The optimistic outlook for Peru's first anchovy fishing season 2024 is confirmed: in only 21 days the fleet has already landed 42.34% of the allocated quota, more than one million tons.
Photo: Produce.
Peru’s Ministry of Production (Produce) has confirmed that only twenty-one days into the season, anchovy unloading has already exceeded one million tons in the North-Central zone. According to the figures provided, as of May 6, 1,048,031 tons of anchovy (Engraulis ringens) and white anchovy (Anchoa nasus) have been specifically landed for indirect human consumption.
Of this more than one million tons, 73.51% was caught by the steel fleet, which registered an unloading of 770,319 tons, while the remaining 26.49% was unloaded by the wood fleet, which reached 277,712 tons.
Likewise, Produce has reported that Malabrigo, Chimbote, Callao, Coishco, and Chancay are the ports with the highest landings volumes.
"In the first 21 days of the anchovy fishing season, landings have been occurring at an average rate of 49,906 tons per day," said Peru's Minister of Production, Sergio González, who took office in early April.
"We believe that, so far, the fishing operations are going very well and we hope that they will continue to do so until the maximum permitted quota is reached and allow greater income for the country and the fishing sector," he continued.
The head of Produce also noted that the amount of anchovy landed so far is equivalent to 42.34% of the 2,475,000 tons of quota allocated for the season that began last April 16. Peru authorized this quota - 55% higher than that of the same season in 2023, finally cancelled due to the impact of El Niño - last April, after verifying that the biomass of the resource is higher than in previous years.
González also pointed out that, till now, anchovy unloading has contributed 0.28% to the country's GDP and 13.1% if we refer to the Fishing GDP. This is equivalent to an added value of PEN 219 million (EUR 54.7 million / USD 58.7 million).
"In terms of exports, it has been contributing 18.9% of fishery shipments out of the country, equivalent to USD 564 million (EUR 524.8 million) in foreign exchange for the country," he added.
Finally, the Peruvian Minister of Production added one last piece of information regarding employment related to the current anchovy fishing season. The extractive activity would have demanded around 11,800 direct jobs and 36,200 indirect jobs in the whole value chain.
This figure is in addition to another that Produce provided yesterday when it reported that, as a result of the regulatory change to adapt its bivalve mollusc regulations to EU standards, the fishing industry could demand around 12,000 jobs.