In what used to be the world’s largest fishery, Peru has cut its anchovy quota by 68 %, to 810,000 tonnes, due to warmer water temperatures and high levels of discarding. This is the smallest allowable catch for 25 years and a fraction of 12 million tonnes caught in the early 1970s.
It is hoped that the lower quota will be just enough to allow the stock to remain somewhat stable. According to the government marine institute, IMPARPE, the stock has decreased 41% since last summer and is 28% smaller when compared to averages from the last 12 years.
Alluding to how depleted the stock has become, Production Minister Gladys Trevino stated “technically we would have said the quota is zero. That’s how bleak the panorama is”.
Fluctuations in the Peruvian anchovy stock have long been associated with the effects of “El Nino”. Anchovy thrive in nutrient rich colder waters, such as those provided by the Humboldt Current that flows north up the coast from Chile. Peru is currently experiencing mild “El Nino” effects, which lead to increased water temperatures. Therefore, if the temperatures continue to rise the government may enforce more restrictions and cut fishing quotas further.
In addition, discarding in the fishery has risen according to IMPARPE as industrial fishermen throw back juveniles which have been unintentionally caught in order to avoid fines. In order to avoid this wasteful practice, large vessels now have to operate further from the shore with coastal waters now being reserved from smaller boats.
Peru is the world’s top fishmeal exporter, producing about a third of worldwide supply. Last year it shipped abroad more than $2 billion in fishmeal and fish oil. Anchovy is usually dried and used as feed for livestock and farmed fish. However, with the anchovy quota being cut, the price of fishmeal, which has already doubled over the past decade and has increased by 20% just this past year alone, will likely continue to rise.
In the European Union, plans are in place for a significant increase in the aquaculture industry. Large subsidies are proposed in the subsidy package, known as the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF). The current fund is being negotiated and will be in place from 2014 to 2020.
Pushed by Commissioner Damanaki and supported by all Baltic Member States, fish farming will likely be subsidised heavily in the coming years, partly in order to reduce the reduce the quantity of imported fish to the EU, which currently accounts for 60% of consumption.
However, the Baltic Sea already has an overload of nutrients which have led to continuous algal blooms and a “fertilised sea”. Importing fish fodder from outside the Baltic to use on farms will also cause further problems for the local nutrient balance and exacerbate the eutrophication problem.
Plans to increase the aquaculture industry through subsidies, given the negative link to overfishing will harm the prospects of wild fish stock recovery and will in all likelihood create overcapacity in the farming business. The rapidly increasing price of fishmeal and the lack of a clear economic argument demonstrating that a market exists in the EU for such an expansion in farmed fish consumption, should be cause enough for scepticism that this is the right direction for the EU to move in.