Review of marine biological studies on the Guyana shelf

Until recently biological research in the sea off Suriname had not received much attention. There was no fishery in the open sea and there was no incentive to investigate this unknown world. But in the last twenty years, experiments have gradually led to serious study of the subject. Before the second world war, schooner fishing in the open sea to catch red snapper fish, as already carried out off (British) Guyana, was tried by the Curaçao Trading Company in Paramaribo, but this experiment was not a success. During the war, a study of the local fisheries became urgent, to find out how far Suriname was able to supply the people with protein food.