Produce continues without issuing the guidelines to formalize the northern fishing fleet

More than two months have passed since the head of the Ministry of Production (Produce), Raúl Pérez Reyes Espejo, committed to the fishing cooperatives of northern Peru to approve and publish the regulations that finalize the process of formalizing the more than 900 vessels found in this procedure. To date, said announcements have not materialized, denounces the San José Fishing Cooperative, one of those affected.

The omission of Produce has led to two fishermen being criminally investigated for having extracted giant squid in a vessel in the formalization procedure. The Specialized Prosecutor for Environmental Matters of Lima is requesting suspended imprisonment for both and the payment of civil compensation amounting to S/242,000 in total.

“The two brothers, who are being prosecuted unfairly and abusively by the Judiciary, They have been among the first to have started their formalization processes in 2018. They are very correct and do everything in order. To date, the two boats already have a registration certificate and sanitary protocol; but, like hundreds of us, they cannot obtain their fishing permit because the Ministry of Production is taking a long time to issue the corresponding regulations,” said Mario Fiestas, general manager of this cooperative.

It should be noted that Law 31673, promulgated in January 2023, provided for the modification of article 208-B of the Penal Code and prohibits the judicial authorities from investigating and sanctioning shipowners and artisanal fishermen who are in said process.

Currently, 63% of the ships obtained their registration certificate and 45% already have their sanitary protocol. Despite this, no ship has been fully formalized. The most alarming thing is that the deadline expires on July 31. With this, the fleet will become informal, which will put the work of more than 8,000 fishing crew members at risk.