The paradox of an island with thousands of kilometers of coastline that can no longer put fish on the table

After a lifetime by the sea, millions of Cubans can no longer put fish on the table. This was denounced by Food Monitor Program. (AP Photo/Ramón Espinosa)After a lifetime by the sea, millions of Cubans can no longer put fish on the table. This was denounced by Food Monitor Program, as reported by Radio Martí, a U.S. government broadcaster based in Miami: the organization documented that fish catches on the island fell by more than 50% in four years. The figure comes from a thread published last week on X. There, the entity cited figures from the National Office of Statistics and Information (ONEI) to ask directly: "Where is the fish for the population?" Total gross catches of fish and shellfish fell from 46,386.5 tons in 2020 to 22,330.6 in 2024, according to official data compiled by Food Monitor Program. That 52% reduction hit the fish category especially hard, which went from 35,148.8 to 18,064.7 tons in the same period, a drop of nearly 49%. Fishing production collapsed due to lack of fuel, deteriorating infrastructure, technological obsolescence, and state controls that restrict fishermen, while aquaculture also failed to compensate for the contraction. The result is a food that has gone from routine to exceptional for most households. FILE PHOTO: A man fishes near the Cuban-flagged tanker Alicia, docked at the Matanzas terminal, in Matanzas, Cuba, on February 10, 2026. REUTERS/Norlys Perez/File PhotoAquaculture followed the same downward trend. Tilapia production fell from 2,153.7 tons to 790.3 between 2020 and 2024, and that of claria catfish plummeted from 4,428.3 to just 329.1 tons, according to the same official records cited by the organization. Food Monitor Program emphasized the geographic paradox: Cuba has 5,746 kilometers of coastline and an insular platform of more than 50,000 square kilometers. Despite this, state fish markets rarely offer sufficient products, according to the entity's denunciation as cited by Radio Martí. Species such as bonito, tuna, cubera snapper, red snapper, and sierra mackerel circulate mainly through informal channels. In those circuits, prices range between 650 and 900 pesos per pound of uncleaned fish."For millions of Cubans, fish has ceased to be part of the daily diet and has become a luxury," the organization stated, as reported by the broadcaster. "Today they survive more as family memory than as accessible food," Food Monitor Program added. Eggs, cigarettes, and diapers are seen for sale at the entrance of a house in Havana, Cuba, on Wednesday, March 13, 2024. For 60 years, the ration book was the pillar of food supply on the island. But things have changed, and in recent protests the demonstrators' slogan was "electricity and food," referring to the recurring blackouts and food shortages. (AP Photo/Ariel Ley)The fish crisis is not an isolated case. A recent report by the World Food Programme —a United Nations agency— released in August, noted that Cuba imports around 80% of the food it consumes and spends about USD 2.4 billion a year on those purchases. Between 2018 and 2023, Cuban production of pork fell 95%, rice 87%, beans 70%, and milk 58%, according to official statistics compiled by that agency. The ration book, the state rationing system, has for years failed to cover basic nutritional needs. The study There Is Hunger in Cuba 2025, presented by Food Monitor Program in May, found that 96.91% of the Cuban population lacks adequate access to food. Some 33.9% of households had at least one member who went to bed hungry in the month prior to that survey. The loss of access to fish has direct consequences for a population whose diets are increasingly monotonous, Food Monitor Program warned. The food provides proteins and other essential nutrients, whose absence particularly affects children, the elderly, pregnant women, and people with chronic illnesses. A fisherman hands over the day's catch from an improvised raft in the water to the shore in Cojimar, east of Havana, on Wednesday, March 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Ramón Espinosa)The organization linked this crisis to estimates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, according to which between 1.4 and 4.2 million Cubans did not reach a daily threshold of 2,100 calories in 2023. The range depends on different methodological scenarios, the entity specified. This food deterioration coexists with an energy crisis that worsens every link in the chain. Prolonged power outages, some of up to 20 hours according to recent testimonies gathered by other media, directly affect the preservation of perishable foods such as fish. Food Monitor Program attributed the entire situation to a model that controls resources, restricts fishermen, and produces less and less. "An island without fish on the table is not just an economic anomaly," the organization stated, describing Cuban consumers trapped between "substitutions, lines, rumors, and memories."