The abundance of fish expressed as area backscattering strengths ref. 30 dB gain are shown in Figure 3. Pelagic species as sardines, carangids and scombrids dominated the biomass. The contributions of anchovies and demersal species were small. The dominating species are indicated in the figure. An overlapping area covering about half of the Gulf of Venezuela have been included to give a coherent picture of distribution along the coast. The catches in pelagic hauls are given in Appendix 3 and length frequency distribution of dominating species in Appendix 4. In general the registrations were low especially in the western part with occasionally small patches of shoals. The distribution and abundance are similar to the results of previous surveys.
