Peru has extended its first anchovy season of the year to Aug 10, as a consequence of this year’s impact of El Nino.
The season was due to end on July 31 but talk of an extension had emerged as a result of the poor catches.
By Tuesday, July 29, only 65% or 1.64 million metric tons of the season’s total allowable catch of 2.53m tons had been caught, one Peruvian producer told Undercurrent News.
This means another 886,039t remains to be caught.
This producer was skeptical the extension would have much effect, though said catches might reach 70- 75% of the TAC.
“I think that the extension will not help too much. I still think that 70% to 75% will be the best we can reach. Let’s see in the next days.”
Since the season was expected to finish on July 31, industrial fishmeal vessels will be allowed to operate ten more days, from the northern tip of the Peruvian maritime domain to the 16° 00′ south latitude, in the area of Atico-Arequipa.
The Ministry of Production (Produce) unveiled the decision after analyzing oceanographic conditions reported by Peru’s marine research agency Imarpe, which have shown abnormal water temperatures off the Peruvian coast since the end of last year.
These high temperature anomalies delayed the main spawning period of anchovy in the north-central area of the Peruvian coast, Imarpe noted.
Since July, however, temperatures have started normalizing, and a considerable decline in climatic anomalies was noticed.
“The weakening of warm conditions in the Peruvian sea since July will allow a normalization of reproductive conditions and the start of the main spawning period of anchovy in the coming weeks,” said Imarpe.
It has been clear for a while that there was no hope of catching the full quota by July 31.
By July 21, just 66.2% or 1.63m tons of the TAC had been caught.
Peru’s first anchovy season usually runs from May to July, while the second season tends to take place from November through January.
This year, the first anchovy season started earlier than usual in anticipation of a potential El Nino effect on catches later in the year. Instead of starting in mid May, the season opened on April 23