Peru’s Council of Ministers has given the green light to the Production Ministry’s National Eating Fish Programme. This is to have a total budget of 10 million new soles (around 3 million Euros) and will be implemented in 2013.
According to Production Minister Gladys Triveño, the Eating Fish programme intends to encourage Peruvians to develop the habit of eating fishery products and to stimulate fishery activities through promoting a market for fish.
It is Government and Production Ministry policy to promote consumption of our abundant fishery resources and to ensure adequate hygiene standards, so as to reduce levels of malnutrition, which are particularly high in some areas. It is envisaged that this initiative will benefit around 500,000 people from 93 of the poorest districts, including Junín, Pasco, Ucayali, ICA, Huancavelica, Ayacucho and Cuzco, through the consumption of non-perishable fishery products. To achieve this, we will organize various campaigns, like tasting events, culinary workshops and gastronomic competitions based on anchoveta, as well as through the sale of low-cost products, she informed. The overall objective is to have more fish for more Peruvians, the Minister emphasized.
Efforts to promote anchoveta both as a staple and gourmet food for human consumption, mainly as canned products, have met with some success in recent years.
According to some sources, Peruvians have increased their consumption of anchoveta from around 10,000 tonnes in 2006 to around 190,000 tonnes in 2012.
The announcement of the Eating Fish programme follows hot on the heels of a new law (DS 005 2012) which seeks to prioritize the inshore waters from 0 to 10 miles for catching fish for direct human consumption.
The 0-5 mile zone will be reserved for artisanal fishing, defined as vessels up to 10 m in length with a hold capacity of 10 tonnes, and which use manually hauled gears. This would effectively establish a trawl and purse-seine-free 5-mile zone.
In fact, 20 years ago, the Peruvian authorities established the coastal zone from 05 miles for the exclusive use of artisanal fisheries. The 1992 regulation considered that this zone “was an area of upwelling and the spawning area of the main fishery resources used for direct human consumption, and therefore direct measures are needed to ensure its protection.”
The artisanal fleet has traditionally targeted a variety of species, providing food for local and regional markets. However, the zone has been subject to abuses by industrial and semi-industrial purse-seine fleets that fish for fishmeal. It remains to be seen whether the new law will be effective.
The 5-10 mile zone is to be reserved for smaller-scale vessels, slightly larger in size. These vessels range from 10 to 15 m in length, with a hold capacity of up to 30 tonnes, and which target anchoveta preferentially for direct human consumption.