Produce concludes anchovy season at 70% of quota

Starting today, anchovy fishing will no longer be possible. The Ministry of Production (Produce) concluded the second 2023 season of this resource in the North-Central Zone of Peru due to the start of summer spawning, thus interrupting the quota that, until last Monday, January 9, was maintained in 1.2 of the 1.7 million tons planned.

Previously, Imarpe had issued its “Progress report on the Second Fishing Season for anchovy (Engraulis ringens) in the North-Central region of the Peruvian Sea between October 21, 2023 to January 4, 2024”, in which It is concluded that the reproductive indicators of the north-central stock showed that they have been increasing their gonadal maturation and spawning processes starting in December.

“Intensifying in the next ten days according to what is expected for the time,” the document states.

In this sense, the scientific organization recommended considering all conservation measures “timely and necessary given the increase in anchovy reproductive activity during the summer spawning period, in the next ten days.”

Previously, various specialists had anticipated for La República that the second season, which began at the end of October 2023, would not complete the assigned quota, since in January of each year, under normal conditions—especially in the first fortnight—the anchovy reaches its reproductive peak.

Regarding the deadline for unloading and processing the anchovy, the first must be carried out within 24 hours of the end of the season, while the second has an additional day to be carried out.

The key

Tights. The complete suspension of the first anchovy fishing season in 2023 caused companies in the sector to stop exporting US$1.4 billion.

Low. The Chimbote Fishermen’s Union requests the resignation of Imarpe’s scientific director, Renato Guevara, for having delayed the end of the second season.