Horse mackerel onboard a fishing vessel. (Photo: NOAA)
PERU
Thursday, September 04, 2014, 23:30 (GMT + 9)
The National Fisheries Society (SNP) aims to promote the scientific research on horse mackerel based on the information provided by industrial vessels.
To this end, the SNP has organized the V Workshop on Horse Mackerel Status Diagnostics between 3 and 5 September gathering qualified scientists engaged in this pelagic resource research.
SNP president, Elena Conterno, stated that from the conclusions of the workshop, a report supporting the country’s statements will be presented to the Regional Fisheries Management Organisation in the South Pacific (RFMOs-PS).
The main objective is to show that the Peruvian horse mackerel population is different from that living in Chilean waters so they need different treatment.
Conterno stressed that the Peruvian Government has made significant progress in this regard and hoped that the strength of the reports presented will help you in the next RFMO-PS scientific meeting when the amount to be captured will be analysed, "taking into consideration two horse mackerel stocks and not just one."
The Regional Organization is the international body which grants fishing quotas to each country for certain species at sea, including horse mackerel and soon the squid or giant squid.
SNP president ensured the vessels belonging to the associated companies have abundant and updated information obtained during their fishing activities on oceanography, acoustics, geostatistics, species size and catch.
"This valuable gathered data will be analyzed and made available to universities and research centres in the world requiring it so that they can use it to achieve a better understanding of our resources and a more sustainable management," she pointed out.
To that end, the SNP has invested more than USD 60,000 in specialized software for organizing the data collected by fishing vessels and obtaining applied scientific information.
Conterno stated "this is a demonstration of how the public and private sectors can work together with the academic and scientific community to benefit the resource sustainability."
But she also stressed that effective control of fishing effort and landings is needed to prevent illegal fishing and catching smaller fish than the legal size.
"Otherwise, this will become a chronic announced depredation," she said.
On the other hand and despite the fact that the latest official report of the National Multisector Committee in charge of the Study of El Niño Event (ENFEN) predicts the presence of a weather phenomenon having from weak to mild extent, several specialized agencies warn of its impact on the fishing industry towards the last quarter of 2014.
Besides anchovy, El Niño event also harms squid or giant squid, dolphin fish, prawn, horse mackerel and mackerel.
Related article:
- El Niño could affect the sector more than expected