A state company from Camagüey captures lobster for export, in the fishless seas of Cuba
HAVANA, Oct. 30 The Industrial Fishing Company of Santa Cruz del Sur Argélico Lara Correa, from Camagüey, expects to capture more than 250 tons (t) of lobster by the end of 2023 for export.At the same time, it works to import sausages and products for the consumption of the population.
Of the quantity planned to fulfill the export plan and improve the company’s economic indices, 188.3 t have been captured, according to Nelson Toledo Cabrera, general director of EPISUR, to the state-run Cuban News Agency (ACN).
The manager said that the company today shows positive indicators “by meeting sales, income, an adequate level of expenses and the average salary of workers exceeds 10,000 pesos,” ACN quoted.
The aforementioned sum indicates that these workers earn about 100 dollars a month, according to the official exchange rate of 1 dollar for 120 Cuban pesos. In the informal market, their salaries are equivalent to less than $50. However, these salaries are five times the minimum wage in Cuba, which was set at 2,100 pesos, with the implementation of the Ordering Task.
While EPISUR plans to fish 250 t for export at the end of the year, within the industrial team it is working “on the import of a new line of sausages and products that will significantly increase production for the population through marketing in fishmongers and points of sale.” sale,” as explained by Toledo Cabrera.
While the regime exports lobster, Cubans suffer from hunger and more people beg or look for food in garbage containers. The import of, at least “sausages and shaped” appears as a hope, if the products are sold at prices that the pockets of the population can afford.
The fact that EPISUR is about to meet its goal of capturing lobster for export in 2023 contrasts with government explanations for the absence of fish in the diet of Cubans.
These explanations have ranged from the lack of fish in Cuban waters to the more than 60 boats that are stopped in the country due to lack of motor.
In June, the Vice Minister of the Food Industry, Mydalis Naranjo Blanco, said on the radio and television program Mesa Redonda that the seas surrounding the Island do not have enough fish for the consumption of Cubans.
A little more than a week later, the Government announced the export of 94 tons of pink shrimp caught in the Caribbean Sea, south of Ciego de Ávila.
Furthermore, through the Trading Economics site and the United Nations Comtrade database, representative of more than 99% of global merchandise trade, that, contrary to what official officials say, there is fishing production in Cuba. But not for the inhabitants of the Island.
According to official Canadian figures, that country imported products from Cuban seas worth 9.44 million dollars in 2022 alone, below the 11 million in 2021 and almost 12 million in 2019.
This month, the Minister of the Food Industry, Manuel Sobrino Martínez, said that there are more than 60 stopped boats in the country, so “fishing activity is not going well this year.”
According to Sobrino, the plan has been fulfilled so far only 58%, with 23% less than what was done in 2022. “We have more than 60 ships stopped in the country.
A boat engine ranges between 25,000 and 40,000 dollars, the usual suppliers of this technology do not want to sell to us or they want the money to be given to them in advance,” he justified.
