Peru’s executive branch submitted an emergency decree on 22 January that aims to modify the law that led to the creation of Peru’s Sea Institute (Imarpe), a specialized technical agency of the Ministry of Production (PRODUCE) which advises the state on marine conservation issues.
According to the decree, published in official gazette El Peruano, the executive branch is soliciting changes to the following articles of the Imarpe law:
- Article 1, which establishes Imarpe as a specialized public technical agency;
- Article 4, which defines the functions and duties that Imarpe is to carry out;
- Article 9, which outlines Imarpe’s organic structure;
- Article 10, which stipulates the constitution of Imarpe’s seven-member board;
- Article 11, which specifies the board’s functions;
- Article 12, which specifies the functions of the executive president;
- Article 22, which mandates the Defense Ministry with maintaining Imarpe’s research vessels.
“It is necessary to adopt extraordinary measures aimed at improving and strengthening the role and management of Imarpe, with modern resources for the development of research and scientific and technological studies at its charge, adapting the conformation of its board of directors and establishing its basic organic structure, which will contribute to the fulfillment of its purposes,” according to the decree.
It adds that the move “will allow an increased and better level of coordination between the Ministry of Production and Imarpe; the alignment of public policies, plans and objectives for having related and complementary competences and functions; as well as the adjustment to current regulations, in safeguard of hydro-biological resources.”
However, several trade groups in Peru have warned the move is illegal and warned of a threat to Imarpe’s autonomy and independence.
“The emergency decree is unconstitutional since it would modify the law which created a public body, without having an economic-financial foundation and with no urgency that merits its approval,” exporters association Adex, Peru’s foreign trade association Compexperu, the national confederation of private businesses Cofiep, and the national fisheries society SNP said in a joint statement.
In particular, the guilds question the executive branch seeking to remove the current requirement that the head of Imarpe be a retired member of the navy.
“Being presided by a retired member of the navy provides the backing of a prestigious tutelary institution such as Peru’s navy … which has allowed [Imarpe] to guarantee its technical solvency, independent of private and public pressure,” according to the joint statement.
The government’s attempt to modify this prerequisite so that the president of Imarpe can be appointed without such requirement “would put at risk the independence and autonomy that characterizes this scientific entity and would weaken the institution, being subject to political and private pressures,” they said.
The guilds noted that in its more than 57 years of existence, “thanks to serious, responsible, technical management of fishery resources,” Imarpe has obtained recognition from international organizations such as the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC), as well as the World Bank and the OECD.
The government decree recognizes PRODUCE is the ministry that “determines, based on available scientific evidence and socio-economic factors and according to the type of fisheries, the fishery management systems, allowable catch quotas, fishing seasons and areas, fishing effort regulation, fishing methods, minimum catch-sizes, and other standards that require the preservation and rational exploitation of hydro-biological resources.”
In mid-January, in a blow to Peru’s anchovy fishing firms, PRODUCE declared a premature close to the anchovy fishing season in the country’s north-central region due to the presence of a high number of juveniles in the area.
Following a biological-fishery expedition survey of anchovy, Imarpe confirmed that a large concentration of juveniles persists in the area studied, reaching 97.8 percent in number and 78.9 percent in weight. Sector players had expressed hope at the Imarpe’s previously established higher capture limit of 2.7 million metric tons (MT) for the anchovy season begun 16 November, but fishing firms reached only a fraction of the limit.
Witnessing the high amount of juvenile anchovies in their catchments, several hundred fishermen in the north of Peru had reportedly been protesting against what they believed was PRODUCE’s failure to protect the country’s anchovy resources. Calling for a permanent close to the fishing season since late December, they marched in Chimbote, Barranca, Huacho, Ilo, and Piura, cutting off access to the Panamerican highway, refusing to go to sea to fish, and calling for PRODUCE Minister Rocío Barrios Alvarado to step down.
The government expects to have its emergency decree approved within 31 days after its publishing in the government gazette. SNP officials were not immediately available for comment when contacted by SeafoodSource.
Photo courtesy of Instituto Del Mar Del Peru (IMARPE)
