The Peruvian Production Ministry’s (PRODUCE) cancelation of the main anchovy fishing season in the country’s north-central zone will negatively affect the production of fishmeal, but its stated justification is guaranteed sustainability of the biomass.
In May, PRODUCE delayed launching the season due to a high presence of juveniles, resulting from the effects of El Niño. That delay had already caused consternation among industrial fishing fleets that are responsible for the world’s largest anchovy fishery, and the largest fishery by volume in the world.
Based on the results, PRODUCE observed in exploratory fishing excursions in May, the ministry authorized another expedition on 3 June to update the information on the anchovy biomass’s distribution and size structure. At the time, it established a preliminary total allowable catch (TAC) of 1.09 million metric tons (MT) – well below half of traditional TAC levels.
The cancelation of the season was unlikely to surprise any stakeholders, according to Enrico Bachis, market research director at IFFO - The Marine Ingredients Organization.
“We were clear about what was going to happen after the fishing companies decided to voluntarily suspend their operations due to the high incidence of juveniles after five of the seven days of exploratory fishing granted by the authorities,” Bachis told SeafoodSource in a statement. “The decision of the fishing union and the government has been very wise since this will allow the anchovy to safely reproduce.”
The latest exploratory excursions found the incidence of juveniles reached 86.3 percent in numbers and made up 77 percent of the weight of the anchovy biomass. On 8 June, upon recommendation from the Peruvian Sea Institute (Imarpe), PRODUCE decided to call off the season altogether owing to the deficient biological conditions for the development of extractive activities.
“The sea conditions are not there for the start of the fishing season. An important issue for the ministry is the preservation of the fishing resource, and if we allowed the anchovy fishing activity to develop, what we would do is depredate the resource,” PRODUCE Minister Raúl Pérez Reyes said at the time.
The industry at large generally shares that view.
Cayetana Aljovín, president of Peru’s National Fisheries Society (SNP), praised the fishery management actions.
“A recent study prepared by several world-class scientists, including Santiago de la Puente from Peru, from the Institute for Oceans and Fisheries at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, and Ray Hilborn from the University of Washington in the United States, concludes that the Peruvian anchovy fishery is an example of adaptive fisheries management in a context of uncertainty due to the high climatic variability that characterizes the Peruvian sea,” she said at the end of May, just before PRODUCE decided to cancel the fishing season.
“Another important piece of information from the study is that the anchovy biomass is currently higher than it was in 1972 at the height of the fishing boom,” she added. “This is because in those years – and subsequent ones – despite the fact that the weather conditions were much better than today, fishing management was nonexistent.”
Adriana Giudice, the CEO of San Isidro, Peru-based fishing company Austral Group, said that the country’s anchovy fishing firms are the most interested in protecting the anchovy.
“Our sustainability depends on it, and we have been operating this way for years, not only strictly complying with fishing regulations but also with good practices such as self-imposed bans when we verify the existence of abundant juveniles,” she told SeafoodSource. “Indeed, true to our principles, [the fishing firms associated under] the SNP decided to halt operations even before the authority suspended exploratory fishing.”
Despite the climate-related difficulties and challenging oceanographic dynamics, PRODUCE said Peru had developed strategies for the observation and successful management of the anchovy biomass that were “uncommon” in other parts of the world, including exploratory fishing, fishing surveys, and scientific cruises. The findings contribute to scientific knowledge that forms the foundation of the TAC and supports the fishery’s sustainability.
In the meantime, however, the canceled season will have global repercussions: With its large anchovy fishery, Peru is responsible for the production of about 20 percent of the world’s fishmeal and fish oil, and according to IFFO, three-quarters of all fishmeal and fish oil produced is used in aquaculture as aquafeed.
“With the drop in the production of Peruvian fish oil, the main source of EPA/DHA in the world is facing a downscale this year,” Bachis said. “Three major buyers are competing for fish oil: aquaculture, pharmaceuticals, and pet food. Someone will have to consume less omega-3 this year, but it's not clear who will. The market with its price adjustments will tell us soon.”
Market forces dictate that with limited supply, provisions will go to the highest bidder, which for fishmeal is likely to be the aquaculture and pet food sectors, he added.
“China, which accounts for around 40 percent of global fishmeal consumption, continues to enjoy a good stock of fishmeal. We at IFFO are ruling out major shortage problems for this ingredient. However, China is expected to import less in 2023 versus 2022 since most of its fishmeal generally comes from Peru,” he said, noting that other regions are showing healthy growth prospects.
Pérez Reyes emphasized that the cancelation of the first fishing season was due to forces of nature, not due to political or other issues. As such, he said the government will look to work with the industry to define measures to palliate any impact on people’s jobs and companies’ income.
Industry players have high hopes for the second fishery season. Imarpe will continue to perform oceanographic research to monitor the situation of the anchovy resource, Pérez Reyes said.
“There are many regions where the second part of the year is the most important for the production of marine ingredients," Bachis said. "Let's see whether the fishing season at the end of the year goes better.”
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 southern region.
In 2022, Peru's catch total was an estimated 4.25 million MT – only 84 percent of the TAC established and well below the 5.1 million MT of anchovy Peru caught in 2021 – due to a late launch of the second season, coupled with challenging weather and oceanographic issues and a high presence of juveniles, issues that it is still facing now.
“These are difficult times, but it is in these circumstances that Peru shows that it continues to be an example of responsible fishing,” Giudice said. “We hope that the weather conditions improve to resume operations, ensuring the sustainability of our resources.”
Photo courtesy of PRODUCE
