Peru’s first anchovy-fishing season of 2025 in the southern region of the country has become the best in recent years, the nation’s Production Ministry (PRODUCE) reported.
“We are witnessing a recovery in anchovy fishing in the south, which represents a great opportunity for fishers, companies, and communities linked to this activity. This rebound not only boosts the regional economy, but also strengthens our capacity for sustainable and responsible production,” Peruvian Fisheries and Aquaculture Deputy Minister Jesús Barrientos said.
PRODUCE reported that as of 1 April, the 36 industrial vessels fishing in waters in the south of the country landed 176,226 metric tons (MT) of anchovy, which is equivalent to 70.2 percent of the total allowable catch (TAC) that PRODUCE set upon the season’s opening on 27 December 2024.
“This remarkable performance reaffirms the importance of the fishing sector in the economy of the south and its potential for growth,” PRODUCE said.
The season will run until the TAC of 251,000 MT is reached or until 30 June, whichever comes first.
To date, the main ports of landing have been Arequipa and Moquegua, where processing plants belonging to the firm Austral have landed 34.4 percent of the total, followed by TASA (32.7 percent), Ger Export (20.6 percent), and Diamante (12.3 percent).
“We are committed to guaranteeing optimal conditions for fishing activity to continue growing, generating employment, and ensuring the development of the sector. The fishing potential of the south is enormous, and we must continue to promote it,” Barrientos said.
The season’s solid results come soon after the Peruvian National Fisheries Society (SNP) warned that industrial anchovy fishing in southern Peru is on the verge of bankruptcy. According to the organization, thousands of jobs have been lost in the region over financial woes, while entire communities face abandonment.
“Unlike the North-Central, where regulation has been working effectively, the southern ecosystem requires specific measures that allow the industrial fleet to operate sustainably,” Peruvian National Fisheries Society President Eduardo Ferreyros said about the situation in the south.
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 zone is Peru’s main fishing region, with capture measuring several times that of the South.
In 2024, the industry only caught 71,000 MT of anchovy in the South – a figure that pales in comparison to the annual 700,000 MT caught regularly until 2011.
In comparison, PRODUCE closed the North-Central’s most recent anchovy-fishing season in January, with the nation’s industrial fishing fleet having landed over 95 percent of the 2.51 million metric tons (MT) of TAC.
The next season for that fishery, the first of 2025, is expected to launch in April, with a TAC set at 3 million MT – a significant increase from recent years.
