing. but by u e of the lift or "blanket" net. Pacific Coast of North America was
)Ielded onl) about 3 percent of the Catche of live bait averaged 96 also undertaken . but few fish were
total catch . buckets (600 pounds ; 275 kg) per taken.
baiting sta tion (usuall y one night). Best
Other Fishing Methods
locations for baiting were Jamaica .
Pelagic Fish Resource Puerto Ric o, and Trinidad . The re- Other methods were experimentally
source has the potential for intensified applied to the pelagic re ource. Their
The initial Caribbean Fi hery Mi -
harve ting for both human consump- success was varied. but generally low
ion report (Kasahara and Idy ll 1962)
tion a nd bait. in terms of production.
noted that the project area included
P o le-and -lin e fishing produced catch- Gill netting was attempted under a
an o ver'" helmIn gl} large proportion
es rangi ng from nil to over 5,000 pounds variety of circumstances (Wolf 1974)
o f deep o ff hore water. Even though
(app rox imately 2,250 kg) per boat day. with small- and large-mesh nets .
these waters were generally low in
but averaging only about 100 pounds Catches were generally poor , except
productivity , ome emp ha is was pro-
(45 kg) per day. During concentrated for eight night sets off Tri nidad when
g rammed for a e ment of pelagic
efforts to test the effecti veness of 38 shackles of 5-inch mesh nylon net
to ck .
the method in the Windward Isl ands caught over 2 ,000 pounds (900 kg) of
Longline Method a rea during 1970 , the catch per day Spani h mackerel (Scoll1b er 0 ll1 0 rllS
averaged o nl y 228 pounds (100 kg) lIlac ula/us) . jacks. a nd sharks. Flying
Th e re ults of fishing by the MV for a lO- hour fishi ng day .
fish were extremely vulnerable to gill
A Ino/1 a nd th e M V Calwllar through
Even though stocks of tuna and nets ; however , this gear is already
th e lo ngli ne me thod did not offer ot her surface school fishes exist in the
commonly used at Barbados .
encou rageme nt for substantial land - Caribbean, the pole-and-line fishing
Some experimental fishi ng effort
in g of tuna (Kawaguchi 1974b) or method did not show itself to be suffi-
was expended in attracting and con-
re lat ed specie (Kawaguchi 1974a). ciently productive to support a large-
centrating pelagic species around float-
ig ht y-one tuna longline ets resulted scale comme rcial industry. The avail-
ing objects (Wolf 1974) . Method of
in catches ra nging from zero to three abi lity and species composition of
fishing included handlining . trolling,
ti~h per set of hundred hooks . The rela-
bait fis h , their biting and schooling gill netting , and longlining . Catch
ti \ el) low ra te of capture . inexperience behavior, the seasonal abundance of
rates were not high, but the use of
(I th e c rew . and the turnover of avai l- ta rget species , and the water and
artificial structures to concentrate pe-
able tra in ee did not permit operati o ns weather condi ti ons a ll combi ned to
lagic fish such as flyingfish (Exocoeti-
muc h in exces o f 100 baskets (of six keep catch rates below those required
dae), jacks (Carangidae), wahoo
hook eac h ) o f gear et per day. This fo r uch a venture. The method is
(AcanlhocybiulIl solanderi), dolphin
tigure contr as ts with 250-400 ba kets ca pabl e of providing reasonable (Coryphaena hippurtls), tunas (Scom-
of gear et each 24 hours in a normal catc hes for a very few boats duri ng
bridae) , and sharks was successful.
comm ercIa l lo ngllne operation .
easo nal periods of high abunda nce.
o n ~ldenng t he recent standstill
Bait fi h appear to hold minor
In commercial tu na longline fi hing in
prospects for greater exploi tation in Demersal Fish Resource
the wo rld and t he results of their the region . The calculated weight of a ll
Trawling Method
explorat io n . project personnel con-
bait caught exceeded the catch of fish
cluded th at the de \el o pment of a long- Extensive trawling operations
caught by pole and line by two or
line li~h er) b) pa rtiCipating countrie (Rathjen , Yesaki, and Hsu 1969) , in-
three times--a lthough less effort was
\\ o uld no t be profitable The avallabil- cluding exploration , demonstration
ex pended .
It\ )1 the r e ~ource \ane WIth location fishing, and simulated commercial pro-
and ,ea~ () n throughout the lear . The duction fishing , were conducted during
.t nnual \ a nation I~ uncertain , and 19 cruises by the MV Calalllar on the
Trolling
, nllclpated \Ields are not con Ide red continental shelf off the Guianas ,
ddequ Ie Il)r mall local operatIons . Another fishing method utilized for arou nd Trinidad, and off eastern
atc hIn g pelagic pecies wa trolling Venezuela. An extensive trawl re-
Live Bait/Pole-and -Line Method
(Wag ner a nd Wolf 1974) . This method source consi ting mostly of ciaenid
1n p.trt bec.tu~e 01 the lac\.. of uc- "'a ued In nearl y 7 percent (13 fishes ( ea trout , Cynoscioll I'irescells;
u: ~ tn Il)ngllnlng . con\lderable emp ha- rUI e a ll e sel ) of all project ve - croaker, Micropogoll jllrllieri; and
" \\,~ plal'ed 1)f1 the It\e ball/po le- \el lime a nd nearl y all sea time of the whiting , Macrodoll Qncylodon) has
,lIlli ·ltnc melh,)d In II hlng lor pel glc 1 FreRQIlJ during the final year. been how n to exi t between 5 and 20
PCl'lC • prtnelpalh ~kqllal'\.. luna ( K a/- at h rate were low except on the fathoms on the continental helf off
I /lHJI/lIl (' IC/lllld [hI pha~e In\ohed bank north f HI panlOla and in the the Guianas.
'c \1110:111 )1 the hall l1,h re ouree as northern Leeward I land . H ere during The overall catch rate was 676
,dl lhe \utlablc tun ro:~ourcc and lhe earl) monlh of the ear average pound (306 kg) per trawling h ur .

6
Of this catch, 68 percent was market-
able fish, 28 percent was incidental or
industrial fish, and 4 percent inverte-
brates . Production was highest off
Surinam, averaging 735 pounds (334
kg) per hour. Of this catch, 44 percent
was sea trout, 10 percent croaker, and
15 percent fish of other species. The
best catch rate here was achieved dur-
ing the period June through August,
when nearly 1,000 pounds per hour
were caught. Catch rate is positivel y
correlated with fresh water outflow
from the Surinam River. Daytime catch
rates averaged 30 percent higher than
nighttime with peak catches occurring
between 6 a.m. and 9 a.m. The existing
resource approximates 350,000 metric
tons and a sustainable production of
approxi mately 200,000 metric tons
can be expected.
Handline Method
Nearly one-fourth of all project
exploratory fishing effort was devoted
to line fishing (powered reels) for
snappers (Lu tjanidae), jacks (Carangi-
dae), and groupers (Serranidae), and
fi h of other related species throughout
the project region. Average catch
rates per line per 10-hour day by fish-
ing area were: 350 pounds (160 kg) off
the Honduran-Nicaraguan coasts; 150
pounds (70 kg) in the northern Carib-
bean ; 100 pounds (45 kg) around the
banks in the northern Leeward Islands;
15 pounds (7 kg) throughout the re-
mainder of the Lesser Antilles and
southeastern Cari bbean ; and I 15
pounds (54 kg) on the edge of the
continental shelf off the Guianas.
Con idered by the results obtained
duri ng 5 years of exploratory fishi ng ,
the resource of demersal snappers and
related species in the Caribbean and
adjacent waters can support an in-
creased annual production of 75,000
tons, if fully exploited. Present annual
production by local fishermen o n local
grounds is estimated at 20,000-25 ,000
tons . Ciguatera fish poisoning will
remain a deterrent to expansion of the
fishery for snappers, groupers, and
jacks in the northern Leeward Islands ;
an early solution to this problem does
not seem likely (Kawaguchi 1974a).
Pot Fishing
Comparative pot (trap) fishing was
undertaken for snapper and jack (Wolf
and Chislett 1974) during 17 cruises are comparati vely untouched . liver
by the three vessels. and avidad Banks both offer good
The indigenou West Indian "Z" trap fi hing pot enti al. In the northern
pot was compared primaril y with the Leeward Island . banh.s near Saba and
Australian "0" pot and to a lesser ex- Barbuda have excellent potential. and
tent with the "0" pot and a space- Anguilla Bank has good potential.
saving nesting pot fabricated to project Gibb Seamount has limit ed potential .
design. Various sizes of pots, sizes of due to s ma ll size. In th e Windward
mesh, bait, soa king periods, and fish- Islands, the Grenada helf has shown
ing depths were compared. Overall some moderate trap fi hin g potential.
catch rates for th e "Z" pot averaged The water off eastern Venezuela .
about 15 pounds (7 kg) per pot lift Gu ya na . and Surinam have good po-
on the Jamaican Banks. north of tential , while French Guiana has ex-
Hispan iola, and off Venezuela. Guy- ce ll ent pot enti al.
ana, and Suri nam. Catch rates of A menti o ned, ciguatera poisoning
about 40 pounds (18 kg) per lift were is a deterrent to marketing demersal
obtained in the northern Leeward species fr o m th e nort hern Leeward
Island and off French Guiana. Catch Islands; but th e ap pare ntl y cigua tera-
rates were lowest, about 5-10 pounds free silk sna pp er (LlIfjalllls \'i\'llllll~)
(2-4 kg) per lift . in the Windward has contribut ed between 70 a nd 90
Islands. The "Z" pots out-fished the percent of the pot catch from 60 to
" 0" at a rati o of about 2: I and the ot h- 100 fathoms .
er pot by a much greater ratio. Larger
Other Fishing Methods
pots and s mall mesh sizes yield ed a
greater catch rate . Atlantic h erring Bottom lo nglin e fi shi ng for snapper~
(eillp ea hareng lls haren gll s), Spanish and fish o f relat ed species produced
mackerel, and West Indian "robin" unsati sfacto ry result (Kawaguchi
(scad) baits all produced about the 1974a) . Sets in deep wat er ( 100-200
same catch rate . The be t overall catch fathoms) off th e end of the Guianan
rates were obtained from pots soaked continental helf produ ced catches of
for one day or less. The average size of tilefish (L o pholarilll s c //(/J//(/ eieollfi-
snappers was greater with a larger ceps) and gro uper (Epillepheills p .)
sized mesh. A declining catch ra te up to 1.0 pound (0.4 kg) per hook off
was observed during May. Jun e. an d Surinam , but averaging o nl y 0.5 pound
July . (0.2 kg) per hook a lo ng the entire helf
The greatest proportion of the catch edge .
from the Jamaica Banks consisted of Bottom gill net sets were generally
grunt (Pomadasyidae), trigger fish nonproductive excep t for catche~ of
(Balistidae), squirre l fish (Holocentri- bait fish in Kin gsto n , J a maica harbor
dae), and porgies (Sparidae), taken as and a catch of 417 pounds of mixed
a group. North of Hispani ola, snappers mackerels (Scolllh er o lll ortls spp.l.
and groupers con tribut ed about evenly jacks, and ha rks.
to the catches . Nearly 75 percent of Exp lorations of th e spiny lobster
the catch in the north ern Leeward resource (Chislett and Yesaki 197.+)
Island, the Windward Islands, a nd on did not indicate commercial potential
the South American shelf was on the north ern Leeward Islands
snappers. Banks, on th e banks north of Hispan-
In all areas with offshore banks or iola , nor on small banks outh and
havin g continental shelves of any southeast of J amaica. Better results
magnitude, the catch rates were hi gh were obtai ned from the western end
enough to evoke com merci al interest. of P edro Bank, located southwe t of
The sma ller banks off Jamaica would Jamai ca, where catches up to 0.-+5
probabl y not support unlimited effort lobster per trap lift were observed.
because of size, but they have pot en- Incident al effort in the Windward
tial. On the other hand, Pedro Bank is Islands and Tri nidad were not gen-
large enough to provide a good ground erally productive.
for Jamaican fishermen . The eastern
end of the Bank receives some effort
Shark Resource
presently , but it is by small canoes
carrying only a few traps , while the Experimental and ex ploratory fish-
southern and western sides of the Bank ing for s harks was conducted on th e
7
contin ent al shelf off the G uianas dur-
ing eight cruises o f th e M V Calamar
(Kl eij n 1974). Fi shin g during da ylight
was d one by handlining , a small trawl
fo r catchin g bait , a nd at ni ght with one
o r two sets of steel-cabl e botto m
set line.
O ver 4,600 h arks o f 25 species ,
weighin g over 165,000 po und (74 ,8 20
kg) were caught. Nearl y half were
caught during 245 hou rs of hand linin g
with 1-8 line and abo ut th e same
num ber were caugh t with 105 sets or
1,212 hours of steel-cabl e setlin es with
100-175 hooks . Sharks were most
abundant between 15 and 20 fa th o ms
d u ring ovember and December and
off the mouths of th e Ir acou be and
Coppenam e Ri vers . Th e m ore co m-
mon species we re bl ackt ip sha rk
(Car charhi nlls Ii mbafll s), small ta il
shark ( c. p o r oslI s) , bull shark (c. l ell -
cas), and tiger shark (Gal eocerdo
Cll vi eri ) .
The who le area off the coast of th e
G uia nas will yield a n average of 3,000
pounds ( 1,360 kg) of dressed shark
meat (about 60 percent of round
weight ) per 24 ho urs of fis hing, i. e .,
1,000 pounds (458 kg) wi th two steel -
cabl e sets during the nig ht and 2,000
pounds (907 kg) with handli nin g dur-
in g the day altern ated with required
trawl hauls .
Because the catch rate of sha rk is
initially high , and the stock rath er
small , overfishing could easi ly result
from any mtensive fishing efforts.
fis hes ava il abl e to li ve bait fis hin g
a nd to t rollin g, are of insuffi ci ent
mag nitude to offer large-sca le co m -
mercial d evelo pm ent. but when and
where they are abund ant th ey could be
import ant in in creasi ng th e suppl y of
a nim a l protein fo r local res id ent s.
Based o n project ex peri ence , th ere ap-
pears to be littl e hope of d evelopm ent
of a tu na fi hery by the lo nglin e o r
live ba it methods by parti c ip atin g
cou ntries in th e project.
LITERATURE CITED
C hislell, G . R ., and M . Y esa ki. 1974. Spiny
lobs ter fis hin g exp lo rati o ns in th e C ar ibbe-
an. M ar. Fish Rev. 36(9) :43-48 .
K asa hara, H ., and C. P . Idy ll. 1962. Uni ted
N ati o ns Specia l Fund , C a ribbe an F ishery
Mi ss ion , Re port to th e Ma naging Direc to r.
U nited N ati ons, N ew Y ork , 1962: 37 p.
Kawaguc hi , K . 1974a . H a ndline a nd long-
line fi shing ex plorations for snappe r a nd
related s pecies in the Ca ribbe a n a nd adj a-
MFR Paper 1082. From Marine Fis heries Revie w, Vol . 36, No. 9,
September 1974 . Copies of th is pap er, in limited numbers, ar e
avai lable from 083, Technical Information Divisio n, Envir onm en tal
Scien ce In formation Center, NOAA , Washingto n, DC 20235.
M FR PAPER 1083
Handline and Longline Fishing Explorations
for Snapper and Related Species in the
Caribbean and Adjacent Waters
KYOTARO KAWAGU CHI
ce nt wa ters. M ar. F ish. Rev . 36(9) : 8-3 1.
1974b. Ex pl orato ry tuna longline fis h-
ing in th e Ca rib bea n a nd adjace nt wa lers.
Mar. Fish. Rev . 36(9): 6 1-66.
Kl eijn, L. J. K . 1974 . Res ults of expe rimen-
ta l a nd exp loratory sha rk fis hin g o ff north -
eaS lern South A merica . M ar. Fish. Rev.
36(9): 67-77.
Rathjen , W . F . 197 1. Exp loratory fis hin g
aCliv iti es U NDP /FAO Ca ribbea n Fisher-
ies Developme nt Pr oject FA O (Foo d
Agric . Orga n. U .N .) Fish Rep . 7 1(2):237-
248 .
Rat hjen , W. F ., M. Y esa ki , a nd B. H su .
1969 . Traw lfis htng pote nt ia l off north east-
ern South A meri ca . Pr oc. G ul f Caribb .
Fish . Inst. 2 1:86- 110.
Wagner , D . P. 1974 . Resu lts of live ba it
an d po le a nd line fis hing exp lora tio ns fo r
pelagic fis hes in th e Ca ri bbea n. Ma r. F ish.
Rev . 36(9):3 1-35.
Wag ner , D . P., a nd R . S. W olf. 1974 . Re-
su lts of tr oll fis hi ng exp loratio ns in th e
C a ribbe a n. Mar. Fish . Rev . 36(9): 35-43.
Wolf, R . S. 1974 . M inor m isce ll a neous ex-
plorat ory/experiment al fis hing ac ti vities
in the C aribbe an an d a djace nt waters .
Mar. Fish. Rev. 36(9) :78-87 .
Wolf, R. S., a nd G . R. C hislelt. 1974 . Tra p
fis hing explorations fo r snapper and re-
la ted species in the Ca rib bea n a nd adja-
ce nt wa ters. M ar. Fis h. Rev . 36(9) :49-61.

CONCLUSIO NS
T he results of explorations by proj-
ect vessels, as well as oth ers, coupled
wi th an al yses of ongoi ng fis heries ind i-
cate that fis hery resou rces avai lable
to part icipatin g cou ntries in the proj-
ect are not vast. but several offer po-
tential for expansIO n . Foremos t is the
trawl resource on the contin ent al shelf
off north ea tern South Ameri ca . Th e
econd most promisi ng late nt re ource
awaiting greater use is that of s nappers,
Jack . and grouper . T he keys to devel -
opment of the e re ou rces by project
cou ntne a re trai ning of fi hermen in
trawlin g, ha ndl ining, and reel and pot
fi hln g fo r nappers, and th e operation
f fi hm g ve el of the Ize a nd endur-
ance nece ary for the e off hore
opera ll on Re ource of shark and
ba it fi he ,a well a va ri ous pelagic
ABSTRACT - Explorations for snapper and related demersal species
have been condu cted in the Caribbean and adjacent waters by vessels of
the Caribbean Fisheries Development Project. This report presents the
results of th ose explorations wh ich used the handline and bottom set
lo ngline methods on the under- or unexploited shelves and banks within
the project reg ion .
Three project vessels spen t a total of 382 days conducting exploratory
and simu lated com me rcial type production fishing for snappers, groupers ,
and jacks . They produced about 291 ,000 pounds of fish which averaged
about 760 pounds per fishing day or about 14.6 pounds/line/hour of
fishing . The speCies composition of the overall catch was 51 percent
snapper (Lutjanidae) , 34 percent jacks (Carangidae), 6 percent groupers
(Serran id ae), and 9 percent other mixed species. The daily catch rates
rang ed from a to 137 pounds /line /hour. Fishing efficiency and catch
rates are discu sse d .
Catch res ults as related to fishing ground , water depth, bottom type,
fis hing season, and species composition are examined. Results of experi-
mental use of the bottom set longline method are given.
From exploratory fishing results it is estimated that annual production
of snapper could be increased from two to four times by utilizing under-
or unfished grounds .