PRIMARY PRODUCTION
77
1946, has made 6,606 loans totalling $17,920,600. Of this, some $15,383,769 had been repaid at the end of the year. The fund's ceiling was stabilized at $3 million in 1963. In 1957 the Co-operative for American Relief Everywhere donated $31,000 to form a revolving loan fund for shrimp fishermen, which was increased to $92,400 by a further donation in 1962. This fund is administered by the organization and loans totalling $265,890 have been made; repay- ments total $224,099.
A further important side to the organization's development programme is the provision of primary schooling facilities for the children of fishermen. Eleven schools have been established by the organization and approximately 2,500 fishermen's children were receiving education at these schools with a further 900 attending other schools (including secondary) on scholarships provided by the organization. All Fish Marketing Organization schools have advisory committees composed of leaders of the fishing com- munities served by the schools. In recognition of the importance of vocational training, a secondary modern school is about to be built at Aberdeen. It is intended that at this school fishermen's children will be able to continue their general education beyond the primary level and at the same time receive instruction in voca- tional subjects geared to the requirements of a modern fishing industry. Adult education classes are also conducted in a number of fishing villages.
The organization may one day be run by the fishermen themselves as a co-operative enterprise, but lack of education is a problem that only time can solve. As it is the success of the organization has attracted world-wide interest and many overseas visitors and students come to study its operations.
CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETIES
Since the establishment in 1950 of a Registrar of Co-operative Societies, the co-operative movement has made rapid progress. It is being accepted by a growing number of people, particularly peasant farmers, and fishermen, as a sound and democratic way of improving their lot. An important development has been the growth in the number of co-operative building societies, which are at present formed, with one exception, of local pensionable officers