Annual summary of contents, Oannes 2024

A brief analysis of the sea issues in Peru during the year ending

Autor: Francisco J. Miranda Avalos, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Oannes

viernes 27 de diciembre de 2024

The first step to understand the ancestral interaction that exists between Peruvians and their sea is to start talking about fisheries in the plural, instead of fishery in the singular, and it is obviously necessary to protect them, manage them and exploit them sustainably. It is not only one fishery that is exploited in our sea, there are many and only the most important ones are properly managed. There is much to be done in the coming years.

We must be able to develop our own science and talk about building a national aquaculture of native fish, since aquaculture is not only a food production technology, it also serves, among many other purposes, to rescue species from the danger of extinction due to overexploitation, and if something is overexploited, it is the species of the coastal edge, many in the Amazon and in the highlands. Peruvian aquaculture science is already saving species such as paiche, chita, sole and corvina from extinction, this is a reality and state entities such as the Peruvian Sea Institute (IMARPE), the Peruvian Amazon Research Institute (IIAP) or the National Fisheries Development Fund (FONDEPES), really deserve applause; however, there is also much to be done in the coming years.

Talking about coastal, port and nautical industry development is vital, because the Peruvian coast not only has one of the richest seas in the world. It is in a privileged place in South America, within the APEC market, the millionaire Chinese investment in the mega port of Chancay is the best proof. And the ambitious port projects, such as Corio in Arequipa or Eten in Lambayeque, are really promising. This coastal development requires a change of vision, it has to be orderly and include the promotion of tourism and nautical sports in the planning, because the future great impact for Peruvian development comes from the sea.

With a great effort of objectivity, I have been making this “Annual Summary of Contents” for 28 years, in it I try to analyze and summarize the year that ends for our associates and the more than 50,000 followers of Oannes.

Throughout the year, we met with many people, listened to different opinions, read thousands of messages, press releases, made hundreds of coordinations, interviews, work tables or conferences. That is to say, an endless number of activities that allow us to know in a privileged way the Peruvian marine reality in a holistic way.

We often say that marine issues are “esoteric” for most Peruvians, and after 28 years, although it sounds frustrating, we recognize that this is an indisputable truth. It is enough for us to observe how the public or the press perceives these issues. Or to see how environmentalist or extremist organizations surprise an uninformed population with bad information, which then becomes myths that are difficult to combat and that are “tars” in public opinion, which, before protecting the efforts of all those involved in the sector, stigmatizes it.

To combat this, Oannes has only a few tools: educate and inform by showing all angles of a situation, promote organized dialogue or sensitize communities so that they are ready to use their best judgment in the face of misinformation.

It is necessary to understand that our sea is certainly a fourth region, like the jungle, the coast or the Andes. And while it is true that fishing and aquaculture are a priority for food security, with such a biodiverse sea, the development of our own science and technology, in addition to the existing one, is fundamental. 

But not only for the development of these activities, but also to find a way to avoid having to choose between the exploitation of hydrocarbons or mining in the sea, or fishing and aquaculture. The technologies we seek must be capable of involving all our development possibilities, not only because it is possible, but also because it is necessary to take on this challenge.

2024 has been a good year for the anchoveta fishery, the expectation of catching close to 5 million tons, gives a lot of oxygen to a fishery that in 2023, suffered much misunderstanding, endangering an industry that provides direct and indirect employment to about 750,000 people. The 2023 served to prove once again that, although we have the best scientific entity dedicated to this fishery (IMARPE), the decisions of some officials who improvisedly assume the responsibility of managing it, are usually more political than technical. Were we able to fish more in 2023 despite the high presence of juveniles and expect what we have seen in 2024? It seems to me that yes, what was lacking was courage and understanding of the sector on the part of the decision makers to establish an adequate quota, in order not to put at risk such an important sector that will probably generate more than 4,000 million dollars in 2024 between all its fisheries and aquaculture.

The anchoveta fishery is on its way to becoming sustainable, and achieving this is a merit of Peruvians; businessmen, fishermen, workers in the sector, academics and scientists. Today many instances, organizations and international entities, finally recognize it. And the sustainability of the anchovy fishery is in the interest of all of us.

The year 2024 has been bad for the second most important fishery in the country, and for others such as the hake fishery. The oceanographic changes of 2023, which favored the anchoveta fishery, undoubtedly influenced the giant squid or hake fishery to have catches well below their annual averages. However, there is a lesson that has not yet been learned: “the only constant of our sea is its variability”.

Peruvian fishermen should be prepared to be versatile and intuitive in the face of changes in the current and temperature regime of our sea. However, once again, politics and its operators managed to distort reality, without allowing us to appreciate the technical aspects of fishing that will allow us to be versatile, all this was lost in a maelstrom of accusations against foreign fleets operating in waters beyond our 200 miles or against the Navy, accusing it of not taking care of our maritime domain.

I think everyone knows our position on this matter: To fish giant squid, our vessels must be competitive with the foreign fleet, because squid is not a coastal resource, but an offshore resource, and the conditions necessary for a fishery that operates offshore are different from those of a fishery that operates close to the coast. The giant squid moves along the coast from south to north, as well as in and out of our 200 miles. It has no tail, but it does have a siphon and wings to move around in pursuit of its food.

And that is where the artisanal has its limitations. We cannot compare a fishing vessel with great length, great autonomy, electric energy for its attractive lights, computerized capture systems, coordinated fleet operation, habitability, sanitary conditions, freezing and storage on board; with our numerous artisanal fleet of maximum 15 meters in length, without autonomy, fishing by hand, without habitability, without energy, without sanitary conditions and without cold capacity. The reality for our fleet is that in these conditions you can only keep the fishery active, as long as the squid is close to our ports or coves.

This shows a huge lack of vision of our fishermen, businessmen and authorities regarding this resource. Sea surface temperature undoubtedly has a significant impact on the population of Dosidicus gigas as in any species in the sea, affecting its growth, migration, reproduction and distribution. Therefore, it is essential to consider these factors to manage a fishery and develop strategies to ensure the sustainability of the resource. The giant squid fishery, as it is managed, with no quota setting and no incentive to create an adequate fleet, are our great weakness. And we have no reason to falsely accuse a foreign fleet of violating our 200 miles by fishing within them or our Navy of not doing its duty by taking care of our sea. When it is we ourselves who are giving away the market.

The squid market is asking for a resource, and we should be able to catch it sustainably, process it and supply it, so as not to lose commercial positions that Peruvian processors and traders have been gaining inside and outside the country for many years.

It is a sort of “nobody knows who they work for”, because by doing what we do, the marketers only develop a market for foreign fleets that do have the capacity and today fish in front of our 200 miles, to sell their product. While we, with our large artisanal fleet that cannot compete on the high seas, we are supplying a market that the Chinese themselves quickly take advantage of.

In the year that is ending several fisheries had a good period, the great presence of bonito, horse mackerel and mackerel, etc., which not only feed the national table, has been remarkable. If someone believes that Peru does not have good fisheries, it is only because he does not know that among all its fisheries, the Peruvian sea can ensure the feeding of its more than 33 million inhabitants, in addition to an important world demand.

The annual consumption of fish and seafood in Peru is about 1.2 million tons, while the annual production of fish and seafood from all its fisheries is about 7.35 million tons. So at least in numbers, we fish or farm more than what our population requires for its food security and it is enough for us to generate foreign currency by exporting marine products or ingredients to the whole world.

Certainly, more than 60% of this fish production is transformed into fishmeal and fish oil, and more than one will say that this is a fishery of Indirect Human Consumption (CHI), yes of course, but human consumption at last; because the fishmeal and fish oil produced thanks to the industrial anchovy fishery, feeds various breeding animals both in the country and abroad and has enormous potential to support programs to combat malnutrition or anemia, using these inputs in food fortification. That we do not do so is undoubtedly a mistake.

It is still absurd that in Peru, industrial fishing companies dedicated to CHI are prohibited from processing anchoveta for Direct Human Consumption (CHD) from their own catches and assigned quotas. Privileging a small and incipient anchoveta fishery oriented to CHD that despite having the allocation of an average quota of 150,000 tons to process frozen, canned and dried salted anchoveta, ends up dedicating a large percentage of the raw material to the production of illegal fishmeal. This also shows a lack of control that harms any initiative to improve this small fishery dedicated to the CHD.

The anchoveta is a useful raw material for the CHD, there is no doubt, it is a food wonder. However, it requires special treatment to preserve the resource since its capture with good quality and freshness conditions, something that does not happen thanks to a perverse incentive that allows the discard of 40% of the raw material upon arrival at port only for “mechanical damage”, a very high percentage of unacceptable discards for a small CHD fishery that is a hope of food security for future Peruvians. Why would a boat owner invest in improving the quality of conservation of his vessel? I can imagine the owner telling the captain: Put ice on it, they will still buy the broken, crushed or crushed anchoveta and even at a better price!

Compared to 2023, 2024 has been a difficult year for Oannes, even though companies such as CLS Peru, Corporación Pesquera Inca (COPEINCA) and Tecnológica de Alimentos (TASA) always support us with their sponsorship. The truth is that there was less budget to meet our objectives, or is it that now we do more things than before?

Thanks to Repsol del Perú, two new editions of the book “Bajo las Olas, los avances de un proyecto de fotografía submarina en el mar de Grau” (https://www.oannes.org.pe/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Libro-Bajo-Las-Olas.pdf) were printed and distributed this year.

But it is our volunteers who undoubtedly deserve great recognition for their invaluable work and effort. And in this, the podcast “Sustainable Directions” (Oannes trademark) represents a milestone with its 2 seasons and a total of 26 episodes, the last season in cooperation with San Ignacio de Loyola University, a cooperation that will continue through 2025. With its 26 episodes of 30 minutes each, “Rumbos Sostenibles” (https://www.youtube.com/@oannes_org) offered us the experience of great national and foreign professionals on fishing, aquaculture, tourism, social responsibility, inclusion or gastronomy. 

The research and awareness project “Resources of the Peruvian coastal edge, coastline and islands”, which Oannes has been executing since 2018, created a new underwater sport (Pescafotosub www.pescafotosub.com) that has become a new citizen science tool. This 2024, we achieved two Pescafotosub championships, one in Pucusana thanks to the sponsorship of Tecnológica de Alimentos, Sociedad Nacional de Pesquería, Club Náutico Poseidón and San Bartolo Divers and another in Chorrillos, thanks to the sponsorship of Club Regatas Lima and the Suazo Family. However, the most notable advance of this effort has been to invite two great allies to join the project, the Instituto del Mar del Peru and the Humboldt Institute for Marine and Aquaculture Research, alliances that improve the expectations for 2025.

Today anyone has free access to a direct source of the history of the national fishery. Thanks to the cooperation of the National Fisheries Society and the Humboldt Institute of Marine and Aquaculture Research, we were able to publish and present the first free digital edition of the book “La Pesca en el Perú” (https://www.oannes.org.pe/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/La-Pesca-en-el-Peru-1.pdf) by Manuel Benito Rossi Barrios, becoming the fifth free book that Oannes makes available to its followers.

In cooperation with El Comercio newspaper, a technical round table was held: “The sustainability of the anchoveta fishery and its impact on Peru and the world”, presented by Oannes and broadcasted on El Comercio's Facebook fanpage and YouTube channel (https://elcomercio. pe/economia/peru/mesa-tecnica-de-el-comercio-la-importancia-de-la-planificacion-y-proteccion-para-el-desarrollo-de-anchoveta-noticia/) This activity moderated by journalist Mario Cortijo, was attended by Jesús Barrientos, Vice Minister of Fisheries and Aquaculture; Rear Admiral Héctor Soldi, oceanographer with more than 20 years of experience in marine research in Peru and former president of Imarpe; Dr. Marilú Bouchon, IMARPE and Concytec researcher; economist Carlos Paredes; as well as my presence representing Oannes.

By 2025, we will face new challenges, in addition to those already on our agenda. Raising awareness about the reality of our sea and its opportunities is a difficult task, it puts us in front of the often uncomfortable task of reminding our authorities of some important, pending and urgent issues. One of them: The ban on the export of “non-pectinid” bivalve mollusks to the European Union. This is a long story that deserves to be told in an exclusive editorial.

But to make it brief in this summary of contents, it is worth commenting that finally in June 2024, the National Agency for Fisheries Health (SANIPES) sent a communication (Nr. 000279-2024-SANIPES/PE) to the Directorate General for Health and Food Safety of the European Union, regarding the last audit it carried out in 2022 in order to evaluate the control systems in place for the production of bivalve molluscs for export to the European Union. The visit had some observations for which the SANIPES technical team provided complementary information, based on the corresponding legal provisions, certification of training to professionals in the classification of production areas and the annual review of the sanitary classification of the twenty (20) Production Zones.

However, let us note that this is a procedure from June 2024, which needs a closer follow-up by the relevant authorities seeking a response to a document from 6 months ago, as well as the understanding that the problem of “scallop” bivalve mollusks such as the fan shell (which have no export restrictions), is different from that of “non-pectinids” such as the clam, razajuelas or señoritas.

The lifting of the observations of these fisheries is vital to restart the export of these mollusks, which has been paralyzed for several years due to lack of understanding and inaction of the authorities, but which represents foreign currency income of around 50 million dollars per year, directly affecting the communities of artisanal shore fishermen who need all the support to make their fisheries productive and sustainable, generating wealth. In other countries, these fisheries represent more than 200 million dollars a year in exports, a comparison that allows us to glimpse how the future of this fishery could be.

Fishing and aquaculture are technological professions that require vast knowledge and the training of many professionals that Peru has trained in more than 16 national or private universities for many years and that today is wasted.

The National Marine and Aquaculture Research Plan, which we have been proposing for many years, is a priority. And a responsibility that should lead institutions such as IMARPE so that other institutions such as universities conduct applied research based on this plan, with hundreds of professionals who every year must do a research thesis to graduate. We are not a rich country that can waste time in research without direction and a plan improves substantially the orientation of research.

Oannes will be 29 years old in 2025, no small feat. Nor much for an entity that intends to become a transcendent institution in time. Our “Integrated Communications Network” which anyone can access free of charge from our web portal “Oannes, Lord of the Waves” (www.oannes.org.pe) is here to inform, analyze, promote the dialogue of parties to improve our coastal and riverine development in an eco-friendly and sustainable manner. 

We are a world leader in fisheries with only one of our fisheries that has been developed for more than 60 years, we need to emphasize the other fisheries, aquaculture of native species, as well as port and nautical development.

But what we lack the most, besides the understanding of the politicians in office, is to recognize the achievements of a sector that struggles every day to improve and that, thanks to Oannes' networks, is informed, communicated and dialogues every day about its problems in order to find solutions.

As we have said before, at Oannes we are convinced that Peru's destiny is to become a world power in the supply of sustainable hydrobiological products, it has sufficient biodiversity, but it needs to believe that it is capable of achieving this with its own professionals, together with a population that turns its gaze to the marvelous sea that bathes its coasts. The sea should not separate us, it should unite us so that the future progress of the country comes from there.