The Peruvian anchoveta fishery is the most important seafood resource in northern Chile, representing 94 percent of the local catch. It is also a healthy resource for the central regions of the country.
Anchovies are mostly used for fishmeal, which comprises 19 percent of Chile’s seafood exports.
As of early March, super prime fishmeal had reached a value of USD 1,889 per metric ton (MT), prime fishmeal USD 1,758 (EUR 1,270) per MT and the standard USD 1,701 (EUR 1,229) per MT. Chile exports 49.8 percent of Chilean fishmeal, mostly prime, to China and that number is still increasing. The next two largest markets are Japan and Spain.
The Chilean government was concerned about the fate of this resource when Peru presented a complaint regarding the maritime border to the International Court of Justice in January 2008. The dispute was over 38,000 square kilometers of the Pacific Ocean that Chile controls through two agreements in the 1950s. However, Peru claimed these were fishing treaties and the zone has never been settled.
In late January, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague, Netherlands, gave its final ruling on the maritime dispute. Peru asked the Court to approve the settlement of a new starting point of the maritime border, but ICJ denied the petition and ratified the existing one. However, the parallel line will stay the same until mile 80, and then it will be followed by an equidistant line. Before the ruling, the parallel line was 200 miles long. Since Peruvian anchovies are harvested within the 50 miles off shore, the Chilean government was pleased with The Hague’s decision.
However, it’s not all good news. In the central regions of Chile, anchovy catches are decreasing. Last year’s harvest was 120,000 MT and this year it is only 42,200 MT.
“Some fees decreased as a consequence of the terrible condition the fisheries are in,” said one industry insider who works for one of the biggest fishmeal companies in the region. “The only way to recover the resource is by limiting them to levels that allow the sustainable exploitation and that is what the government is working on.”
