Peru’s Production Ministry (PRODUCE) has traditionally opened the anchovy fishing season for the north-central zone in the days following Easter break, and the country’s fishing companies are eagerly awaiting the launch after only catching 80 percent of the total allowable catch (TAC) in the previous season.
The country’s anchovy fishery, which targets both Engraulis ringens and Anchoa nasus, is the largest by volume in the world and is a primary source of much of the world’s fishmeal and fish oil. Peru divides its anchovy fishing areas into two regions – south and north-central – with different capture limits and seasons set for each. The north-central is Peru’s main fishing region, with capture measuring several times that of the south region.
While fishers remain positive about the season with the knowledge that the anchovy biomass is healthy at some 10 million metric tons (MT), there are some obstacles that need to be faced, according to Adriana Giudice, the CEO of San Isidro, Peru-based fishing company Austral Group.
“There has been a mixture of juveniles and adults and that has made it difficult to catch to the extent that it led to many banned areas [during the last season], about 80 areas closed, and that makes fishing difficult,” she told SeafoodSource. “There will always be an incidence of juveniles, so there are limits established by [the Peruvian Institute for Marine Studies] Imarpe in the percentage of juveniles allowed in catches. We just hope that the biomasses separate a little more as was normal before, with a lower incidence.”
Other issues out of the fishing companies’ control could also affect the season, such as increased rain and wind, and fluctuating sea temperatures and salinity, which may send the biomass to deeper waters, she said.
“We have seen very cold years lately that have caused a lot of mixing between adults and juveniles, and there are smaller fish that are already spawning, which could be an effect of climate change,” Giudice said. “A long time ago this happened with hake in the north, in which authorities had to reduce the minimum capture-size because they realized that hake had reduced in size, but continued to spawn and have a life cycle.”
In the particular case of Austral Group, during the last season “we didn’t do well,” Guidice said, with the company catching 70 percent of its alloted quota.
“The truth is that it was one of the most-complicated seasons we have had in the last few years…This was due to the location of the fishing in the far north, where we have no plants and we could only work with the Coishco plant and to some extent with the Chancay plant,” Giudice said. “The fishing was mostly further north, up in Bayóvar, so it was very complicated.”
Observers also acknowledge that PRODUCE opened that season too late in the year, toward the end of November. With most fishing crews taking holiday breaks in December, it created a labor crunch for fishing firms.
The lower-than-expected catch will affect Austral Group’s fishmeal and fish oil production and the first quarter 2023 results, Giudice said.
Even as it was weathering a difficult fishing season, Giudice said Austral Group was working to reduce its environmental footprint, beyond complying with legal requirements.
The efforts are paying off, as evidenced by the company becoming Peru’s first fishing firm to receive government certification for clean production. In achieving the “Clean Peru Seal,” Austral Group committed to reutilizing sludge generated in the fishmeal-making process. The commitment was to achieve 70 percent reutilization, but the company approached a rate of 93 percent, resulting in an extra 260 MT of fishmeal production.
Also, under the Net Positiva program, Austral committed to recycling at least 50 percent of the fishing nets it no longer uses. The company previously sold these nets to third parties, but “we did not know what they were used for and or what the final destination of those nets was,” Giudice said.
The company began to work with Social Bureo to collect Austral’s disused fishing nets to recycle and transform them, producing new products such as sporting goods, sunglasses, and clothing. Since then, Bureo has repurposed nearly 350,000 MT of Austral’s nets, representing nearly 97 percent of the company’s disused nets.
In return, Bureo has contributed to Austral’s social responsibility programs such as capacity building for artisanal fishers, implementing and updating school infrastructure, and community projects.
The move forms part of an industry-wide campaign with a commitment to sustainability, Giudice said, with other fishing firms such as Tasa, Diamante, and Copeinca also going through the clean-production agreement and certification process.
“All of us who are members of the National Fisheries Society are very committed to sustainability throughout the industry, in having clear, transparent practices and in environmental compliance. We are always pushing these types of initiatives,” she said.
Giudice said the efforts are the responsibility of the fishing industry, as a pillar of Peru’s national economy.
“The sector, despite all its limitations, is very important to the national economy and in contribution to GDP. We pay almost 50 percent of our operating profit in taxes,”she said. “We also generate employment in places where there is no other alternative. That is positive but it also creates a great responsibility on our part.”
Photo courtesy of Sociedad Nacional de Pesquería
