7. Cuba

Cuba is a small Caribbean island covering a total area of 110860 km². The country has a population of 10.5 million and a low population density of 94 inhabitants per km². Sugar cane, milk and animal products are the main agricultural products, and the major industries include sugar, machinery and tobacco products. Although the country has one of the best medical and health care systems in Latin America, its economy is rather weak. The GNP is $US 20020 million with an estimated annual growth rate of 2.3%.

There are 15 provinces and five geographic regions in Cuba. The four western provinces, Pinar del Rio, Ciudad de la Habana, Habana and Matanzas, are in the occidental region. The central region includes Villa Clara, Cienfuegos and Sancti Spiritus. While Ceigo de Avila, Camaguey, Las Tunas and parts of Holguin constitute the Camaguey-Maiabon region, the oriental region includes the rest of Holguin, Granma, Santiago de Cuba and Guantanamo. The Isla de la Juventud and the adjoining areas of the mainland form the fifth region (Figure 13). Latin American countries, in general, have a low population density resulting in low pressure on land animals as a source of animal protein which has led to a traditional preference for meat over fish. In Cuba, however, fish has always been an important component of the diet and accounts for 40% of the total protein intake. Currently, there is an acute shortage of meat in the country owing to an economic crisis, and fish, which is supplied through the public distribution system, is virtually the only source of protein available for mass consumption. However, fish production is still very low. Estimated per caput consumption of fish is 8.8 kg per year, one-quarter of which is freshwater fish.

Cuba has rich aquatic resources such as long coastlines, coral reefs, swamps, estuaries, small river systems and a number of man-made lakes, which are suitable for fisheries development. The avenues for fishery development include coastal and deep-sea fishing, freshwater and brackishwater aquaculture, mari-culture, and the culture-based fisheries of reservoirs. At present, only coastal fishing and the culture-based fisheries of the reservoirs contribute substantially to fish production (Table 7.1).

Figure 13 Regions and Provinces of Cuba

7.2.1 Marine fisheries and mariculture

Cuba is a long and narrow island, with a northern coastline of 3209km and a southern coastline of 2537 km. This makes a total of 6073 km including 327 km around the Island of Pinos. More than 1000 marine fish species, many of economic value, have been reported in these coastal waters. Coastal fishing is practised mainly in conventional fashion using artisanal craft and gear. The total estimated number of mechanized fishing boats is 2000. The annual catch from the coastal waters is reported to be 60000t deriving mainly from the mechanized boats and country craft. The 28 trawlers, owned by the government, operate mainly on the high seas, catching about 10000t of fish. A large portion of the marine catch, including tuna, lobster and croaker, is exported.

The present brackishwater aquaculture production of prawns in Cuba is a modest 2000t of Penaeus schmitti. The swamps, backwaters and lagoons by the Cuban coastline provide the ideal setting for establishing large-scale brackishwater farms for culturing prized prawn species. Cuba's long coastline offers good opportunity for developing mariculture practices involving oysters, mussels, clams, seaweeds and sea cucumbers, which are all exportable items. At present, Cuba has no mariculture, except for oyster culture which produces 2000t of Crassostrea rizophore.

There is no record of any aquaculture activities from the 16th to the 19th centuries. Although some exotic fish were introduced in 1902 in an attempt to develop recreational fisheries, major efforts to develop inland fish production were initiated only after the revolution of 1959. Cuban freshwater aquaculture has not yet developed on an industrial scale. Production from state Aquaculture Enterprise farms is negligible. Most aquaculture production comes from ministries and departments, other than the Ministry of Fisheries, using water bodies available at their work sites for pond culture operations which cater mainly to the needs of their respective employees. The Ministries and Departments of Education, Sugarcane, Industries and Home and Defence receive technical guidance and some inputs from the Fisheries Department, but the technologies they use result in a low fish yield. The total production from such systems is only 6000t, which is about 25% of the total freshwater fish production of the country. In the 1980s the proportion of aquaculture production was only 2%.

The country has great potential for developing fish culture, although presently the aquaculture production attempts being made by the fisheries ministry are limited to some token exploratory ventures. The Pavon Fingerlings Station produces 30t of American channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) in raceways while in the Villa Clara Province cages of various dimensions installed in the Minerva reservoir produce 18t of tilapia. All the other departmental fish farms in the country are engaged exclusively in fish seed production for stocking the reservoirs. This is in sharp contrast to the situation in many developing countries such as India and Thailand where most farm activities are focused on aquaculture, almost neglecting the needs of reservoir fisheries.

Channel catfish have been cultured successfully in the raceways at Pavon Fish Farm for the last few years. The raceways comprise 14 chambers, each channelling 30m³ of water from a nearby stream. The fish breed naturally in the farm ponds and the seed, weighing 30 g, is stocked in the raceways at the rate of 100/m³. The fish grow to a harvestable weight of 500g in six months on a ration of pelleted feed containing from 27 to 58% protein and fed at the rate of 3% body weight.

Although Cuba has an annual rainfall of 1375mm, all surface drainage is through small, short rivers. These rivers harbour a fish fauna which is not capable of sustaining a fishery of any significance. There are 30 south-flowing and 11 north-flowing rivers in Cuba with a total length of 3932km. They are invariably small, ranging in length from 62 to 343 km, most of them less than 100km long. Consistent with the general trend in Latin America, the island has a long history of deforestation which has adversely affected the riverine environment through excessive sediment load and modifications in the river bed configuration. River flow patterns have also changed owing to the cascading effects of numerous dams which were erected to store water for irrigation. While the country does not have many natural lakes, the swamps of Metazas, Ciego de Avila and Granma Provinces as well as the network of lagoons along the coast do not contribute significantly to inland fish production.

Cuba's reservoirs or man-made impoundments contribute the bulk of the country's inland fish production. The importance of reservoirs as a major inland fisheries resource was recognized as early as 1959 when possibilities of fisheries development were tested for the first time in 13reservoirs with 14 million m³ of water. Since the 1960s, as more and more reservoirs were created for agricultural purposes, added emphasis has been placed on the development of their fishery resources. Today, aside from two large, six medium and 228 small reservoirs, there are numerous small impoundments contributing the bulk of inland fish production. In 1994 reservoirs accounted for 19 235t of the 25235t of fish that originated from the inland water bodies, as compared with 7000t contributed in 1980 (Figure 14).

Figure 14 Fish production in tonnes from the reservoirs of Cuba from 1980 to 1994

In Cuba reservoirs of less than 500ha in area are called presas. There are also an estimated 2000 micropresas, which are very small impoundments, ranging in size from 10 to 500ha, created on small streams in order to store water for irrigation, watering cattle and drinking water. These presas and micropresas constitute almost all the small water bodies of the country, which play a vital role in supplying the Public Distribution System (PDS) of Cuba. It is estimated that the total area under reservoirs is 148000ha.

Compared to many other developing countries, reservoir fisheries are well organized in Cuba mainly because of state-controlled fishing units and an efficient stocking programme.Reservoir fisheries in Cuba are classified as extensive and semi-intensive systems, depending on the size of the water body and the nature of inputs (Table 7.2). The extensive system is followed in reservoirs larger than 500ha in area (presas).

Management of these reservoirs includes regular stocking, enforcement of mesh size restrictions, regulations on the quantum of fishing effort and observance of closed season. The semi-intensive system, practised in some of the micropresas, involves fertilization of water with organic and chemical fertilizers and occasionally feeding the stocked fish. Micropresas were mainly exploited on an extensive culture basis in the past. However, more micropresas are now being brought under semi-intensive culture, largely following the Chinese model. A stocking density of 6000 fish per hectare is generally followed. Pig, cow, and poultry manure is commonly used as an organic fertilizer at the rate of 1t/ha. Inorganic fertilizers such as urea and superphosphate are added at the rate of 700 kg/ha. The fertilization rate is determined on the basis of periodic studies on water quality and plankton.

While semi-intensive culture in micropresas produced 70t of fish in 1987, production increased to 927t in 1989, 1447t in 1990, 2597t in 1991, 4320t in 1992, 4329t in 1993 and 5525t in 1994. The micropresas under extensive culture produced 4150t and the larger reservoirs added 9500t in 1993 (Table 7.3). The average yield from extensive systems ranges from 50 to 250 kg/ha with occasional yields as high as 1300kg/ha. Semi-intensive culture normally yields from 650 to 700 kg/ha with the maximum yield being 3t/ha in rare cases. The yield rates obtained in the raceways (catfish) and floating cages (tilapia) are 80 and 50 kg/m³/yr respectively (Table 7.4).

Since 1990 the contribution from micropresas has been growing mainly because of increased stocking effort. There has been a steady increase in semi-intensive culture production, increasing from 108t in 1986 to 4329t in 1993. The production from extensive culture in micropresas varied from 2989 to 4356t between 1990 and 1993 (Table 7.5).

Details on fish production, stocking, deployment of fishing effort and production trends are known for 28 reservoirs across the country. According to conventional classification by area, there are 20 small (<1,000 ha), six medium (1000-5000ha) and two large (>5000ha) reservoirs.

Zaza reservoir, situated in the central region has a fluctuating surface area that varied between 4500ha (in 1987) and 11400ha (in 1976) during the last 20 years. Total fish production during the period ranged from 350 to 2924t in the yield range of 32 to 472 kg/ha. In 1993, with an average surface area of 9523ha, the reservoir produced 1842t of fish at a yield rate of 189 kg/ha. Tilapia had dominated the reservoir ever since fishing began in 1977 with carp accounting for less than 10% of the catch. However, since 1990 the proportion of Chinese carp has grown steadily and by 1993 it exceeded the catch of tilapia. This is the direct result of the carp stocking from 1986 and the introduction of improved fishing gear to catch the carp. The Alacranes reservoir had an average surface area of 7356ha during 1993, though it varied from year to year within the range of 4150 to 7395 ha. Tilapia stocked in 1974 became acclimatized in the reservoir and sustained a large fishery. During the 1980s the reservoir produced fish at the rate of 234 to 421 kg/ha. However, there were marked fluctuations in the catch. In 1993 the reservoir produced 491t of fish at the yield rate of 67 kg/ha. These two large reservoirs have an average yield of 138 kg/ha.

Six medium reservoirs produced 441t of fish, equivalent to 58kg/ha. The yield of 20 small reservoirs is estimated at 158 kg/ha (Table 7.6). These 28 reservoirs produce fish at the average rate of 125 kg/ha overall.

Cuban reservoirs exhibit a wide range of fish productivity. Ejercito Rebelde reservoir, situated in the occidental region, is the most productive; in 1993 it produced 335t of fish – 141t of tilapia and 194t of carp. Calculated on the basis of the mean surface area over the year, the yield was 1309 kg/ha. During the last 14 years, the yield from Rebelde varied from 148 kg/ha (in 1982) to 1784 kg/ha (in 1981). The two reservoirs in the Camaguey-Maiabon region, Guirabo (377 ha) and Agua Clara (176 ha), yielding 393 and 284 kg/ha respectively also rank high in productivity. Tilapia, which breed in the reservoirs, are the main component of fish catch in most reservoirs. Carp form the major part of catches in Zeza, Ejercito Rebelde, La Juventud, Gramal, Cayojo and Guanabana reservoirs, while they contribute substantially to the catches in Guirabo and Agua Claras (Table 7.7).

7.4 Organization of fisheries in small water bodies

Aquacultural activities, including the culture-based fisheries of the reservoirs, are organized under the National Aquaculture Enterprise (Empresa Nacional de Acuicultura). The enterprise was created in 1970 with the objective of coordinating fisheries-related development in the country, creating the necessary infrastructure for development and utilizing the water resources to their fullest extent. The enterprise has a directorate in each province with the functions of producing fish fingerlings, distributing fish seed to reservoirs, assisting the fishery activities of other departments, training in fish catching techniques, especially for Chinese carp, and supplying fish to the public distribution system. Apart from these provincial units, the enterprise has subdirectorates for research, investments, technical production and economic analysis (Figure 15).

7.4.1 Production of fish fingerlings

Cuba's 26 fingerling production centres, which use mostly Russian-built hatcheries, constitute one of the best-organized support systems for reservoir fisheries management in the world, comparable to that of China. In many countries fish seed produced in nursery farms is often diverted to aquaculture systems, almost neglecting the stocking requirements of reservoirs. In Cuba more than 70% of seed produced is stocked in reservoirs. Since 1990, the number of fingerling production centres has been increasing, and their technical capabilities have improved substantially, resulting in a staggering increase in the quantity of seed produced. The total fish seed output of 2.8 million in 1980 increased to 259million in 1994 (Table 7.8). Nevertheless, even this level of production seems to be insufficient as shown by the inconsistencies in stocking densities followed in different reservoirs.

Most of the fish seed is produced in cemented ponds where it is stocked at a weight of 40 mg and grows to a weight of 10 g. Normally, a stocking density of 60000/ha is followed and the larvae are fed with special feed prepared in the factories owned by the Agriculture Ministry. There are ten such factories producing fish feed using various agricultural wastes in different provinces of the country. A system of cage culture to grow fish larvae from 40 mg to 10 g is also being developed at selected centres at a very high stocking density of 1.5 million/ha.

Fish seed produced at the fingerling production centres is transported to the reservoirs in special containers. A normal container has a capacity of 2.5 m³ and carries about 10000 fry depending on the size. There was no regular stocking of reservoirs in Cuba before the 1980s, except for the release of 500000 seed of tilapia and carp in the Zeza reservoir and 300000 seed of tilapia in the Alacranes reservoir in 1974. Regular stocking on an annual basis has taken place in these two reservoirs since 1989. However, there is no consistency in the stocking density, which ranges from 2 to 1788 fish/ha in Zeza and from 7 to 1887 fish/ha in Alacranes. Stocking rates of small reservoirs are equally erratic. Stocking details for 28 reservoirs in 1993 are presented in Table 7.9. Evidently, size of reservoir has not been a criterion for determining stocking density. It seems likely that availability of seed and proximity of seed production centres are influencing stocking decisions. Better planned distribution of seed among the reservoirs would have resulted in improved productivity.

A noteworthy feature of Cuban reservoirs is the homogeneity of their fisheries exploitation system. All fishing activities in reservoirs throughout the country are organized and sponsored by the Aquaculture Enterprise according to a more or less common pattern. A reservoir is divided into a number of fishing areas, depending on its productivity, and each area is allotted to a group of fishers. The fishers, who have no right to their catches, deposit the fish at the nearest cold storage facility of the enterprise for despatch to public distribution systems. While all boats, nets and other fishing implements are supplied by the government, the fishers are remunerated for their daily labour. Each reservoir has a management council consisting of members of different fishing groups and a representative from the enterprise. The committee makes recommendations for delimiting fishing areas and adjusting the number of fishers according to changes in productivity. Sometimes, fishers from unproductive areas are allowed to move over to more productive areas.

A closed season is observed, the duration of which varies. In most of the reservoirs, a one-month holiday is observed from mid-March to mid-April.

In observance of norms adopted in 1989, each fisher is allotted 4 to 5 gillnets. There is no standard unit for the nets, and the dimensions vary. A net 100 m long and 4-7m deep is common. The minimum mesh size is fixed at 40 mm (stretched) with very few exceptions where 35 mm is allowed. There is a minimum quantity of fish that fishers should catch for the salary they receive, and there is incentive for catching more. The minimum catch limit and the incentive rate for higher catch vary by reservoir. In the Momposton reservoir, the fishers should catch at least 100 kg per day. For the catches within 100-150 kg, they get incentives at the rate of 5 cents (Cuban) per kg. Higher incentive rates apply for higher amounts of extra catches. In the Minerva reservoir, fishers get 14 cents/kg for the first tonne of their catches, 20 cents/kg for catches between 1 and 2t and 26 cents/kg for catches exceeding 2 t.

Because of these incentives there has been a persistent demand from the fishers for more nets. In recent years, the government has started to increase the quota of fishing nets for fishers in some reservoirs following careful consideration of reservoir productivity. However, the chronic shortage of fishing nets in the country is obstructing the provision of more nets. The country is presently undergoing a process of economic reform, which is accompanied by a series of social readjustments. In accordance with this changing socio-economic scenario, the fishing community has begun to demand a better share of their catches. At present remuneration is too low to act as an incentive for more production. A growing section of the fisheries fraternity feels that it is now appropriate to allow 50% of the catch as the fishers' share.

Poaching, which was very rare when the closed economy was in operation, has increased substantially because of the huge disparity between the prices of fish on the open market and the PDS and the growing problem of food shortage in the country. Incidences of violation of fishing restrictions during closed season are also increasing. Similarly, there are problems regarding the availability of essential fishing implements such as nets and boats. Supply of these implements is restricted because of financial constraints faced by the government. A more liberal system of marketing and crop sharing is envisaged under a Master Plan for Aquaculture being prepared by the ministry as part of the country's economic restructuring. This plan, the details of which are not yet available, includes an aquaculture production target of 100000t.

As a part of the national policy to utilize all conceivable resources for food production, water bodies available at the factories, farms and work places of various ministries are being used for fish culture. These are improvised systems using a low level of technology, and depending mainly on organic waste inputs. The fish produced are for the needs of the employees of the ministries. About one-quarter of the fish seed produced in the provincial centres of the Aquaculture Enterprise is distributed to encourage these fish farming activities. These are the only freshwater fish culture systems in the country, contributing about 6000t of fish.

Training the fishers in fishing techniques is an important activity of the centres. Special attention is paid to upgrading their skills in catching Chinese carp which are known to evade the gillnets. Since 1987, many fishers and technical personnel of the enterprise have been trained in China and, in turn, have trained other Cubans in gear fabrication and catching methods for Chinese carp. Twenty Chinese gear specialists are presently in Cuba training the local fishers on fabricating and operating special nets.

Fish, supplied through the public distribution system, has been the only source of animal food for mass consumption in Cuba in recent years owing to a chronic shortage of meat. Reservoirs supply the fish to the PDS on a regular basis. Many reservoirs with adequate production have their own cold storage facilities, while the catch from others are iced and transported to the nearest cold storage facility. Most of the fish is taken by the government to be distributed through the PDS, and a portion is sent to the other ministries for distribution among their employees.

The native ichthyofauna of Cuban rivers is not very rich owing to zoogeographic reasons. The Cuban Archipelago is a relatively recent geological formation that emerged some 20 million years ago during the quaternary period. Mostly covered with Neocene sediments, the island is too young to have a diverse species spectrum, and higher animals are conspicuous by their absence. There are 54 native species in the inland waters of Cuba, of which only 36 are truly freshwater, the rest being either anadromous or catadromous (Table 7.10).

The indigenous freshwater fish species are believed to be descendants of invaders from both neoarctic and neotropical provinces. While poecilidae species on the island came from Florida, the cichlids travelled from South America, when land connections existed with these mainlands. Owing to the poor fish species spectrum, the Cuban rivers never supported a good fishery. Only two species, the common biajaca (Cichlasoma tetracanthus) and the guaso biajaca (C. ramsdeni), grow to marketable size and they cannot be cultivated. These Cuban cichlids contributed from 4 to 7% of the catch 20 years ago, but they are now rarely encountered. Distribution of catch by species from 1981 to 1994 is presented in Table 7.11.

As none of the indigenous species were suitable for cultivation, a large number of exotic fish have been introduced into the country over the last 80 years, mainly to augment recreational fisheries and extensive and semi-intensive aquaculture in reservoirs (Table 7.12). The bigmouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) and common carp were introduced as early as 1917 and 1928 respectively, for recreational and ornamental purposes. Of the 23 species introduced so far, the tilapia (mainly Oreochromis aureus and O. niloticus), common carp (Cyprinus carpio) and Chinese carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix, Ctenopharyngodon idella and Aristichthys nobilis), have all the necessary qualities for cultivation.

Exotic fish, especially tilapia and Chinese carp, are the mainstay of the inland fisheries and played a decisive role in enhancing fish yield from small water bodies. Of the many species of African cichlids, Oreochromis niloticus was the first to be introduced in 1967 from Peru, followed by O. aureus, O. mossambicus, and Tilapia rendalli in 1968 and O. hornorum in 1976 from Mexico. The latest addition is the red variety of O. mossambicus introduced in 1983. All of them were reintroduced during the 1970s and 1980s. Among them, O. aureus and T. rendalli acclimatize most successfully in reservoirs, forming 67 to 80% of the catch in most of the extensive culture systems.

Chinese carp, Hypophthalmichthys molotrix, Aristichthys nobilis and Ctenopharyngodon idella, introduced into the country from the erstwhile USSR, were equally successful in the reservoirs, but it is believed that their contribution to the catch is not commensurate with their standing crop owing to difficulties in catching them. This is more pronounced in extensive aquaculture of larger reservoirs. As mentioned earlier, the authorities are employing Chinese experts to train local gear technicians and fishers in fabricating and operating special nets. However, carp are doing better in the semi-intensive culture of smaller reservoirs in many places. In the Villa Clara Province, many such reservoirs have catch composed exclusively of carp.

Cuba has no legal restrictions on the introduction of exotic fish into open water and therefore is one of the most liberal countries in this regard. This is primarily owing to the fact that the state carries out all fish-related activities. Moreover, there is not much biodiversity to be preserved in the river systems.

Surface gillnets, the most commonly used fishing nets, account for 80% of the fishing gear used in reservoirs. While the length of gillnets varies, a 100m long and 4-7 m wide units are very common. The minimum prescribed mesh is 35 mm (stretched). The majority of the nets used have mesh sizes of 60, 65, 70 and 75 mm. The number of nets issued to fishers is determined by the authorities according to the productivity of the reservoir. Since nets are owned by the government, violations of the prescribed limit on mesh and number of units are very rare. Cast nets, filter nets and trammel nets are also in use, however, their contribution to the total fish catch is not very significant. Long lines are conspicuous by their absence and the simple hook and line is very commonly used by casual and recreational fishers. The law stipulates that the amateur using rod and line should not wade into water but this is seldom observed.

One major problem facing reservoir fishers is low turn out of carp in gillnets. Joint fishing method was introduced in 1987 from China, mainly to improve the catch of Chinese carp. It is a method of catching fish by blocking, driving, gillnetting and filtering which evolved gradually and was perfected by Chinese fishers in the 1960s. Joint fishing method is very efficient in catching fish such as silver carp and bighead carp which exhibit schooling behaviour. Fabrication and operation of this device requires some knowledge of the behaviour of carp in reservoirs. The gear consists of a combination of several kinds of fishing nets with different structures and roles, set up separately in the same body of water. The fish are first dispersed and then made to gather gradually into the designated filter nets to be collected. The main components used in joint fishing method are the trammel net, the set impounding net and a fixed filter net (Figures 16 to 19).

The basic function of the trammel net in the system is to divert the shoal of fish into the desired area. When silver carp and bighead carp get entangled in the trammel net and struggle, they cause the surrounding shoal of fish to move away rapidly. The set impounding net is a long and narrow single wall of webbing used to cordon off a portion of the reservoir. This also guides the shoal into the desired part of the reservoir. When fishing ground is sufficiently reduced, the fish are finally driven into the fixed filter nets which are rectangular and cage-like in shape with bottom, side-wing, wing-end, and leader nets. This is the gear through which the fish are finally caught. The joint fishing method is suitable for reservoirs with varying bottom topographies, widths, depths and fish distribution. This way of fishing is a long process often taking several days. A shoal may be driven around for 50 days before being finally coaxed into the filter nets. The dimensions of various components vary depending on the size, shape and depth of the reservoirs.

All the fishing nets in the country are imported in the form of webbing and there is a chronic shortage particularly in the case of mesh sizes ranging from 80 to 120 mm. Many reservoirs are reported to be using less fishing effort or the wrong mesh, resulting in catches below their potential. For instance, in the Momposton reservoir, where silver carp weighing from 7 to 9 kg dominate the catch, scope exists to increase fishing effort without fear of overfishing. However, there are not enough nets to implement this important management measure. Each provincial station puts forward their requirements annually to Havana for consideration, but import is well below these requirements owing to lack of foreign exchange.

The salient features of state-controlled management of reservoirs are as follows.

• Since all the fishing units are owned and controlled by the government, the regulations on mesh size, number of units and closed seasons are easily implemented.
• The stocking requirements of the reservoirs are well provided by the network of seed production units in the country.
• When there was no open market, poaching was very uncommon in Cuba owing to the inability of the poacher to sell his fish. Recently, however, in the wake of economic reforms and with the beginning of open markets, poaching is reported to have increased.
• Since there is no price differential among various species of fish, the tendency towards overfishing of a particular type of fish is reduced.
• Clashes of interest among different water users is minimal as all the activities are controlled by the state.
• A streamlined and state-controlled marketing system leaves no scope for intermediaries to exploit the fishers.