Abstract
Peru is the top exporter of fishmeal and fish oil (FMFO) worldwide and is responsible for half and a third of global production, respectively. Landings of “anchoveta” (Engraulis ringens) are used nearly exclusively for FMFO production, despite a proactive national food policy aimed at favoring the direct human consumption of this inexpensive species. It may be surprising that in a country where malnutrition and caloric deficit constitute major issues, a low-priced and highly nutritious fish such as anchovy does not have stronger domestic demand as a food fish. Here, we review and assess eight potential politico-socio-economic processes that can explain this situation. The main explanation are dietary habits, the preference for broiler and the higher profit from anchovy sold as feed fish compared to its use as a food fish due to historically high FMFO prices, boosted by an increasing demand for aquaculture in a context of finite forage and trash fish resources. In addition, the recent introduction of an individual quota system has shifted bargaining power from processors to fishers, thereby increasing competition for the raw material. This competition results in an increase in anchovy prices offered by the feed fish industry due to its onshore processing overcapacity, which is detrimental to the food fish industry. In the end, although the dominant use of anchovy for fish feed is largely explained by integrating these market mechanisms and other minor ones, this use raises other issues, such as rent redistribution through public policies, employment, equitability and utility (low social costs), and resource management (threats to ecosystems or global change). Different policy scenarios are proposed in relation to these issues.
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Notes
The reasons people declared for not consuming anchovy in 2000 were as follows: 1) it is difficult to obtain (32 %); 2) it is mostly for rich people (19 %); and 3) it is too expensive (19 %); note that the two last reasons obviously refer to only to some sophisticated products such as cured or canned fish packed with additional ingredients. When consumers are asked to describe the cons of anchovy they mention the organoleptic properties (21 %, including the presence of many fine bones that make fish ingestion painful, 12 %); however, in the list of pros, flavor—another organoleptic property—comes first (19 %), followed by nutritional value (17 %) (FAO 2012).
The average Free On Board (FOB) price is a weighted average of Fair Average Quality (FAQ) and Prime fishmeal according to sales.
The value of 40 % results from 8.5 % × 4.2 × 1.11, with 8.5 % being the proportion of the fishmeal price paid to fishers, 4.2 being the conversion rate of raw fish to fishmeal and 1.11 being the rising factor for total direct production costs (1/.9).
Fishmeal and fish oil prices per ton are about the same (Online Resource 1; Fig. S6), but the mean annual conversion factor of raw fish into fishmeal is around 4.2:1, whereas for fish oil, it varies from 15:1 to 40:1, according to fish fat content.
The regulation specifies that the non-European country must be listed in accordance with Article 11 of Regulation (EC) 854/2004 for the import of fishery products and that the whole production chain, including fishing vessels and the raw materials, must comply with the EU requirements.
Locally nicknamed “Olympic race”.
Although the regulation of this second type of use has been recently enforced for small-scale fishery landings (Supreme Decrees 002-2010- and 005-2012, PRODUCE).
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Acknowledgments
This work is a contribution to the International Join Laboratory—Dynamics of the Humboldt Current system (LMI—DISCOH) coordinated by the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement (IRD) and the Instituto del Mar del Perú (IMARPE), and gathering several other institutions. The authors are grateful to Sylvestre Voisin (ARCANSYS), Catherine Domalain (University of Montpellier-I) and Carlota Estrella (formerly at IMARPE) for their earlier contributions, to Dr Sigbjorn Tveteras for his valuable input in some sections of the paper and to Melva Pazos (ITP) for her recent contribution.
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Fréon, P., Sueiro, J.C., Iriarte, F. et al. Harvesting for food versus feed: a review of Peruvian fisheries in a global context. Rev Fish Biol Fisheries 24, 381–398 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11160-013-9336-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11160-013-9336-4