Juan Manuel Cabrera Toledo is 20 years old and has always liked fishing. At 14 years old, when he accompanied his uncle to fish, he decided that when he grew up he would dedicate himself to it.
At 16 he recovered an abandoned boat and began to go fishing alone, with so much enthusiasm that one day they found him more than 20 miles north of Alegranza. He wasn't really alone, because his dog Kiara was with him, who still accompanies him.
A year ago, at 19, he bought a large boat, which had not been fishing for several years, and he restored it himself. Meanwhile, he studied the skipper's course at the Lanzarote Fishing School and as he lacks practical hours, he has a skipper hired.
The beginnings were not easy. “It was difficult for me to get the boat. It had been stopped for about 4 or 5 years, but the owner initially didn't want to sell it to me. Between everyone we managed to convince him. I had it in the shipyard for a month and a half, I painted it and renovated it and I have been with it for a year and a half now.”
Cabrera does almost everything alone, but he has a fisherman cousin who has been advising him from day one. His schedule depends on the sea. “I go out when the weather is good and I take days off when the weather is bad.”
“There are months when I don't even earn enough for gas oil and other months when I get paid for two or three months”
The catches also fluctuate. “I go fishing for bocinegro, grouper, tuna or comber. The fishing depends on the day. Sometimes I have come with 3,000 kilos of tuna and almost 200 of white fish. The days that go badly can be 10 kilos or less.”
Which is also reflected in the salary. “There are months when I don't even earn enough for gas oil and other months when I get paid for two or three months.”
The white fish “all goes to the La Graciosa fishermen's association” and the tuna “I unload it in Órzola”. Cabrera explains that for some fish they pay him up to 8 euros per kilo. Tuna is cheaper, the skipjack, they buy it from me at 1.15 euros.”
"Fishing is very hard, but if you like it, go ahead. I sometimes take friends fishing and many tell me that they don't know how I can stand it without dozing off all day”
Asked about the requirements to go fishing, Cabrera explains that “the fishing permit is held by the boat and I got the skipper's license, but as I still lack hours, I have a skipper hired.”
“I was going to fish in the mornings and study in the afternoons”. For four months he didn't stop and some days, he also worked at night: “I left class, came to La Graciosa, left the boat in Órzola, put out the drums for the moray eels and collected them before dawn.”
When he has all the hours of experience, he will work alone, but for tuna fishing, in summer, he will hire someone: "I will have to have a person with me.”
For the moment he fishes in the waters of La Graciosa, but he is considering going further. “I haven't gone to Fuerteventura yet because I was studying. I would also like to reach, sooner rather than later, the banks that are in the northern areas, the one of the Concepción, above Roque del Este and another further north in the direction of Madeira.” There, he explains, he can get bottom fish such as wreckfish or forkbeard.
Cabrera acknowledges that, for the moment, he makes a good living from fishing. To the question of whether he would recommend this profession to other young people, Cabrera responds: “Fishing is very hard, but if you like it, go ahead. I sometimes take friends fishing and many tell me that they don't know how I can stand it without dozing off all day.”