Peru’s Ministry of Production (PRODUCE) has closed the country’s second anchovy season in its north-central fishing region.
Upon its November 2021 launch, PRODUCE established a 2.047 million metric ton (MT) capture limit. The ministry reported the season was better than expected in terms of catch, with about 98 percent of the quota or just over 2 million MT, caught.
Peru defines the total allowable catch (TAC) based on observations from the Peruvian Sea Institute (Imarpe) – a specialized technical agency within PRODUCE that advises the state on marine conservation issues – which performs studies to evaluate the status of the Peruvian anchovy biomass.
Peru divides its anchovy fishing areas into two regions – south and north-central – with different capture limits and seasons set for each one. The north-central is Peru’s main fishing region, with capture measuring several times that of the south region. The fishery, which targets both Engraulis ringens and Anchoa nasus for use in indirect human consumption – primarily fishmeal and fish oil used in aquaculture production – is the largest by volume in the world.
“For us [at Pesquera Diamante] it went well. We completed the quota before the end of the year, and by Christmas we docked half of the fleet,” Pesquera Diamante CEO Pablo Trapunsky told SeafoodSource.
On 31 December, PRODUCE kicked off the beginning of the anchovy fishing season for the south region, establishing a TAC of 486,500 MT. The season will remain open until the TAC is met or until 30 June, whichever comes first.
“From the south, you never know what to expect since it's a completely different operation from what we have in the center-north. Fishing is always very close to the shore due the depth of the ocean at that part of the continent, so it's hard to catch it without getting into the five-mile banned zone,” Trapunsky said. “We're operating our processing plant in the south. There’s not much fish, as the size is not yet right, but little by little we're doing some volume there.”
Photo courtesy of TASA/Sociedad Nacional de Pesquería
