Peru's anchoveta biomass is now 10 percent higher than the average for the past 25 years, according to a press release from the Sociedad Nacional de Pesqueria (SNP).
The press release cited data from the Institute of the Sea of Peru (Imarpe), a specialized technical agency of Peru's Ministry of Production, which advises the state on marine conservation issues.
Imarpe's data show a biomass of 10.9 million metric tons (MT) of anchovy, according to SNP president Elena Conterno. These data put to rest “apocalyptic predictions” concerning the anchoveta and the claims about their predation, she said.
“The figures corroborate the good fishing management carried out by Imarpe, [the Ministry of] Production and the industry,” Corterno said. "The biomass of about 11 million confirms that all the decisions taken by the authorities and that are respected by the industry put the sustainability of the resource first. All the accusations were false, as was pointed out at the time.”
The fishing quota assigned for the current season is 3.3 million MT. Conterno said that, for six of the past eight years, the industry has been below its equilibrium point of 4 million MT annually. So, “the assigned quota marks a point of inflection towards the recovery of the industry,” she said. The previous season's assigned quota was 1.49 million MT.
Conterno said she expected this upward trend would have a positive impact on the economy of coastal cities, via purchase of goods and services by companies, as well as on the income of fishermen, workers, and their families.
