Rafael Fernández, a responsible spearfishing advocate in Cuba, passed away while practicing this risky sport in the seas adjacent to Playa Baracoa.
The journalist Michel Hernández dedicated an emotional post on Facebook where he mentions that Fernández, who was his friend, passed away while practicing solo spearfishing on May 22nd. His body was found by a couple of fishermen on the shore of Baracoa Beach the following day.
He was 42 years old and had died in a complete challenge. The same challenge he faced in life and also in death. The day before, someone saw him enter the sea, but they did not see him return. Six or seven years ago, this young Cuban, a physics graduate from the University of Havana, who lived between Cuba and Canada, had found in the sea his fulfillment, his intimate space of peace," recounted Hernandez, who attended the funeral.
He used to go fishing by free diving down about 30 to 35 meters, which is considered "a respectful distance"; and that "Rafa", as his acquaintances called him, defied one of the premises of fishing: "Not going alone to the sea."
He added that he was a lover of the underwater world and managed to show his friends the beauties of the sea, "not just the simplicity of the reefs or the raging wave", but "an immensity that they did not know".
Rafa was known for being a responsible fisherman, not a predator, and he respected his rule of only catching one fish on each occasion.
"He had a principle. He was not one of those fishermen who go out with a predatory spirit. In the depths, he searched for the right fish and if he didn't find it, he would leave empty-handed. For him, it was that fish or nothing," Hernández said.
The Fernandez family scattered his ashes in the sea at Playa Baracoa on May 27th, in a ceremony attended by his friends.
Underwater photographer Marcos Louit Ramos also paid tribute to Rafa with an image that was used in the first call to the workshop on Recreational Fishing at the Fisheries Research Center (CIP); and called on his colleagues to respect the phrase that ended each class: "NEVER FISH ALONE".
He reported that the sea brought them together, as well as their work to bring biologists and fishermen together in projects for responsible fishing with the protection of marine ecosystems.
Last February, a Cuban resident in the Isla de la Juventud also died while spearfishing in the waters of his territory, as confirmed by his brother on social media.
The young man, identified as Joaquín Carmona Vázquez, drowned after trying to catch a Guasa grouper - also known as a giant grouper - that dragged him towards a cenote, from which the fisherman was unable to resurface.
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