HAVANA, January (Vicente Escobal, Lux Info Press) - The Cuban ministry of Fisheries recently issued new regulations pertaining to sports fishing, substantially modifying existing rules on the subject.
An advisory government commission decided to limit the taking of underwater species to the period from December to June on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, and everyday during July and August. The license fee was set at 100 pesos, to go into effect starting with the current month of January. The
new legislation sanctions with particular severity fishing without a license or with an expired license.
Several fishermen expressed unhappiness with the new rules, since many of them fish exclusively for recreation and not for commercial purposes. They also spoke against the increase in the license fee.
The government commission is currently evaluating new rules for commercial and sports fishing in areas near tourist attractions with the aim of preserving the flora and fauna that has its natural habitat in these areas.
Experts queried coincide in stating that tourist enterprises generally disregard the conservation of the ecosystem and of biological balance.
Development in this sector cannot be brought about at the expense of environmental deterioration, because in a relatively short period of time it could bring about an irreversible extinction of species not only in the sea but also on land, as a consequence of the irresponsibility in the design
of the installations, basically in places where there are important concentrations of native species.
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