| | | There are very few boats in Cuba. Not saying there are "no boats in Cuba." But they have a problem with their citizens going out on the seas ... they have tended not to come back.
During your stroll, take care to notice that there are few boats in the harbor, especially fishing boats. Cuba is an island nation with no fresh seafood. If you were a Cuban fisherman just 90 miles from Key West, would you return to Havana with your catch?
stylehiclub.com
Cuba Prohibits Its Citizens from Boarding Boats
havanatimes.org
Cuban Coast Guard Burns Improvised Fishing Boats June 22, 2012
Yenisel Rodriguez Perez
 A Styrofoam fishing boat.
HAVANA TIMES — The Cuban Coast Guard has burned hundreds of improvised fishing boats of “informal fishermen.” The ships’ crews await the arrival of nightfall to spot the luminous buoys of these fishermen and then intercept them.
Many of the burned boats consisted of Styrofoam blocks reinforced with wooden planks, contrived watercraft that enabled families to obtain seafood that’s so scarce in Cuba.
From this has been developing a silent confrontation between the perseverance of the informal fishermen and the insensitivity and authoritarianism of the maritime crews.
The incidents take place mainly in the waters off semi-urban communities of the capital, especially those in areas off of East Havana. Every night, hundreds of informal fishermen take to the sea to face the dangers of the coastline, which include strong currents, shark attacks, the possibility of having a fishing accident and mistreatment by the authorities themselves.
 Fisherman with his catch.
With the passage of time, a fishing culture has been forming among these individuals. In communities like Alamar, people’s knowledge about fishing using Styrofoam blocks has been established.
This is the principal circumstance that makes it so difficult for the Coast Guard to eradicate or significantly diminish this type of fishing.
The Cuban government doesn’t accept citizens freely accessing the riches of the sea. They do not tolerate people engaged in this practice of “autogestion” (self-managed initiative from below) for family survival, since at the same time the state is responsible for the country’s precarious seafood market.
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