The biggest fear was a fishhook puncturing the inner tube that kept them afloat far from shore. Then came sharks grabbing their catch and maybe biting their legs, and the current that threatened to pull them out to sea.
A small but growing number of people in the coastal town of La Guaira, just a few minutes from the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, have turned to the sea for sustenance since the COVID-19 pandemic has shut down the Caribbean nation’s already miserable economy.
“If we had steady work, we wouldn’t risk our lives out there,” said Juan Carlos Almeida, who is accompanied by his fishing partner, Eric Mendez. “We’re bricklayers, but there’s no construction.”
Photo: AP
Others who paddled out in small groups up to 8km from shore lost jobs in restaurants or shops catering to beachgoers. All the beaches are closed, but the workers still have hungry children at home in their hillside barrios.
“If we don’t help ourselves and don’t go to work, who’s going to feed us?” 35-year-old Almeida said. “Nobody.”
The new coronavirus hit Venezuela in the middle of March and the government ordered most businesses closed. The virus has steadily spread in the five months since.
Officials have said it has killed fewer than 300 people and sickened about 31,000.
The nation remains largely paralyzed and commercial flights have been grounded at the nation’s main airport in La Guaira. People have little hope life will return to normal anytime soon.
Newcomers to subsistence fishing stick close to the safety of La Guaira’s pier, fearing the open seas.
Almeida and Mendez, 40, considered themselves experienced after spending a couple months entering the water on inner tubes. They made plastic hand paddles and wore flippers on their feet to propel them into the Caribbean.
They wore their extra fishhooks in the brim of their hats — away from the rubber and ready to grab. They dropped fishing lines from a spool baited with sardines.
The fishermen also brought rubber strips to improvise emergency patches just in case of an accidental puncture.
When they caught a fish, they pulled it in slowly to see whether a shark was following.
Despite the risks, the fishermen said being at sea for several hours brought a calm: They were far from the struggles of life on land — the growing coronavirus, economic crisis, hungry children and no work. It is also where the big fish swim.
They paddled back to shore against the currents. Then they walked several kilometers home, barefoot and carrying their catch in a yellow, blue and red backpack the government gives schoolchildren. Their inner tube rested on one shoulder.
“If we can’t work, where do we go?” said Mendez, a husband and father with two children. “God gave us this — the sea. So we go fishing.”
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