They demand the Government to issue regulations to formalize more than 900 fishing vessels

The National Society of Artisanal Fishing of Peru (Sonapescal) has expressed its concern about the lack of commitment of the Ministry of Production (Produce) to accelerate and prioritize actions that allow more than 900 fishing vessels to obtain their final permits to continue with their activities; For this reason, they demand that the norm be issued that allows them to carry out the formalization process. On July 31, the adaptation process of the cooperatives, contemplated in Supreme Decree No. 015-2020-PRODUCE, expires.

“Nor has it issued the rule that, on the one hand, would provide that the Direpros grant definitive fishing permits to fishing cooperative vessels, as a measure to speed up the formalization process, and on the other would limit the entry of new members to this formalization process,” said Elsa Vega, president of Sonapescal.

In 2016, Supreme Decree No. 006-2016-PRODUCE was published, which establishes the process of formalizing artisanal fishing vessels through pilot programs of fishing cooperatives. Three communities from the north of the country took part in this process, which registered a total of 930 boats:

• Jehovah is my Shepherd Fishing Cooperative I will lack nothing in La Tortuga cove. (Piura)
• Jehovah King of Kings Fishing Cooperative in La Islilla cove (Piura)
• Cooperativa Pesquera San José Limitada, in the San José cove (Lambayeque).

This formalization process implies that ship-owners —vessel owners— can obtain three qualifying titles in order to extract hydrobiological resources (registration certificate, sanitary qualification protocol and fishing permit). According to Sonapescal’s March 2023 report, 63% of the boats obtained registration; 45% sanitary protocol; and 0% fishing permit.

The head of Sonapescal reported that, currently, the vessels that are part of the fishing cooperatives have a “provisional” fishing permit, whose validity is based on the duration of the pilot programs that comprise it and concludes on July 31 of the present.

Limit to the entry of new vessels

Another of the problems that the formalization process through fishing cooperatives entails is the recent entry of new vessels that endanger the sustainability of two resources, such as the squid and the parakeet, which, since 2021, have been fully exploited.

“Added to the announcement of the Minister of Production, in January 2023 we received the express commitment of the DGPARPA and the DGPA of Produce that a rule would come out that would provide that the Direpros grant ‘definitive’ fishing permits and that would also provide the closing of the entry of new partners. To date, neither one nor the other has occurred and the formalization process is close to expiring in three months”, Elsa Vega pointed out.