The decentralized impact of industrial anchovy fishing has been reflected this year in the economic growth of the northern part of the country, which led the country’s GDP growth with 5.6% in the second quarter of the year, its largest expansion in three years.
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According to the Peruvian Institute of Economics (IPE), this good performance was due to the triple-digit growth in fishing (184%) and its impact on the fishmeal and fish oil industry. The consultancy firm noted that, in the first anchovy fishing season of 2024, catches were almost 10 times those recorded in exploratory fishing in 2023, but are still 9% below the average for the 2018-2022 period.
Manufacturing output linked to fishmeal and fish oil also increased sevenfold compared to 2023, and was almost 22% above the average of the last 10 years.
Impact in Ancash
In Ancash, the fishing sector and primary manufacturing associated with fishmeal and fish oil represent almost 11% of its GDP and employ 7% of the working population, according to the INEI. This region concentrates almost a third of the national production of fishmeal.
Thus, so far in 2024, the total anchovy landings in Ancash amounted to more than 870,000 tons, more than double what was recorded during all of 2023 and 15% higher than the historical average of the last 10 years, according to information from IMARPE. The INEI reported that this region recorded an advance of 6.8% in the second quarter of the year.
There is no overexploitation
Economist Mónica Muñoz – Najar commented that the recovery of industrial anchovy fishing is positive, because it has been boosting the national GDP in the first part of the year. “We must remember that this activity involves more than 3,500 micro and small businesses, so it has an impact on employment,” she said.
The expert ruled out that this increase in fishing production implies an overexploitation of the resource, since the sector benefits from a regulation based on fishing quotas that are determined by scientific studies by IMARPE. “There is a scientific basis, regulation that is maintained over time and an anchovy biomass that remains stable,” she concluded.
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