2023-06-22 11:51:55
The intervention of the Vice Minister of the Food Industry, Midalys Naranjo, at the Round Table, where she refers to the fishing activity on the island and explains why fish is not consumed, has been viral for a few hours in Cuba.
At the beginning of her speech, the leader considered it “opportune” to clarify that although Cuba is “a country surrounded by sea, our waters do not have the levels of fish that we need to meet the demand of the population.” It has been precisely this statement that has been disseminated the most on social networks.
The Vice Minister also explained that “between 1976 and 1990 we had a fleet that fished in international waters and for this reason Cuba received around one hundred thousand tons of fish manually.”
However, “starting in 1992 there was a gradual withdrawal of this fleet from these seas and in 2002 we did not have it practically active,” he specified. According to Naranjo, this also affected the entry of fish to Cuba.
“During the years 86 to 2009, Cuba also imported a considerable level of fishery products, around 33 thousand tons (…) obviously, given the situation we have today, it is not possible to achieve it, therefore, it is not the formula for us to be able to have fish in our country,” he added.
WHY DO YOU NOT EAT FISH IN CUBA?
The vice minister also mentioned the Fisheries Law approved in 2019, but pointed out “that it does not foresee increases in marine catches.”
“We have a law, but this law does not necessarily provide for these increases that we need to supply the population, therefore, in this situation, the agency is working on the implementation of the fishing activity development program, specifically aquaculture activity,” said.
However, the leader admitted that “this program has also been affected” because “it depends on food for feed and it is a resource that we do not have today in the country to be able to have a sustainable development of this intensive aquaculture.”
Without fish, without a fleet, without feed, what is done in Cuba then to eat fish? Midalys Naranjo assures that all this has resulted in the “need to go to the development of extensive aquaculture because this modality does not need feed”.
“Here what we have incorporated is the cyprinid (the tench). Cubans are perfectly aware of the issue of tench, which does not need feed to be able to develop in this activity”, he stated. “Unfortunately, it is a crop that also takes longer. We need 18 months in extensive farming to be able to have a fish of commercial size”, he added.
The vice minister also mentioned that “work is being done to increase the production of fingerlings, which will allow the planting of all the reservoirs in the country and all the little holes that have water.”
1687436914
#Cuban #waters #levels #fish #meet #demand #population #vice #minister