Nearly 400 industrial foreign squid vessels were engaged in fishing activities last month on the border of Peru’s exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Their interest? A jumbo squid fishery.
This cephalopod fishery represents one of the world’s largest, and is home to the Dosidicus gigas, otherwise known as jumbo squid. These voracious predators are a highly migratory species with a rapid growth rate and short life span. Its population produces some of the biggest catches worldwide, with an average annual catch of 800,000 tons in the last five years and a maximum of 1.16 million tons in 2014. After anchovy, it is Peru’s most important fishery.
Since 2018 Global Fishing Watch (GFW) has been working with Peruvian authorities to strengthen vessel monitoring and help address illegal fishing in this valuable fishery.
Squid within Peru’s EEZ is caught by an artisanal fleet made up of approximately 2,500 vessels whose fishing activity extends from 4 -18 degrees north latitude, mainly inside Peruvian waters. On occasion, the artisanal Peruvian vessels travel outside of the 200 nautical miles that make up Peru’s EEZ and intersect with the Asiatic industrial squid fleet, which comprises approximately 400 vessels that are flagged to China, the Republic of Korea, and the fishing entity of Taiwan.