Last night, the Congress of the Republic approved by majority the rule that seeks to prioritize artisanal and ancestral fishing within of the first five miles of the Peruvian coastline with the aim of preserving its conservation. Seamen from Tacna, Arequipa, Moquegua, Áncash and Piura had arrived in the capital a day before to demand that the second vote prevail in the Full and they did it.
Minutes before the vote, Congressman César Revilla, from Fuerza Popular, announced that his bench would vote in favor of the norm, when in the last one they were the only ones who voted against it. This setback resulted in 96 legislators supporting the law, with zero abstentions and votes against.
Sector sources informed this medium that the industry had requested the president of Congress, José Williams Zapata, not to include it on today’s agenda; The strategy was for the issue to go to the freezer, since from April 17 to 21 the legislators will be in representation week.
Fishermen maintain that there is a shortage of fish on the coastal coast. Photo: Féliz Contreras/La República
5 mile watch out
85% of artisanal fishermen consider that the General Fisheries Law should be totally or partially modified, according to a survey carried out by Ipsos in 2022.
Representatives of fishermen’s unions, in dialogue with The Republicargue that the current law no longer meets the objective of protecting the first five miles, which are the area where a diverse number of species reproduce, which are later captured for direct human consumption. [ver infografía].
For Armando Paiva, general secretary of the El Toril Artisanal Fishermen’s Union (Paita, Piura), the fact that this proposal was approved in the first vote was already a reflection of a fight in defense of the five miles that dates back several decades.
“[Se] recognizes and vindicates the activity that is carried out with respect for nature, so as not to impact ecosystems, not prey on resources, doing the activity as an artisan does, with selective meshes, respecting fishing areas, natural banks, the times of reproduction of the resources and the closed seasons”, because, according to their experience, the State has little capacity to exercise control and surveillance of this area.
While Juan Moina, president of the Regional Federation of Artisanal Fishermen of Tacna, stressed that with the hydrobiological resources they capture, malnutrition and tuberculosis are combated.
across the shore
For her part, the National Fisheries Society (SNP) He pointed out that although it is necessary to adopt regulations to ensure the sustainability of the sector, this would not be the way. “We believe that the project closes the possibility of establishing an exceptional fishing regime in the south of the country in the future; something necessary given the geographical characteristics of our continental base, which, being narrow, makes some pelagic species, such as the anchovy, stick closer to the coast,” Cayetana Aljovín, president of the SNP, told this newspaper.
He added that the initiative does not address the problem of illegal fishing or the direct needs of artisanal fishing and the ordering of the coastal zone.
Artisanal fishermen seek to modify various articles of the General Fisheries Law in accordance with Ipsos in 2022. Photo: diffusion
They seek to list permitted fishing gear
The General Fisheries Lawstill in effect, allows boats with different fishing power to compete unequally in the first five miles.
Faced with this problem, the regulation proposes that Imarpe list the arts and methods allowed within this zone, and those that are not will be considered prohibited, according to Bruno Monteferri, director of Marine Governance of the SPDA.
“It’s a much better way to protect this area because you first have to prove that the art [a emplear] it does not generate a harmful impact when using it,” he said.
reactions
Cayetana Aljovín, president of the SNP
“If approved, it is very likely that the fishing plants that operate in the southern zone will be closed, which generates the loss of thousands of jobs and allows Chile to fish for the anchovy that leaves Peru.”
Juan Moina Lerma, pdte. of the Regional Federation of Artisanal Fishermen of Tacna
“If the law is not approved and the industry enters fishing in the five miles, then [los pescadores artesanales] we are doomed to disappear and the population would not have a fish on their table”.
Source: Larepublica
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