24 July 2013
Peru
Peru’s Ministry of Production has made a decision to issue a two-month ban on tuna fishing to Peruvian flagged purse seine vessels with a carrying capacity of more than 182 tons in the Eastern Pacific Ocean (EPO).
This ban comes under regulation of the Inter-American Tropical Tuna Commission (IATTC) and will be in effect from 18 November, 2013 to 18 January, 2014, when tuna vessels over the stated capacity should remain in port.
Vessels not fishing in the EPO and carrying an observer from the Agreement on the International Dolphin Conservation Programme (IDCP) on board may still go fishing during the closed period.
The ruling also allows a single tuna fishing trip of up to 30 days during the closure for Peruvian flagged purse seine vessels with between 182 and 272 tons carrying capacity that have an observer present on board, while it will be prohibited to carry tuna or tuna-derived products, as well as to execute transshipments if they are identified as coming from tuna vessels within the areas considered for fishing the resource.
The EPO area is bounded by the coast of North, Central and South America and by the following lines: the parallel 50° North from the coast of North America to its intersection with the meridian 150° West; the meridian 150° West to its intersection with the parallel 50° S; and 50° S parallel to its intersection with the South American coast.
The decision adopted by Peru’s Ministry of Production meets the conservation and management measures set in the 83rd Meeting of the IATTC held in June 2012, for vessels fishing for yellowfin tuna, bigeye tuna and skipjack tuna.
Any pole and line vessels, trolling boats and seine vessels with carrying capacity less than 182 tons will not be subject to any of the measures.
