Anchovy fishing fleet. (Photo: Stock File)
Oceana demands anchovy season closure due to breeding season
PERU
Monday, July 25, 2016, 22:30 (GMT + 9)
The conservation organization Oceana urges the Ministry of Production (PRODUCE) to close the first anchovy (Engraulis ringens) season this year because its reproductive stage has already started.
The claim comes after the publication of the latest report of Instituto del Mar del Peru (IMARPE), on July 22, which states that "the analysis of the reproductive rates of northern-central anchovy stock shows the beginning of the main winter-spring spawning period".
In addition, IMARPE report on the anchovy reproductive process situation recommends "suspending the capture activities of the first anchovy fishing season in the northern-central region in a period that does not exceed five days in order to protect the main spawning peak".
In this regard, Oceana recalls that the approval decision which authorised the start to the season, published last June 16, indicated that the catches had to end if environmental or biological circumstances made it necessary even if the quota of 1.8 million metric tons was not reached.
That recommendation was reiterated by the head of the sector, Piero Ghezzi, who in recent days said that the season will close when IMARPE "considers that the breeding season will begin."
Oceana points out that to date around 850,000 tonnes of anchovy have been caught and if there is insistence that the fishing season must continue, a serious impact will be caused on the resource reproduction and its subsequent recovery.
This, it warns, would affect the viability of a possible 2016 second fishing season 2016, with serious economic and employment consequences.
Related article:
- Anchovy fishing suspended for five days
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