|
Portugal Forestry and Fishing
Over a third of the mainland was forest and woodlands,
and
commercially valuable timber stands included pine, cork
oak, and
eucalyptus. Pine was used not only for timber but also for
resin,
pitch, and turpentine. Eucalyptus, a fast growing import
from
Australia, had become a major source of pulp and paper.
Cork oak,
found mostly in the Alentejo, was the source of processed
cork, a
traditional Portuguese export commodity accounting for
about 60
percent of world sales.
The country's long coastline and seafaring tradition
made
fishing a significant, but declining, source of income and
jobs.
Lisbon, Setúbal, Matosinhos, and Portimão were Portugal's
main
fishing ports and centers of commercial fish processing.
Of the
more than 200 edible species caught in Portuguese coastal
waters
and off West Africa, the most valuable was the sardine, an
important source of domestic food supply and, in canned
form, a
traditional manufactured export product.
Notwithstanding Portugal's maritime tradition, the
country's
fishing industry in terms of fish catches in 1986 (390,000
tons)
compared unfavorably with those of other small European
countries, notably Norway (1,898,000 tons), and Denmark
(1,871,000 tons).
Data as of January 1993
|
