THE CARIBSKAN AREA — CUBA 



Steps should be taken to keep the existing fishery industries operating throughout 

 the '.'lar. The industry is an Laportant asset of Cuba. Its boats, gear, shore facilities, 

 and communities probably can be maintained in operation if attention is paid to its con- 

 dition durii-g the V/ar and its needs administered to. Assistance can be provided as occasion 

 defnands 'oy such means as fixing and eniorcing minimum price limits to the fishermen, estab- 

 lishing maxiiauia prices to the cc. sumer, encouraging purchase of fish by public institutions, 

 popularizing fish by publicity, encouraging cooperatives, obtaining fishing supplies and 

 materials, and setting reasonable price limits on supplies and equipment. 



During the 'ilaar, the development of large, new fishing industries doe not appear feasible 

 unless comparatively large emergency food supplies are needed that can be obtained from the 

 fishery resources. For such emergencies, the established fisheries have limited adaptability 

 because the types of gear in use permit only a cooiparatively small production of fish for the 

 fishing effort aiployed. Other types of gear used on these and other fishes give more promise 

 for the creation of stocks of low-priced fish that could replace imported salt cod in the diet 

 of low-income consumers. 



Possibly, sufficient quantities of other fishes occur that could be salted and exported 

 to Puerto Hico or other points of war-time stress. These other fishes include the jacks, the 

 mullets, Spanish mackerel, the tunas, and possibly some others. The availability of these 

 fishes in this area has never been accurately determined. They have never been used to any 

 great extent in coanerce because, being migratory, they are available for captui'e only for 

 short periods or seasons and they are not normally caught by stationary gear operated from 

 sail or rowboats, V/hen large catches have been made in the past, with such gear as seines, 

 the markets have been unable to absorb, at reasonable prices, the quantities secured. Salting 

 techniques have not been adequately perfected to give the fishermen encouragement to catch 

 such fish far the salt-fish trade . 



The use of these migratory fish appears feasible only through operaticm of special projects 

 sponsored by the Government of Cuba or with its assistance. Private enterprise that has been 

 unable in normal times to create a system of use for these resources cannot logically be relied 

 on to use them when "War has made facilities and gear difficult to obtain, even though prices 

 may have increased. In addition to fishing gear, boats, and fishermen, shore facilities for 

 processing and holding fish supplies must be provided to prosecute such fishing operations. 



While it is possible to test the availability of migratory fish by sailing, these find- 

 ings cannot usually be applied without devoting at least a year of investigational work. This 

 is true because these species are usually seasonal in their appearance. Often, coirplete re- 

 liance can be placed on methods used elsewhere in fisheries for the same or similar species. 

 In any such efforts, assistance of trained fishery technicians is needed to make observations, 

 to specify gear for use, and to analyze the effect of the operations on the resources. 



POTENTIAL FISHERY INDUSTRIES 



TOiile Cuba's economy is predominantly agricultural, nationally-produced fish have become 

 important in the nutrition of the country. TOiile the population of less than 5 million people 

 can be nourished with relative ease from the abundant rich soil of the island, fish is re- 

 cognized widely as a desirable food and, apparently, is consumed habitually because of its 

 abundance and regularity of supply, good quality, and relatively reasonable prices. Imported 

 dry-salted cod is utilized particularly because of its high nutritive value and its very low 

 cost to the consumer. 



Un\iaed Resources 



Cuba is using but a small part of her available fishery resources, TJhile some areas such 

 as Batabano are probably overfished, the fisheries in other areas on both the south and north 

 coast could be prosecuted more Intensively, Furthermore, the bulk of the fishing intensity 

 is placed on a r-elatively small number of species, and these species are chiefly the bottom 

 and reef forms. Vast quantities of mullet, jacks, snooks, sardines, and anchovies are available 



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