Floating fishermen of Havana I SLICE I Full documentary

gabriel is a plumber omar a mechanic and bernardo a stonemason but salaries are low and work irregular therefore each man has to create his own solutions it's what's called la lucha the struggle the art of daily survival a combination of pride resignation but also the expression of tremendous energy some cubans eager for dollars resort to trafficking of all sorts gabriel omar and bernardo prefer another alternative two or three times a week when the sea permits they go fishing off the coast of havana they have neither a boat nor a fishing permit they set out on tire truck tubes covered with nylon netting a perfect example of cuban ingenuity and improvisation barely a dozen men fish regularly in this manner and most of them don't venture too far from the coast gabriel and his friends have been fishing this way for 10 years they know by experience that that is where to catch the biggest fish [Music] [Music] the technique consists of first catching small fish which they keep fresh in a makeshift pool attached to their buoy and which they will use for bait [Music] yes [Music] bueno [Music] [Music] as soon as it gets dark they go further out and cast their floating lines 20 or 30 arms lengths of tackle and hooks with live bait then they remain at sea until early morning to watch their line collisions with fishing boats are frequent since the lancheros are not very happy about this clandestine competition and won't hesitate to steal the men's fish and their equipment omar remembers having to swim back to shore one day after fishermen punctured his buoy [Music] [Applause] 6 am gabriel is the last to return [Applause] [Music] foreign okay [Music] on this tropical island where there are no fresh fish available in the market selling fish can bring in a more than decent income a 15-pound bonito or a sea bream for example can sell for a hundred pesos or about seven dollars half the salary of an engineer yes the fish are usually sold in the street on the way home but some hotels and restaurants are also good customers since the prices are lower than those of the rancheros the rest will be eaten by the fisherman's families [Applause] hey from foreign foreign gabriel lives with his mother who has a small pension of 60 pesos a month and his brother fidel who ekes out a living gabriel knows that his family's survival depends on him and fishing plays a major part for him however it's not just a means of survival but a true passion my world is reduced to balancing my buoy and the tension i can stay there for nights at a time breathing the sea air and looking at the city in the distance i see and hear everything but nobody sees me it's a fabulous feeling of freedom fishing is what i really like most when the fishing has been good gabriel omar and bernardo give themselves an evening off it's a chance to get together with family and friends bye during the traditional game of dominoes gabriel's brother fidel prepares dinner foreign foreign [Music] the fish the men catch are a major part of their diet since the libretta or ration book doesn't include meat or fish only a quarter of oil bread sugar oranges and potatoes in very insufficient quantities selling their fish enables them to compensate for food deficiencies by purchasing certain products in the import stores where there are never any shortages although everything must be paid for in dollars point [Music] [Applause] [Music] brown [Music] me [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] um [Music] okay in 1994 many balseros climbed the same wall to set out on makeshift rafts and head for florida oswaldo bernardo's cousin left on a tire tube with two of his friends they crossed the florida straits using flippers for three days and three nights with some eggs honey and lemons for food oswaldo now lives in miami but many others died at sea bernardo omar and gabriel have never even considered leaving their country fishing without a license is theoretically forbidden the penalties are high confiscation of the fish and a fine of 1500 pesos or about 75 a colossal sum in a country where the average salary is nine dollars or less a month there is a great deal of tolerance however since the coast guard which patrols the cuban coast is much more interested in drug smuggling which is very widespread on the sea the real danger of fishing is elsewhere capsizing on a buoy can happen very quickly [Applause] [Applause] [Applause] we often fish more than 500 meters from the coast and out there in total darkness anything can happen we have to be very careful one day i was fishing and a swordfish jumped out just behind my buoy i was so shocked i capsized cargo ships can suddenly appear out of the darkness without any warning the only solution is to clear the passage with a wide flipper movement if not it could pass right over us without even realizing it sharks and barracudas also swim into the bay and they are very dangerous stories of buoy fishermen mutilated by a jaw come to feed on a fish are very frequent this is obviously one of the reasons why gabriel omar and bernardo prefer fishing together [Applause] me [Applause] see all right when the sea is very agitated we don't go out although sometimes the wind and the sea swell can come up in the middle of the night and when the sea is high the waves can throw us onto the rocks or the malecon wall we try to get back to shore as quickly as possible but sometimes the wind and the currents pull us further out and that's something else completely [Music] [Applause] okay [Applause] the night looks promising two good-sized gallegos have already nibbled at the line a stroke of luck that deserves to be celebrated with a little rum [Applause] and now the men have to hold on tight and fish until dawn allowing nothing [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign [Music] you

Channel: SLICE

Views: 463,518

Rating: 4.8927932 out of 5

Keywords: documentary, documentaries, shortdoc, shortdocs, slice, slicedocs, fisher, fish, fisherman, fishermen, cuba, la havana, havana, handiwork, DIY, Do it yourself

Id: E-Ng6DrE2pQ

Length: 20min 53sec (1253 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 14 2021