A Peruvian purse seiner. (Photo: NOAA)
PERUMonday, November 25, 2013, 01:40 (GMT + 9)
The Chamber of Constitutional and Social Right of the Supreme Court of Peru declared Supreme Decree 005, which was issued last year by the Ministry of Production(Produce), partially unconstitutional.
The decree prohibits industrial fishing vessels from catching anchovy in the zone that is 10 miles off the Peruvian coast.
For the Supreme Court, there are enough statements to prove the illegality this decree incurs in paragraph 2.2 of Article 2: it is established there that the area from 5 to 10 miles is "preferably" reserved for direct human consumption (DHC), being exclusive for conducting small-scale fisheries.
Moreover, in its ruling it sets that the supreme decree is "unlawful, since it does not comply with the provisions of Article 9 of the General Fisheries Act, as it establishes a fisheries management that has not been drawn on the basis of available scientific evidence and socio-economic factors, so it must be removed from our legal system," reported El Comercio.
The big fishing companies -- meeting at the National Fisheries Society (SNP) -- were strongly opposed to this rule from the beginning. They argue that by removing the industrial vessels from this area and allowing the smaller scale boats to operate there, there is the possibility that nearly all fish resources are destined to the production of fishmeal. And this, in their opinion, carries the risk of increased predation on the Peruvian anchovy.
Meanwhile, the head of Produce, Gladys Triveño, emphatically defended the DS 005. The minister states that the new fishery activity management is based on reports fromInstituto del Mar del Peru (Imarpe) and aims to protect the sustainability of the anchovy biomass.
The ruling makes it clear that the Court has been limited to assessing whether the contested decree has ruled a law without transgressing it or denaturing it.