■fflE nSHERlES AND HSHERY RESOURCES OF CUBA 



INTRODUCTION 



The fisheries and fishery resources of Cuba were studied, during September and October 

 1942, as a part of a survey of the entire Caribbean area made by a Mission of the United 

 States Government under a coooerative arrangement between the United States Department of 

 the Interior, Fish and Yiildlife Service and the Office of the Coordinator of Inter-American 

 Affairs, The Uission was under the direction of Reginald H. Fiedler, Chief of the Division 

 of Fishery Industries. Fish and Tfildlife Service, United States Department of the Interior. 

 The field party in Cuba consisted of Milton J, Lobell, Fishery Bigineer and Clarence R. Lucas, 

 Fisherj' Economist of the Service. The Mission visited practiczilly all of the localities in 

 Cuba where extensive marine fisheries are conducted. 



Cuba, with an extensive coastline washed by the warm waters of the Caribbean Sea, the 

 Gulf of Mexico, and the Atlantic Ocean, for a number of years has produced fishery products 

 for world coinnierce. Cuban sponges and spiny lobsters normally enter the markets of a score 

 of countries, and several other items are shipped to the United States directly to the north. 



Note: Ihe work of the Mission was facilitated greatly through the cooperation of the 

 Ministry of Agriculture of the Cuban Government. This Ministry made it possible for Dr. Luis 

 Howell Rivero, Dr. Mario Sanchez Roig, and Sr. Emilie de Mesa to accompany the Mission on 

 various field studies and to assist in the survey in other ways. Tne Ministry, also, rendered 

 help in providing and arranging for transportation to the various parts of the Republic. 



Sr. Mariano Guas Pagueras of the fabrica Nacional de Conservas assisted greatly in the 

 work of the Mission, and grateful acknowledgment is made in appreciation of his efforts. 

 Through its president, Senador don Jose Manuel Casanova, the Cuban Cccunission of Inter- 

 American Development offered tremendous encouragement and facilitated the activities of the 

 Mission in every conceivable way. 



The United States Ambassador and his staff cooperated vdth the Mission in many ways, and 

 tnis assistance is acknowledged with pleasure. 



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