Management of the Peruvian Anchoveta Resource 



Andreas A. Holmsen' 



ABSTRACT 



The best available estimate of the maximum sustainable yield of the Peruvian 

 anchoveta resource is 9.5 million metric tons ( + I million). The productive capacity of 

 the purse-seine fleet and the fishmeal factories far exceed this tonnage with the result 

 that the open season is becoming shorter year by year. This paper describes the current 

 fishery management program in Peru and the degree of overinvestment in the industry. 

 It further outlines the alternative methods which can be used to reduce excess capacity 

 in the catching and processing phase and the advantages and disadvantages of the 

 various alternatives. 



INTRODUCTION 



It is well known among fisheries people that 

 Peru is the leading fishing country of the world 

 in terms of tonnage landed. About 97% of the 

 catch is anchoveta, which is used strictly for 

 production of fishmeal and oil. Besides the 

 employment and earnings derived from the 

 harvesting and processing of this resource, fish- 

 meal makes another valuable contribution to the 

 economy of Peru. Like many other less developed 

 countries, Peru has balance of payments prob- 

 lems and exports of fishmeal and oil account for 

 approximately one-third of foreign earnings. 

 With the exception of Iceland, I doubt that any 

 other country is as dependent on its fishery 

 resource as Peru, and few are so concerned 

 about it. 



To protect the resource Peru claims a 200- 

 mile fisheries limit which may be twice as much 

 as is necessary. Seventy miles is the maximum 

 distance from shore that anchoveta fishing 

 takes place. The stock is concentrated in the 

 waters off the southern two-thirds of the country, 

 so except for some mixing on the Chilean border 

 it is entirely a national resource. 



Peru's emergence as a fishing nation began 

 in the 1950's, but most of the growth of the 

 industry has taken place during the last decade. 

 During the 1960-61 fishing season (September- 

 August) Peru's landings of anchoveta were 

 about 4 million metric tons. During the 1969-70 



' Department of Resource Economics, University of 

 Rhode Island. 



season, landings reached about 11 million metric 

 tons, and every season during the decade land- 

 ings were higher than the previous year. 



During the early years of the decade, the 

 rapid development of the industry took place 

 with little planning, basic knowledge, and 

 experience. As a result, overexpansion, particu- 

 larly in processing capacity, has plagued the 

 industry ever since. 



The number of vessels in the fleet reached a 

 high of 1,778 vessels during the 1963-64 season, 

 but later gradually declined to the current 

 size of about 1,400. The vessels have become 

 bigger every year, however. While 5-6 years 

 ago, a vessel with 180-ton hold capacity was a 

 large vessel, the smallest built today has a 

 capacity of 275 tons and most vessels built 

 during the last 2 years have a 350-ton capacity. 

 Thus, the fleet capacity has increased from 

 about 180,000 tons capacity in the mid-60's to 

 somewhat above 200,000 tons during the 1969-70 

 season. 



A large part of the fleet is considered obsolete, 

 consisting of wooden vessels built from 1962 

 to 1964 (in Peru, 7 years are considered the 

 economic life of such vessels). In recent years, 

 most vessels have been built of steel and con- 

 struction of fiberglass vessels has started. Echo 

 sounder, powerblock, and fish pump are standard 

 equipment in the fleet, and the most modern 

 vessels also have sonar. A fishing trip normally 

 is a day trip, the vessel leaving early in the 

 morning and returning with or without catch 

 in the afternoon. 



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