Fishermen from Letirá, Becará, Vice and Sechura in Peru decided to hold a regional strike to protest against the 68 per cent cut in overall anchovy fishing quota. The strike was adopted after the Ministry of Production (Produce) announced that only 810,000 tonnes will be caught during the season between November 2012 and January 2013.
The strike was called by the National Association of Shipowners — Act 26920 –, whose president, Medardo Vite Zeta, explained that the fishing reduction affects the interests of thousands of seamen, reported Diario Correo.
Last year, the global quota was two million tonnes of anchovy, a figure that is significantly different from that announced for the season beginning on 21 November in the area between the northern end of the country’s maritime domain and 16° 00′ South Latitude.
Meanwhile, the president of the National Fisheries Society (SNP), Richard Inurretegui, said the agency requested Produce to recheck the study presented by Instituto del Mar del Peru (Imarpe), so as to re- take samples of marine biomass in order to know if there is a possibility for the quota to be modified.
“We have formally asked for a re-verification of this study, for which we are making all our boats (including the scientific vessels) available for Imarpe to make a new verification on the coast,” Inurretegui added.
The Ministry offered to conduct a research expedition.
In this regard, the president of the SNP pointed out: “We will be waiting to see the results of this new expedition, which is intended to check the resource status, since when the previous expedition was performed, there were strange and unstable oceanographic and climatological factors,” Expreso reported.
“The result from this second check will have to be accepted by all,” he added.
According to the new rules of Produce, between November and December the maximum total allowable catch (MTAC) in the northern-central area is 410,000 tonnes, and by January 2013, it will be 400,000 tonnes.
In the expert’s opinion on fisheries, Alfredo Almendáriz, it is necessary to reform the fisheries sector and give higher priority to the fishing activity targeted for direct human consumption (DHC) and to produce fishmeal.
“It is stated that 70 per cent of industrial fishing is used to produce fishmeal. Whilst in the artisanal fishing activity, which is now called smaller scale fishing for DHC, nearly 90 per cent of the catch is also intended for fishmeal production,” he warned.
“In the last 60 years more than 250 million metric tons of anchovy were caught in Peru, which means that in the Peruvian coast the equivalent of more than 10 per cent of the world fisheries was captured in that period,” he added, La Republica reported.
According to Produce and to experts from Imarpe, the anchovy biomass amounts to 5.3 million tonnes and it is not sufficient to cover the spawning biomass optimal level, which must be kept at sea for breeding.
The scientific report states that the whole anchovy population was reduced by 41 per cent and there was a fall of 89 per cent of juvenile specimen breeders having between 8 and 11 centimetres.
To the experts, one of the causes of these findings is the excessive harvesting of anchovy through juvenile discarding at sea.
To Inurritegui, rather than sanctioning those who caught juveniles, the anchovy should be allowed to reach the port and the fishing zone must be closed to conserve the resource.
Last week, the head of Produce, Gladys Triveño, acknowledged that “technically it was necessary to set a zero quota” because by saving six million it is possible to have more resources for the April season.
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