The Peruvian anchovy-fishing industry has surpassed 98 percent of its 2.48 million metric ton (MT) total allowable catch (TAC) assigned for 2024’s first anchovy season in the country’s north-central zone, which bodes well for global fishmeal and fish oil production considering that Peru accounts for about one-fifth of global fishmeal supply.
“[We] see this as a very positive sign for the fishing and feed sectors,” IFFO – The Marine Ingredients Organization, a trade group representing several leading fishmeal and fish oil companies, said in a release.
A return to healthy status in the South American nation’s anchovy fishery has been the main driver behind cumulative fishmeal production jumping 40 percent in the first five months of the year when compared to the same period of 2023, according to an IFFO report which analyzed production from Peru, Chile, the Denmark-Norway-Iceland triumvirate of countries, the North Atlantic, the U.S., African countries, and Spain.
Peru was also responsible for a 10.8 percent bump in cumulative fish oil output through May 2024 compared to the same period of 2023, as all other regions reviewed in the report saw a decline in fish oil supply, IFFO said.
In such countries as China, conditions for feed ingredients are challenging, owing to a nationwide fishing ban from May to mid-September, which prevents the use of wild capture for fishmeal and fish oil production, IFFO said. Frozen fish is also rarely being used as a feed ingredient because of high prices, according to the IFFO.
Though Peru's fishery has returned to healthy status, IFFO said it foresees weakened demand worldwide for aquafeed in the near future due to reduced aquaculture activity in the first five months of 2024, which may affect demand for feed ingredients in the third quarter, when most of farmed fish enter the grow-out phase.
Peru’s industrial anchovy fishing fleet is looking to make up for losses following a difficult 2023, when the first season of 2023 was canceled – due to unfavorable El Niño weather patterns – where the TAC was set at 1.09 million MT. The decision to cancel that season cost the fishery an estimated USD 1.4 billion (EUR 1.3 billion) in lost revenue.
Then, in January 2024, the government closed the country’s second anchovy season early owing to the effects of El Niño, with only about 75 percent of the 1.68 million MT TAC caught.
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.
