54 



Cuba (Contd.): 



clonal de la Pesca" (INP) ) did not own or op- 

 erate commercial fishing vessels. After Cas- 

 tro's takeover, and the nationalization or ex- 

 propriation of larger fishing companies, the 

 INP built up a state -owned fishing fleet. The 

 State Fishing Company ("Empresa Estatal de 

 Pesca") was formed to increase fisheries pro- 

 duction along Soviet lines --by direct state 

 capital investment and ownership of the means 

 of production. The company is important now 

 and in potential export picture. 



Today, the state -owned Cuban fishing fleet 

 consists of 3 major segments: the Cuban 

 fleet, the Gulf fleet,- and the Cayo Largo del 

 Sur fleet. 



Status of State -Owned Fishing Company 

 ("Empresa Estatal de Pesca") 



CUBAN FISHING FLEET ("Flota Cubana de Pesca"): 

 June 30. 1965 ; 



2 trawlere (bought from Poland in 1962); now used for 



research 

 5 tuna vessels (bought from Japan in 1962) 



5 side trawlere (SRTs obtained from Soviets in 1962) 

 1^ tuna vessel (Spanish ownere; operates from Havana) 



13 vessels on June 30, 1965. 

 Planned 1966 deliveries: 

 20 tuna vessels (from Spain) 



6 Cod vessels ( " " ) 



6 Victorian-class vessels (from Cuban shipyards) 

 32 vessels planned for 1966. - 



GULF FLEET ("Flota de Golfo"): 



58 vessels (Lambda and Ro classes) June 30, 1965. 



65 vessels (estimate) to be delivered by end of 1966 from 



Cuban shipyards 



120-130 vessels at end of 1966. 



CAYO LARGO DEL SUR FLEET ; 

 June 30, 1966: 



30 vessels (Sigma and Cardenas classes) 

 1 lobster boat (Cardenas shipyard) 



31 vessels, June 30, 1966 



• The Cuban fleet (table) is by far the most 

 important. It is earmarked for rapid expan- 

 sion. Founded in June 1962, it started oper- 

 ations with a few trawlers and tuna vessels 

 bought or otherwise obtained from Poland, 

 Japan, and the USSR. The tuna vessels oper- 

 ate mostly in the Gulf of Mexico and Carib- 

 bean, but they also have traveled to waters 

 off Recife, Brazil, in the South Atlantic. A 

 major expansion of this fleet was planned for 

 1966 with the purchase of 20 tuna vessels 

 from Spain. Trawlers obtained from the USSR 

 operated for a while with a Kaliningrad -based 

 group of Soviet vessels fishing in the Gulf of 

 Mexico. In 1965, when the USSR decreased 

 its Gulf fishing, the 5 trawlers lost opera- 

 tional and exploratory support and their land- 



ings fell off 18 percent from 1964 (data avail- 

 able only for first half of both years). For a 

 short time, the Cuban trawlers operated also 

 on Georges Bank and off Canada's east coast. 

 Finally, they settled down in the traditional 

 fishery on Campeche Banks off the Yucatan 

 Peninsula in the GuLf of Mexico. There will 

 be an important expansion of Cuban fishing 

 into North American waters in 1967, when 

 the cod-fishing vessels ordered from Spain 

 in 1965 for 1966 delivery become operational. 



• The Gulf fleet has about 100 vessels of 

 the "Lambda" and "Ro" classes --a capacity 

 of 107 and 43 gross tons, crew of 15 and 10 

 fishermen, respectively. That fleet will be 

 expanded greatly in coming years. 



• The Cayo Largo fleet, based in Canar- 

 reos Key east of Isla des Pinos, is import- 

 ant as a training center for young fishery 

 apprentices (about 200) from the Giron Fish- 

 ing School, although the vessels are few and 

 small. Cayo Largo itself is being built up as 

 a fish-processing and ship -repairing base. 



SOVIET FISHERY SPECIALISTS VISIT 



The Soviet Deputy Minister for Food In- 

 dustries visited Cuba during the last week 

 of September 1966. Included in his party 

 were two top-flight engineers from the So- 

 viet Ministry of Fisheries; both are associ- 

 ated with the Scientific Research Institute for 

 the Mechanization of the Fishing Industry 

 (NIKIMPR). 



The NIKIMPR has designed all recently 

 introduced mechanized lines in the Soviet 

 fishing industry, both on shore and aboard 

 ocean-going vessels. It is likely that the Soviet 

 Union, under the technical fishery aid agree- 

 ment with Cuba, is introducing in that country 

 her recent innovations in fish processing. 



Brazil 



MOBILE FISH MARKETS 

 ARE SUCCESSFUL 



Mobile markets built on Volkswagen Kombi 

 vehicles and used by the State Government of 

 Bahia, Brazil, have been successful in selling 

 frozen fish and a few other products. 



