"Aquaculture is important for food security, rural employment, and export growth," said Peru's Vice Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Jesús Barrientos.
Photo: Produce.
In what it described as "a great advance for aquaculture," Peru's Ministry of Production (Produce) announced the approval of a new specific sanctioning regime for aquaculture in the country, establishing a differentiated and technical regulatory framework for the sector and differentiating it from fishing.
The measure is an important step towards consolidating an orderly, sustainable, and fair development model for Peruvian aquaculture, which for years has operated under a sanctioning framework designed mainly for extractive fishing, generating inequities and limitations to the sector's growth.
Long-awaited by seafood farmers, Produce emphasized that this new specific sanctioning regime for aquaculture finally recognizes the distinct nature of the activity and establishes a technical, proportional, and differentiated system that will strengthen its formalization and sustainability.
"This decree is a turning point," highlighted the Vice Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture of Peru, Jesús Barrientos. "For the first time, the country recognizes in its regulatory framework that aquaculture requires a different treatment than fishing. We are ordering the sector and building an adequate legal basis for its growth."
"With this regulatory reform, the State complies with a long-standing demand of the country's aquaculture stakeholders: to have a specific, fair and technically adequate sanctioning regime for their activity," he added.
The new rule was established by a decree of the Peruvian Ministry of Production (Decreto Supremo N.° 009-2025-PRODUCE), which amends the Regulations of the General Law of Aquaculture and the Regulations for the Control and Sanctioning of Fishing and Aquaculture Activities.
Among the main provisions included in Peru's new specific sanctioning regime for aquaculture, Produce highlighted the following:
Elimination of improper infractions. The new regulation removes from the sanctioning framework those infractions originally designed for fishing, which unfairly affected fish farmers.
Classification of infractions. The table of offenses and penalties has been updated and now distinguishes between minor, serious, and very serious infractions, avoiding regulatory duplicities and ambiguities.
Sanctions proportional to the scale of production. The new sanctioning regime incorporates fines of specific amounts differentiated according to the type of production unit: AREL (limited resource aquaculture), AMYPE (micro and small enterprises), and AMYGE (medium and large enterprises).
Larger legal predictability. The new regulatory framework provides greater clarity and consistency to the sanctioning regime, favoring voluntary compliance and legal certainty for investors and small investors.
Peru's Ministry of Production emphasized that this new framework does not impose new administrative burdens or create barriers to development; on the contrary, it represents "a specific step towards simplification, formalization, and the responsible promotion of the sector."
"Aquaculture is important for food security, rural employment, and export growth," Barrientos stressed. "This new sanctioning regime is not just a legal tool; it is a clear sign of the State's commitment to a sector that deserves fair rules, stability, and a vision for the future."
"That is why this new framework allows for a more proportional and predictable control, which promotes regulatory compliance without affecting the productive development of the sector," the Vice Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture of Peru concluded.
Likewise, Produce added that the approval of this decree is also a measure of environmental protection and institutional strengthening, since it will allow the authorities to apply proportional and effective sanctions, promoting the sustainable use of hydrobiological resources.
This regulatory change is in addition to other measures that the Peruvian government has been taking to support aquaculture in the country, covering various areas. Among them, last year, Produce promoted the diversification of the sector, both through marine aquaculture and the introduction of new species and production areas, such as tilapia in the Andes.
In 2024, the Peruvian Ministry of Production also opted for innovation and technology to boost the aquaculture chain, and promoted training within the sector, both generic, by training aquaculture agents, and specific, by providing training in sanitary management.
