Close to reach the sustainability of the Mahi-Mahi, 2021 was key for this resource

• In 2021, WWF-Peru, Peru Mahi Alliance, IMARPE, PRODUCE and artisanal fishermen came together to advance towards the sustainability of the Mahi-Mahi resource.
• The progress made this year has led Fishing Progress to score Peruvian Mahi-Mahi with the highest rating of Fishing Improvement Project.

In the last decade, Peru has been the main producer of Mahi-Mahi, with almost 50% of the world’s captures and exports reaching 100 million dollars a year. It should be noted that the Mahi-Mahi is the second most important artisanal fishery in the country. Also, it is estimated that from extraction, transportation, processing and commercialization it generates at least 40 thousand jobs.

Despite this, at the beginning of the year 2021, this fishery with high degrees of informality has been fighting it since 2016 and has not ended yet. In this context, the Monterey Aquarium of the United States, through its Seafood Watch, recommended its consumers to "avoid" Peruvian Mahi-Mahi for having weak governance, lack of research on the resource, negative impacts on the ecosystem, among others.

Although Peru has been implementing a Mahi-Mahi Fishing Improvement Project (FIP) since 2013, the ultimate objective is to achieve the sustainability of the fishery and own an international certification by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) for 2024. It is important to highlight the great progress made in 2021, where the project has been strengthened with the commitment of all the actors. WWF, together with the processing and exporting companies of the Peru Mahi Alliance (PMA), IMARPE, PRODUCE and artisanal fishermen managed to work and combat fisheries problems under the axes of sustainability, the conservation of marine biodiversity and the reinforcement of a participatory and transparent governance.

Research on the resource

The Peru Mahi Alliance (PMA) in alliance with IMARPE have developed a pilot to improve biological research in fisheries delivering samples periodically. As a result of this commitment made by the fishing companies, this program has already reaped achievements. For example, the Report on biometrics and biology of the Mahi-Mahi (Coryphaena Hippurus) produced by IMARPE during January - March 2021, which recommends establishing a permanent collaboration by sampling Mahi-Mahi to strengthen research.

On the other hand, this year started the project “On-board Camera”, which allowed the data collection for future evaluations of the resource and generated records of interaction with protected species. In this way, it contributed to the production of information to strengthen the management of the resource and its fishery. Once the monitoring is completed, the results will be evaluated to propose to IMARPE its future scalability and application as a replacement method for human observation in the fishery.

Improving the governance of the mahi mahi fishery

The milestone of conservation for this resource has been the approval and publication of the Regulation of Fisheries Ordinance of Perico (or Perico ROP) in July 2021. A regulation like this was expected in Peru since the National Action Plan for Conservation and Management of Perico (PAN-Perico)(RVM N ° 81-2016-PRODUCE / DVPA) was approved six years ago.  Perico ROP was created to establish the principles, norms and regulatory measures based on the biological, economic, and social information from this sector.

It is important to highlight that during the creation of this Perico ROP the Ministry of Production organized five decentralized workshops to promote participation and transparency. In these meetings they were able to collect the contributions and suggestions of the main actors involved. More than 180 people participated, in between them 28 Social Organizations of Artisanal Fishermen (OSPAS) representatives from the North, Center and South of the country, achieving that the standard was pre-published, it was reviewed by all citizens, and they could send comments.

The Mahi-Mahi ROP has made great strides in the fishery such as establishing a Maximum Total Catch Limit (LMTC), mandatory training for fishermen in the correct release of sea turtles, established guidelines for research, among others. For Diego Solé, Fisheries Officer for Fisheries Improvement Projects at WWF-Peru, “Now that the standard exists, it is up to the government, the private sector, and artisanal fishermen to work together on its implementation and monitoring, evaluate its application, compliance with its provisions and the pre-established objectives”.

Advances in good practices for releasing sea turtles

In 2021, more than 340 Mahi-Mahi fishermen, including members of the Cooperatives of La Islilla and La Tortuga, APAMARPA, AARCUDIPA and independents fishermen, have been trained within the Pilot of Good Practices in Handling and Release Sea Turtles a series of workshops by Peru Mahi Alliance (PMA) and WWF Peru's Endangered and Protected Species Training Program.

These series of training taught the problem of bycatch, basic knowledge about the biology, the ecological role of sea turtles and other protected species, as well as the proper procedures and the correct use of tools to achieve the least damage possible of these species by the time of their release.

In addition to this initiative, the fishermen received toolkits for the correct release of sea turtles along with educational material on what was learned by PMA companies, since it is also mandatory that all boats carry release tools. Thus, so far this season, they have already managed to award 57 kits to trained vessels.

On the traceability of the resource

The US is the main market of Peruvian Mahi-Mahi with 79% exports to this country. That is why the Mahi-Mahi fishery requires a traceability system to fulfill the United States' Seafood Import Monitoring Program (SIMP). However, to achieve the traceability of the resource, the fishing catch record must be documented and shared with the government; something that in most cases is non-existent for peruvian fisheries.

Therefore, to facilitate the flow of information between fishermen, the government and other actors in the supply chain, WWF-Peru developed a mobile application called TrazApp. Fishermen from three fishing cooperatives in the north have been trained to use this app, located in: La Tortuga, La Islilla and San José who are currently implementing its use. For Jose Carlos Álvarez, Traceability Officer of the WWF-Peru Marine Program, it is important to point out that “In the future it is expected that this application will be used by other actors in the supply chain and, one day, consumers will be able to access information on the origin of your Mahi-Mahi”.

Formalization of Mahi-Mahi and squid fishermen

The ROP has declared the Mahi-Mahi's fishery as fully exploited and established that only the ships that are in the process of formalization, through Fishing Cooperatives (Supreme Decree No. 006-2016-PRODUCE) and SIFORPA 2 (Legislative Decree No. 1392), will be able to continue developing their extractive activities and will be recognized as the only authorized fleet for this resource.

Both formalization processes had an extension of time until April 2022 to finish or obtain the enabling titles that guarantee the development of legal and sustainable fishing activities. However, despite the increase of qualifying titles, there are bottlenecks in some  institutions that do not guarantee that the formalization of artisanal fishing fleet will be reached with 100% by April 2022. Within this situation, WWF together with other civil society organizations such as SFP, SPDA, FOF have joined forces to find alternatives to accelerate both formalization processes.

In this, the business sector - fish processing plants part of CALAMASUR and Peru Mahi Alliance - supports the formalization of artisanal fishing. They are making possible commercial agreements with shipowners who are documented with the sanitary authorization protocol, the new registration certificate, and the fishing permit (where the actual characteristics of the boat are recorded). In this way, incentives are generated so that fishing owners are motivated to continue or start their formalization process, knowing that their economic condition may be favored.

International recognition

The advances in the artisanal Mahi Mahi fishery have generated that the Fishery Progress score with the highest qualification the progress of the Peruvian mahi mahi Fishing Improvement Project (FIP for its acronym in English). This project, which seeks the sustainability of the resource, can also get for Peruvian fisheries its international certification by the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC). Currently, this FIP has achieved 56% of the actions necessary to have a more sustainable and certifiable fishery. This great progress has generated interest and recognition on the part of the main importers and distributors of products based on this species in the United States. They even signed a public letter to the PMA companies congratulating the work carried out and in the same way they did it in a virtual event of the Mahi-Mahi FIP ​​in July 2021.

Crédito de la fotografía: Yawar Films / WWF-Perú